This topic contains 10 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by Roger Brook 10 years, 11 months ago.
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Charcoal is a hot topic, simmering nicely, intimate with global warming issues! So last autumn I made three beds, two with charcoal (one on top and one with charcoal incorporated) and one bed with manure instead of charcoal.
At first this spring there was little difference in growth but now the bed with no charcoal is looking more abundant. The charcoal beds are fine and similar in growth, but with smaller plants. It looks like the charcoal has no especial store of nutrients itself but I think it is more a long term idea, that it conserves nutrinents which may otherwise leach, though there is no particular evidence for this, more a surmise from the Terra Preta soils of the Amazon.
It looks to me like adding charcoal is not like adding manure and compost, it is more about soil structure, air and root development. Worth using for long term soil quality.
I was thinking of doing the same but for a different reason. Charcoal finings are supposed to be a good slug deterrent and been meaning to give it a try for years but never been able to get the finings.
PeteCharcoal finings are a great slug deterrent and I dress the base of my young cucumber and courgette plants with it.
Alan
Thanks Alan
will have to find a local charcoal maker.
PeteCould you use coal ash or is that totally different?
Have you considered some terracing, perhaps using old railway sleepers or dry-stone walling? the flat terraces slow down and catch the run-off of rainwater allowing the water to filter down to the roots. They also make it easier to plant beds.
Our local electricity company last year renewed some poles and (kindly?) left the old one lying on my land. They’ll be cut to length and used as step fronts or terrace walls (2 deep) this year! it’s an ill wind…!
There’s lots of useful stuff on YouTube about making & using charcoal. Leave the coal-ash to your local council!
as I understand it coal dust is too acid and I guess would have tar like substances in it. ordinary wood ash is ok I believe and I have used it in small quantities.
i second what several people have said:
– coal ash is toxic for the garden
– wood ash is good either in small quantities in your compost heap, or directly around fruit trees and garlic (my garlic had an instant growth spurt after i put it on). it provides a potassium boost.
– charcoal finings DON’T add nutrients (it’s almost 100% carbon) but DO provide nooks and crannies (surface area) for soil bateria and fungi, and water regulation in soil, thus helping long-term soil health. some permaculture types swear by ‘charging’ the finings before application, by using urine or nettle/compost tea, or putting it in the compost heap instead of straight on the garden. i haven’t had time to do this yet so i’ve just been scattering it on top of my mulch.
– you could break up ordinary charcoal to make finings, but do see if you can find some charcoal made in UK woods, as mass-produced supermarket stuff is pretty destructive to environments overseas, whereas charcoal-making is making a comeback in the UK as part of reviving woodlands here (google coppice / woodland management for your area, or a local organic/permaculture group will know where to find it), or DIY-it as someone saidI have been making my own version of charcoal by merely dowsing the burning embers of my bonfires to get the lovely black stuff. I think it likely that charcoal initially robs the soil of nutrients but I am finding after five years of adding to my veg garden I am getting good results.
I think there is good potential for adding charcoal to compost ingredients- recreating so to speak the ancient middens when terra preta was laid down.
I recently posted a blog on terra preta
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