[Terrapreta] Cost of charcoal amendment to soil.

[PurNrg at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/28/07 12:33:42 AM, sean.barry at juno.com writes:


> Silica is fertilizer?  Isn't it insoluble?  Maybe silica (sand) is more 
> useful for breaking up clay soils, to let more water in.
> 

Hi All,

No, I don't think one would characterize silica as a fertilizer, though 
interestingly enough, it is silica in the cell walls of bamboo that makes it so 
hard, so at least bamboo is able to take it up and use it, but I don't think much 
else is.

Sand does help as an amendment to lighten heavy clay soil, but with one 
serious caution. Sand and clay alone equal concrete. It must be used along with 
some coarser items, both biodegradable and non-biodegradable like compost or 
PermaTill . This is where a coarse, chunky charcoal might well come in. As many of 
us know from experience, if you amend heavy clay with lots and lots of 
organic material it will fluff up quite nicely and look delicious, which of course 
it is. It rings the dinner bell for all the soil microbes and worms, and they 
come streaming in to devour the goodies. Go back to the same site three or four 
seasons later and it's pretty much gone back to the clay you started with, 
only it's a nicer, richer color. All the marvelous tilth and good drainage you 
might have had right after the job is gone.

With the addition of lots of PermaTill, charcoal or other material which is 
not consumed by the soil (pre-Columbian pottery shards), you achieve a much 
more lasting enhancement.

Peter :-)>

Peter J. Schenk, Jr.
Green Door Gardening Service
42 Mount Vernon Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22301

Home -703 683 3260
Cell - 703 304 2269



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