[Terrapreta] scored

[Jim Joyner]

Thanks Gerrit.

Basically, distilled alcohol is pure bacteria piss. So, obviously toxic. 
They do wash the charcoal in water to get as much alcohol out of it as 
they can. It was wet and still smelled of Jack Daniels when I got it.

I know from my time in the US Navy submarine force that we could 
re-activate activated charcoal by heating it. I guess it will give up 
the gases it has stored. It's not quite as effective as the original 
charcoal but it still works quite good.

So, I reasoned that if I could heat the charcoal, I could get most of 
the alcohol out of it. Alcohol is after all very volatile. After a few 
days in the sun (and turning it), the smell has almost completely gone 
away. So, within a month, unless someone has something that scares me 
off, I'm going to turn it in. I figure the worst that can happen is that 
the alcohol might slow the the ultimate process down. Alcohol is, after 
all, organic.

Hey, maybe that's the is the missing ingredient for TP! Maybe the 
Amazonian dumped all their unwanted alcohol on the charcoal (just kidding).

I read Phil suggestions but I'm not sure how applicable they are. The 
carbon in charcoal is not likely to influence the c/n ratio; if it did, 
it would not persist in the soil, become TP. Not sure how putting the 
charcoal in compost changes anything. The composting I do is right in 
the soil, so I have plenty of biological activity there, plenty of 
nutrient.

I'm mixing it about 20-25% by volume (charcoal to soil). I'll do a soil 
test immediately before tilling the charcoal in and immediately 
afterwards, and then annually.

I do plan to plant the beds (9, 4'x14' beds) in legumes this summer 
(probably, mostly soy. I cut them down when they are in bloom). Then I 
will do a winter cover with rye/hairy or spring oats/crimson clover. 
Depending on how it goes I'll consider cropping next spring. These are 
permanent beds that I have recorded data for 27 years. I've got three 
beds I'll use as controls. I'm guessing, I'll know by the looks of the 
rye next spring how well it is doing (mine typically gets 6 to 7 feet high).

Any comments are welcome.

Thanks,

Jim

gerald van koeverden wrote:
> Jim,
>
> Alcohol is a preservative because it will kill most
> microorganisms.  That's the whole principle behind
> making silage - it ferments and 'pickles' itself.
> You can only naturally ferment anything to about 18%
> alchohol.  At that point, even fermenting yeast can't
> survive.  Jack Daniels - being distilled - is probably
> around 40% alcohol.  So you have a very potent natural
> biocide concentrated in the charcoal particles.  I
> wonder how it would function in a compost pile?  Could
> be problems...
> You might have to first dump the charcoal into a
> container and soak it in water.  The alcohol in the
> charcoal should naturally be diluted by diffusion....?
>   
> Just guessing.
>
> Gerrit
>
>