Char in flower

[h.h.]

Vonforne that would be an interesting experiment!

If excess nitrates at the end of a grow is a possible issue, a possible solution would be powdered char watered in, rather than trying to flush out nutrients, which if successful leaves you with the stuff that doesn't flush out like aluminum.

Char on the other hand,if it works to reduce free nitrates, would just leave you with improved soil in the end. Nothing is wasted.

I have a couple of sacrificial virgins planted in smartpots sitting in trash cans and surrounded by grass cuttings. About 4 weeks into flower, still plenty green from the grass.
The intent was to switch the grass out with more carbon
material. Now I'm thinking of getting a bag of cowboy charcoal and mixing in.
I'm just not sure what sort of ratio I should use, if it should be presoaked, powdered or chunky.
I hate to get too drastic at this point. While they are sacrificial, they are starting to look kinda cute...
I thought this was an interesting idea.
It could also be incorporated by leaving some pvc pipe vertically in the plantings during veg, removing it during flower and washing in some char.
Whatever. I wanted to give the idea a bump for further development.

 

[TheyCallMeJJay]

While it is an interesting concept, I would be interested in how char would effect the ammendment at your soil recycle stage.

 

[jaykush]

While it is an interesting concept, I would be interested in how char would effect the ammendment at your soil recycle stage.

it will make your soil better

 

[h.h.]

In my case, it appears that the pots are pulling in nutrients from the grass clippings. When I water, I mostly water the clippings and moisture is absorbed by transference through the material. When I pulled one pot out of the grass, the roots had adhered to it, but hadn't grown through. I tend to believe there is possible excess nitrogen in that zone and just kind of want to clean it up.
In a good soil with little being done to it, the usefulness might decline. As more fertilizer is used, it's usefulness would increase.
Char gets better every time you use it, though as a leaching agent,fresh might work better. Great for recycling.
As a top dress or how I intend to try it, you could remove any excess from recycle.

 

[il19z8rn4li1]

Char.. or as people like myself like to call it "bio-char" since its merely being used to aid
in Biology.

Let me explain a little bit about what I know about bio-char :-D

ITS AN ABSOLUTE MUST... thats first off

Second off.. if you dont know what Terra Preta is... google it :-D

Thirdly.. let me talk about it in a manner that will just come to you as, "No shit..
i completely already knew that" lol

think this..

Bio-char is to SOIL
as
Activated Carbon is to AIR

---Activated Carbon is merely Bio-Char(aka: charcoal) that has been heated
to i believe around 750 'C...


So this Bio-Char is kind of like a filter agent in the soil.. the FILTERS..and HOLDS
onto nutrients. Say you water and you get run off, if you have BC in your soils, most
of the nutrients, even water soluble ones, will be LOCKED onto the carbon. Carbon being none soluble along with the other SOIL structure are of course locked in place inside your pot or the ground.

when I mix my soils, i add in all kinda of my own bio-char I made. Which is the same as your Cowboy charcoal i believe... I like to screen mine through 1/2inch chicken fence, then roughly smash walk over these pieces and smash um up a little bit. I like to make it kind of like perlite just a little smaller.

I add about 1gallon per 1cubic foot of soil.
amend new BC into the soil every "season" at 1/4 gal.

 

[h.h.]

That's it. I just call it char most of the time" bio" being how it's used.
I was doing my own before. "Cowboy", I think is a brand name I read on here and might be a better alternative at the present time as far as convenience.
Thanks for the ratios. They'll come in handy.

 

[MrFista]

Bio-char = pre amended with nitrogen to stop it leaching N from the soil. The proper stuff is made at low temps and retains much of the tars etc from the wood. This is a different process to charcoal making, which is done at high temps to remove said impurities - for a cleaner burn.

I think the idea of using charcoal as an N sink has some merit. Ideally there would not be too much N in the system in the first place, but we learn as we go.

 

[jaykush]

i didnt get this earlier but are you saying you have a smart pot filled with soil and a plant, and thats sitting in a trashcan so there is space around the smartpot, and you filled said empty space with grass clippings. and its feeding the plant?

are the roots growing out of the smartpot into the clippings?

i also think watering in powdered char could end up being a bad thing. Char doesn't just grab N. it grabs all sorts of other nutrients and minerals. it might also throw off the temporary buffer in PH.

 

[h.h.]

i didnt get this earlier but are you saying you have a smart pot filled with soil and a plant, and thats sitting in a trashcan so there is space around the smartpot, and you filled said empty space with grass clippings. and its feeding the plant?

are the roots growing out of the smartpot into the clippings?

i also think watering in powdered char could end up being a bad thing. Char doesn't just grab N. it grabs all sorts of other nutrients and minerals. it might also throw off the temporary buffer in PH.

Side dressing. Soil at the bottom.
It appears to be feeding nitrogen at least. When I checked a week ago, the roots weren't growing through. Figured I could change it out after preflower though that was more than a couple of weeks ago. Decided to ride it out a bit thinking the grass would collapse, which it has to a certain degree.
Good point on the char. Maybe best left to the final week.
For now I soaked some wood ash and poured the water over the clippings but thats for another thread.

 

[TheyCallMeJJay]

Do we really want to tie up nutrients? Does it ast like a chealator/complexer? i.e. EDTA

 

[mad librettist]

Do we really want to tie up nutrients? Does it ast like a chealator/complexer? i.e. EDTA

sorta like asking if you really want to tie up your cash in bank accounts.

you can accomplish more with a higher CEC.


lost of the "tied up" nutrients are microbes.

as fista pointed out if you add it to soil you want to treat it first

 

[h.h.]

sorta like asking if you really want to tie up your cash in bank accounts.

you can accomplish more with a higher CEC.


lost of the "tied up" nutrients are microbes.

as fista pointed out if you add it to soil you want to treat it first

Somebody needs to explain CEC a little better. How nutrient storage works and how buffers work.
There's this guy:
http://www.soilminerals.com/Cation_Exchange_Simplified.htm
While he makes some sense, I'm not sure how correct he is.
Then there is Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffer_solution
A little hard to wrap your head around.
I've been thinking of DE and char as buffers as well as nutrient batteries. Am I correct in that assessment?

 

[supermanlives]

could i use aquarium charcoal ?

 

[420empire]

Cool. Is it possible to use ordernairy bonfire coal?

The Empire

 

[h.h.]

Cool. Is it possible to use ordernairy bonfire coal?

The Empire

If you are referring to charcoal briquets, no way.
If referring to coals from the fire, you missed Mr. Fiesta's note...

Bio-char = pre amended with nitrogen to stop it leaching N from the soil. The proper stuff is made at low temps and retains much of the tars etc from the wood. This is a different process to charcoal making, which is done at high temps to remove said impurities - for a cleaner burn.

.

I use char from the fire, figuring some is hi temp and some is low. While good, if made properly, it should only be better.