[Terrapreta] Uses of char in horticulture

[Gerald Van Koeverden]

A friend of mine does a lot of plant clone propagation.  I queried  
him about the use of small amounts of activated charcoal in rooting  
mixes:

"It serves two functions: to adsorb plant hormones and to shade root  
primordia.  Hormones included in the multiplication phase of  
propagation often inhibit rooting, so activated charcoal is included  
to adsorb them.  Many plants will root better when root initials are  
kept dark, and charcoal in the medium will also do this.  There was a  
discussion on the tissue-culture newsgroup recently about what to do  
if you wanted to shade the roots but not eliminate the hormones, and  
the answer was graphite."

Gerrit



Begin forwarded message:

> From: Gerald Van Koeverden <vnkvrdn at yahoo.ca>
> Date: December 27, 2007 12:09:14 PM EST (CA)
> To: Greg and April <gregandapril at earthlink.net>
> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Marketing comment for TP. (was volatile  
> matter andchar)
>
> Greg,
>
> Coir can't be all that unsuitable.  1000 commercial greenhouse  
> growers can't be all that wrong!
>
> But whatever, let's focus on the potential of charcoal for  
> propagating plants.  How many examples can we find where charcoal  
> is already being used in plant propagation, other than in orchid  
> growing?
>
> Here's a potential high end use for charcoal in micro-propagating  
> berry/currant plants:
>
> Gerrit
>
> "Newly developed blackberry cultivar Čačanska bestrna was  
> successfully
> micropropagated. For black currant, cv Čačanska crna further  
> research should
> be done to optimize conditions for succesful multiplication.
> Buds from the branches cut during dormancy (end of January) were  
> used as
> the initial explants and set to develop under laboratory conditions  
> at room
> temperature. Aseptic culture was established on Murashige and Skoog  
> (MS)
> medium with BA 2.0, IBA 0.5 and GA3 0.1 mg 1-1. MS media with BA  
> and IBA
> or NAA and GA3 were used for multiplication phase, whereas medium  
> MS with
> mineral salts reduced to 1/2, organic complex unchanged according  
> to MS,
> with 1.0 mg 1-1 IBA, 0.1 mg 1-1 GA3 and 1g 1-1 of active charcoal  
> was used in the
> rooting phase.
> Well developed root system and high quality of rooted plants induced a
> high percentage of acclimatization (100%) of cv Čačanska bestrna  
> under the
> ‘myst’ system in  greenhouse whereas the percentage of  
> acclimatization of cv
> Čačanska crna was low, 40%."
>
> http://www.agr.hr/smotra/pdf_71/acs71_23.pdf
>
> On 26-Dec-07, at 12:16 PM, Greg and April wrote:
>
>> If I might be able to add a few comments to think about -
>>
>> Coir has a problem with being real loose, and slowly washing into  
>> the circulating system.    Coir also biologically degrades.
>>
>> Pea Gravel has a problem of being very heavy and little porosity.
>>
>> Expanded clay may or may not have good porosity, and while lighter  
>> than pea gravel, it is very expensive.
>>
>> Marble to pea sized charcoal has a good chance to fill a niche  
>> that many people may not realize.
>>
>> Light weight, good porosity, little to no biological degradation -  
>> and if the charcoal can made reasonably cheep it could be just the  
>> thing that hydroponics and aquaponic systems could use.
>>
>> Greg H.
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Gerald Van Koeverden
>> To: bhans at earthmimic.com
>> Cc: Terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
>> Sent: Monday, December 24, 2007 13:54
>> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Marketing comment for TP. (was volatile  
>> matter andchar)
>>
>> Brian,
>>
>> I definitely think there is some potential in commercial  
>> hydroponic vegetable production.  But in this matter, charcoal  
>> would be competing against coconut husk (coir) as the main rooting  
>> medium which has replaced rock wool in area greenhouses.
>>
>> To be fair, you should be comparing the wholesale price of the  
>> soil-less mix ($700) to the wholesale price of charcoal - $200/ 
>> ton.  No?  This makes it a lot more interesting...and feasible.
>>
>> Gerrit
>>
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