Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Size of Charcoal for applying into the soil - Terra Preta

This is my personal perception (hypothesis) about the size of charcoal which could be used for Terra Preta applications based on expereince and reason.
I prefer lumps of charcoal instead of fine charcoal powder, for the following reasons. Anyhow over a period of time the charcoal located within a depth of 8 inches, breaks during ploughing and other activities done in the farm.
- roots prosper better around a piece of charcoal.
- Soil microbes and soil fungus would find convenient place in a lump of charcoal and can live as a community.
- Lump can provide better environment and choices for soil microbes to thrive.
- Lump is heavy so less chance of moving away from the field due to wind / water
- Adds texture to the soil
- Additional energy is required to powder the charcoal lumps (which is saved).

There is need for testing these properties scientifically.

Thanks to bob klein(arclein) for the question.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Ouch, yo use carbon fino al 10%(pasado por una criba de 2mm)para recrear terra preta y no funciono. en vez de mejorar la fertilidad del suelo, parece que bajo. Se sembraron plantas de zea mayz y phaseolus vulgaris para medir la fertilidad (midiendo la biomasa) y las que estaban bajo el tratamiento de 10% carbon crecieron menos que las que estaban en el suelo puro. Después, si quiere, le mando toda la investigación. Please, use google traslate, i can read in english, but write... and write long sentences its really headache for me. tanx!