[Terrapreta] Terra Preta and Ants

Fri Dec 14 19:40:32 CST 2007

Though I've no luck in finding more references to charcoal as a  
pesticide, I did find several references to using charcoal-dust  
instead of fungicide to protect cut surfaces of vegetatively  
propagated plants.  Here's one of them from a Hungarian website:

"During the rooting of soft leafed species the leaves should be cut  
back by 2/3 in order to fit the rootless rosette leaves economically  
and reduce the size of their evaporating surface. Perlit or sieved  
river-sand can be used for the rooting. Cut surfaces should be dipped  
in charcoal-dust or fungicide and left to dry for at least 1-2 days.  
Rooting hormones can accelerate the process. Then we plant them into  
pots in a half-shaded area and water the plants 2-3 times a week,  
then just wait patiently. We may occasionally water the leaves by  
some nutritive solution in order for faster results. The rooted  
plants should be planted into their permanent habitat in spring in  
order to leave them time for rooting."

http://palmaligetetmagyarorszagnak.com/modules/news/article.php? 
storyid=206

Gerrit

On 13-Dec-07, at 8:06 PM, Gerald Van Koeverden wrote:

> According to a old research study, the effect of charcoal fines on  
> insects might have nothing to do with it as an abrasive or  
> 'scratchy' medium.  This article shows that certain dusts actually  
> absorb the lipoid layer from the exoskelton of bees without any  
> apparent abrasion, resulting in the dehydration of the insect.
>
> The results (Table 1) show
> that all the dusts effected an increase in the rate of water-loss  
> of the dead bees; that
> the three most effective dusts were silica gel, Almicide and  
> activated charcoal, the
> common physical property of these materials being their capacity to  
> act as powerful
> absorbents; that Bentonite and activated charcoal, both soft  
> materials, were more
> effective than carborundum, which is hard and highly abrasive.  
> These facts again
> indicate that abrasion is not an important factor in the action of  
> these dusts in dis-
> rupting the waterproofing layers, and suggest furthermore that they  
> may act by
> adsorbing the lipoid material.
>
> http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/32/1/95.pdf
>
> Gerrit
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Gerald Van Koeverden <vnkvrdn at yahoo.ca>
>> Date: December 13, 2007 12:55:28 PM EST (CA)
>> To: Saibhaskar Nakka <saibhaskarnakka at gmail.com>
>> Cc: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org, terrapreta- 
>> owner at bioenergylists.org
>> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Terra Preta and Ants
>>
>> Dr. Reddy,
>>
>> The fines of rice hull ash mixed in with stored seeds are very  
>> effective in controlling weevils.  (Rice hulls have a very high  
>> silica content.)  The sharp silica structures in the ash scratch  
>> the cutinous exoskelton of the first insects to emerge, leaving  
>> them to dessicate before they can breed and lay more eggs.  (I was  
>> taught this in a weekend course by the Tropical Products Insitute,  
>> U.K.)
>>
>> DE (diatomaceous earth) will do the same because of its silica  
>> edges, and is also used for pest control in storing grain.  It is  
>> also recommended to add DE to compost for the same reason:  it is  
>> not injurious to beneficials in the process like the digestive  
>> tract of worms, but will control certain pests that like to  
>> colonize compost piles.
>>
>> Could it be that the charcoal has similar cystalline structures  
>> which keeps the insects away...in fear of being scratched to  
>> death...?
>>
>> Gerald
>>
>>
>> On 13-Dec-07, at 12:06 PM, Saibhaskar Nakka wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Dear All,
>>>
>>>
>>> After the successful field trials in Alkaline soils http://e- 
>>> alkalinesoilsterrapreta.blogspot.com/ , I have just started  
>>> second season TP experiments on a small scale on our Roof top in  
>>> small pots http://e-terrapretarooftopexp.blogspot.com/. The  
>>> charcoal is exclusively from use of Magh-1 woodgas or smoke  
>>> burner stove http://e-smokeburnerstove.blogspot.com/ designed by  
>>> me. I would like to share some of my immediate observations.
>>>
>>> One day after establishing pots and the seed with soil and  
>>> charcoal and only soil. I have sowed brinjal seeds in the 6 with  
>>> charcoal + soil and 6 only soil. To my surprise I saw that in the  
>>> three control pots the seeds were eaten away by small red ants.  
>>> The six pots with a mix of about 30% charcoal were untouched by  
>>> ants. In TP practice the chances of germination of the seed with  
>>> out any loss to creatures like ants is minimized. I thought this  
>>> is the first direct benefit of using charcoal. On day two I saw  
>>> that all the pots without charcoal are with small red ants. There  
>>> is not a single ant in the pot with charcoal addition.
>>>
>>> Although I love ants, to avoid ants eating away the seeds sown,  
>>> we could always add some charcoal along with the seeds. Second  
>>> important application is that in the Vermicompost pits some ants  
>>> eat away the earthworms to avoid such problem and for value  
>>> addition to the compost to create a habitat for microbes, we  
>>> could as well add charcoal.
>>>
>>> From web I learnt that those you want to avoid toxic chemicals  
>>> are using charcoal and diatomous earth as a repellant for ants.  
>>> For photographs please see the blog below.
>>>
>>> http://e-terrapretarooftopexp.blogspot.com/
>>>
>>> I would like to know from your experiences what could be the  
>>> other impacts in using Charcoal to the living things existing in  
>>> soil.
>>>
>>>
>>> Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> http://info.bioenergylists.org
>>
>

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