[Terrapreta] pulverizing charcoal

Wed May 21 03:58:20 CDT 2008

This photograph, taken by Richard Haard, in a garden situation seems  
to support the idea that the critters and the plant roots help to  
break charcoal apart. The larger dry piece of charcoal which the  
knife point is laying on was in the ground for nearly one year and it  
does not resemble the smaller piece of charcoal which had one small  
white flat worm (the white oval spot) and apparent plant roots  
attached to it. The larger dry piece of charcoal indicates little  
biological activity.

I can only suggest that the dry charcoal was buried just after it was  
made. Likely it was a product of last spring's earthen mound kiln  
with no special attempt to wet, size, fertilize or inoculate it. Is  
it possible that pieces of charcoal can be in the ground for a year  
and not get saturated? Why?

In my gardening activities, I have found a considerable number of  
charcoal pieces that, I believe, have been compacted by foot traffic  
during home construction. Usually this charcoal is found when  
draining systems are installed or repaired. These photographs are  
examples (here, here and here), also taken by Rich. These specific  
pieces could have been in the ground since the land was cleared for  
construction of the home some ninety years ago and were 4-6" (10-15  
cm) below the surface. This charcoal was 18" (45 cm) from an aged  
moss covered brick wall with no  noticeable fire markings suggesting  
that the charcoal was buried for a period of time that was closer to  
the construction of the home than of recent origin.

 From my perspective, the placement of charcoal in the soil needs to  
meet certain requirements for it to interact with the soil's biology.  
I agree with Max and Folke that the charcoal is broken up by the  
local biology in due course. Soil compaction may likely stall the  
break up of charcoal (till the next ice age? I live in a location  
where the last ice age was fifteen thousand years ago and was a  
mile... 1600 meters thick ice sheet).

Keep your eyes open for there is charcoal in more places than you  
might believe, just under your foot-------Larry (in the wet Pacific NW)

-------------------------------------
On May 20, 2008, at 3:26 PM, MFH wrote:

> Worms feed by “sucking” moist particles of organic matter. They  
> have no teeth. It appears that fine grains of soil or sand or char  
> are ingested to assist in the breakdown of the organic matter in  
> the worm’s intestines.
>
>
>
> It seems unlikely that worms could be directly involved in breaking  
> down large char pieces. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a link.  
> If the moisture conditions are suitable and there is ample organic  
> matter then there will be worms, and worms will improve the soil,  
> and improved soil will mean more plant vigour, which will mean more  
> plant roots. And more plant roots will mean greater breakdown of  
> charcoal lumps, as the roots penetrate holes and gaps seeking  
> nutrients and moisture. The forces generated by expanding roots is  
> considerable, as evidenced domestically by broken concrete paths  
> and damaged pipes.
>
>
>
> And there are lots of roots. A mature rye plant has a total of  
> around 600 km. of roots.
>
>
>
> Max H
>
>
>
>
>
> From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org [mailto:terrapreta- 
> bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of folke Günther
> Sent: Wednesday, 21 May 2008 8:01 AM
> To: Greg and April
> Cc: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] pulverizing charcoal
>
>
>
> I don't know what happens if you have very large amounts, but if  
> you add a reasonable (>a kilo per sq. m) amount of unsorted (up to  
> 4-5 cm pieces) char to he soil, and wait for a year, then all char  
> will be very soft and easily split up in smaller pieces. I think  
> the plant roots do most of the on, and he worms will hunt for  
> bacteria in the char.
>
> 2008/5/20 Greg and April <gregandapril at earthlink.net>:
>
> Are you sure about that ?
>
>
>
> We already have some evidence that when char level get above a  
> certain level in worm bins, they don't do very well - probably  
> because it's so abrasive.
>
> If you add amounts of char in the worm-bin, the organic material  
> will disintegrate rather fast, the microbes will be eaten by the  
> worms, an after some time (faster than you think), almost only the  
> char will be left. It is evident that the worms don't thrive very  
> well there!
>
>
>
> If it's abrasive enough to keep worm levels down, what makes you  
> think that the worms can make big pieces small?
>
>
>
> I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just pointing out that we may have  
> some evidence that what you said may not be true.
>
>
>
>
>
> Greg H.
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: folke Günther
>
> To: May Waddington
>
> Cc: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org ; Roy Lent
>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 2:17
>
> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] pulverizing charcoal
>
>
>
> The worms and the plant roots  will do the job. After a year, all  
> pieces are conveniently small.
> FG
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> NB :Send your mails to folkeg at gmail.com, not to holon.se
> ----------------------------------------
> Folke Günther
> Kollegievägen 19
> 224 73 Lund
> Sweden
> Phone: +46 (0)46 141429
> Cell: +46 (0)709 710306
> URL: http://www.holon.se/folke
> BLOG: http://folkegunther.blogspot.com/
>
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