[Terrapreta] Cost of charcoal amendment to soil.

[Nat Tuivavalagi]

Hi All,

 

I am new to this forum and am enjoying the communications very much.  I am
based in the Marshall Islands somewhere in the middle of the Pacific ocean -
where soils are sandy and coralline and we have been interested in testing
out charcoal as well.  All our I,000+ islands/ islets are low lying coral
islands, so greenhouse gases and sea-level rise are very serious issues for
us.

 

One comment on adding sand to clay soils to improve water movement: while
this may be a good advice for those growing pot plants or small flower
gardens, it may not be a very practical idea for farmers - in view of the
huge quantity & weight of sand that will be required and the massive amount
of work required to work in the added sand.

 

Cheers

Nat

 

 

 

  _____  

From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org
[mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of PurNrg at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 1:18 PM
To: sean.barry at juno.com; michaelangelica at gmail.com
Cc: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Cost of charcoal amendment to soil.

 


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  <http://www.permatill.com/> . 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



**************************************
See what's free at http://www.aol.com.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/terrapreta_bioenergylists.org/attachments/20070329/8c9ff74a/attachment.html