[Terrapreta] Composting with Char

[Gerald Van Koeverden]

In experiments in Japan, they added charcoal at only 1% by weight to  
fresh (wet) cow manure; that would work out to roughly 5% by volume.   
I have no idea how they came up with that ratio.  But it wouldn't  
hurt to go much higher.

Why even bother adding soil to the compost pile?  It just adds a lot  
more weight you have to cart back and forth.  Like Tom, I think that  
charcoal and compost make up an ideal combination for both the urban  
and rural gardener, especially for use in difficult soils.  The  
compost serves to put a healthy nutrient charge into the structure of  
the charcoal particles which in turn encourages stronger soil microbe  
dynamics.


Gerrit

On 30-Mar-08, at 9:22 PM, Kevin Chisholm wrote:

> I would like to try some experiments of composting with char. Note  
> that
> this is not simply mixing compost with char, but rather adding char to
> kitchen scraps and turning them periodically to aerate.
>
> Char will be low temperature char, sized to 100% -4 MM. I tentatively
> propose to run with about 1 part char to three parts compostable  
> waste,
> by volume,  from the kitchen sourced compostables.
>
> Would anyone have suggestions on minimum or maximum amounts of  
> char? Or,
> any suggestions for other additives?
>
> Dr. Karve's process of composting "in place" seems to make the  
> greatest
> sense. Would it inherently be better to compost with a soil  
> addition to
> the char and vegetative matter?
>
> What about the following "recipe:
> 1 volume of charcoal
> 1 volume of soil
> 3 volumes of compostable vegetative material.
>
> When finished, this should be roughly 1 part charcoal, 1 part soil,  
> and
> 1 part compost. This could be added to the soil by tilling in to the
> soil, or, by being spread on the surface, if "no-till agriculture" was
> employed.
>
> Any other comments or suggestions?
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Kevin
>
>
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