[Terrapreta] An off the wall question about a different type of char

[Greg and April]

While that would make sense with something like steer manure which generally 
comes along in reasonably large quantities, I raise rabbits, and just don't 
have enough rabbit pellets, to make spreading over a large area worth while 
( and most of the nutrients from rabbits is in the urine anyway ).

OTOH, rabbit dung, would make an acceptable sized piece of char that would 
be useable under the cages to catch the rabbit urine, go into the garden to 
stabilize the soil nutrients there, and possibly for use in a hydroponic set 
up, as the root support medium.    Sure, I already compost the rabbit 
pellets, but, they break down so fast, that it's almost like they were never 
there.

Greg H.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <teelws at jmu.edu>
To: "Greg and April" <gregandapril at earthlink.net>; "Terra Preta" 
<terrapreta at bioenergylists.org>
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 4:10
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] An off the wall question about a different type of 
char


> Greg and all,
>
> Dung is not such a good choice.  In general dung from a critter like a 
> steer, if grass fed, has concentrated the nutrient load so that it has a 
> C:N ratio of about 14:1.  This is best left where it falls, spread on 
> agricultural land
> or mixed with a carbon source for high quality mulch (that you can then 
> mix with char).  Charring dung would cause a loss of fixed nitrogen that 
> would need replacement.
>