I was researching some easily available alternatives to plant soil and found an interesting piece about charcoal...
https://www.bioed.org/ECOS/pubs/Prese...ustrations.pdf
I was wondering if anyone knew whether it would work as a complete soil replacement (perhaps ground to a gravel like consistency or even powder)?
Perhaps I could even mix it with sand?
Anyway, I'd be glad to hear your feedback on the matter.
Thanks.
Hello,
I came accross this article
https://biocharproject.org/charmasters-l ... ium-balls/
and have tried this myself with char and perlite and seen a noticable difference in plant growth (also inhibits algea growth)
I know if you where to distilate charcoal you would get tars, ash , oils, resins that I guess will give you an idea of what would be leached out of the charcoal over time. Not sure if this would amount to nutrients your plants could use.
Biochar on the otherhand is mostly just carbon and not much else so I guess it wouldnt have the possible nutrient value of the charcoal , however it does have great water retention and good for microbial life (provides a home). You can see this by looking close up its spongy under a microscope.
Both would also be a liming agent so your PH would go up, you would need to compensate accordingly.
I am currently testing to see if the char also leaches out chlorine/chloramine from the water like activated charcoal.
Kind Regards,
Ben
I came accross this article
https://biocharproject.org/charmasters-l ... ium-balls/
and have tried this myself with char and perlite and seen a noticable difference in plant growth (also inhibits algea growth)
I know if you where to distilate charcoal you would get tars, ash , oils, resins that I guess will give you an idea of what would be leached out of the charcoal over time. Not sure if this would amount to nutrients your plants could use.
Biochar on the otherhand is mostly just carbon and not much else so I guess it wouldnt have the possible nutrient value of the charcoal , however it does have great water retention and good for microbial life (provides a home). You can see this by looking close up its spongy under a microscope.
Both would also be a liming agent so your PH would go up, you would need to compensate accordingly.
I am currently testing to see if the char also leaches out chlorine/chloramine from the water like activated charcoal.
Kind Regards,
Ben
