[ThaiPhoon]

From what I've read here, as well as in other places, mixing the charcoal with things like compost and even soaking it in guano teas or something seems to be the way to go. From my understanding the little microbes like to live in the micro pores of the charcoal...Its gotta be good stuff, it helped to sustain a jungle civilization after all!

[SilverSurfer_OG]

@jaykush Yeah i reckon will repeat this with clones. I will have some in a week or so.

Going to use more ferts in with the charcoal mixes.

These Reclining Buddahs are hungry suckers!

@Thaiphoon

Yeah my next batch is getting a good soak in some frothy tea

Nice.

I have mixed a small batch and begun to play with potted plants.

30% charcoal
70% local organic soil mix (recycled so nutrients should be depleted somewhat)

I have watered with plain water only as I'm also interested in how much growth Tera Preta alone will sustain. I believe the scientists have already proven it's worth as a soil amendment, though I believe it will only really shine once micro flora & fauna are well established - The second crop. This is the same as Aquaponics, once the critters are there doing their job, and good parameters are met, the growth really kicks in.

Observations - Heat Buffered. the pots were not as hot, and clones did not die.

Dry Buffering - Plants that are in conventional soil, when completely dry (very light to pick up) wilt. Plants in Tera Preta beside them, on the same watering schedule, do not wilt, they are also very light, but obviously enough moisture is still retained.

Water Retention - Just pour some water into the mix you'll see what I mean. It holds water better than most soil mixes, but doesn't get 'gluggy'.

Ground Cover - the greenhouse is very hot, within days three potted Tera Preta plants grew a fine moss groundcover on them. This had no apparent detrimental effects at all, just looked really wet as it is a moss, you know, but was a 1mm very fine (brushes away to the touch) groundcover with no bad smell, waterlogging, or anything like that that I could associate with moss.

I have a Tera Preta (TP) pepper and an Aquaponic (AP) Pepper.

Same size when planted in respective 'systems'. Both in Greenhouse.

Size - Tera Preta only just winning (remember this plant gets fed nothing)
Flower set - Tera Preta first to flower.

Both plants still young and quite thin.

[Smurf]

good idea for a control there bongsong, specially w/o nutes!,,,, what size (charcoal) particles did you end up going for in your mix?

only reading yesterday how some agricultural farmers down this way are rebuilding their soil by applying lignite (brown coal) to the fields,,, these same farmers have had increases in crop production not seen in 5 yrs,,,, from the testimonials - water retention & increased microbial activity were observed almost immediately.

the first time I ever used the stuff was in my orchid mix, at the time I had no idea why, only doing what I was instructed,,, looking back now its probably one of the best soil amendments I've ever made.

Ermm. Particle size of the charcoal ranges from dust to 1". I pulverised it as best I could while wetted down in a soil mix to avoid breathing carbon (I grew up above a coal mine and had athsma for 14 years till we moved away).

I'll definately be using TP more about the place, as time etc allows. Quite interested in making a solar machine to char crop residues, well, very interested.

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Good stuff Bongsong!

I have also noticed my recent batch of plants outdoor have been coping well with the current drought. Very nice to notice some immediate benefits!

I have sexed my Buddahs and am happy to report 3 females
The male was in the coco without TP.

You are using unamended charcoal in your mix?

Hey Smurf!

You been using charcoal for your marijuana crops since your orchids?

[ThaiPhoon]

One observation I have made about using rice husk charcoal here is that it holds water like a sponge. I was washing some charcoal the other day and was just playing with it in my hands. I squeezed a handful of soaked charcoal and was very surprised at the amount of water that was actually stored in it. I wash the charcoal to get ash and other small floaters out of it. The good charcoal sinks to the bottom, the crap floats and is easily removed. I've got a guava tree in a mixture of local earth and about 40% rice husk charcoal, seems to love it, as does that other citrus tree with that pot plant in it!

I have just germed 9 more of my homemade seeds and I will plant them into a mix of my homebrew compost/bokashi/EWC mix and 30-40% charcoal and see what happens!

Peace

Edit: link https://www.eprida.com/hydro/ecoss/ba...llcharcoal.pdf

[jaykush]

well i mixed another batch the other day. some things i noticed were the TP has a lot better soil structure. its light, but still solid. moist but not soaking. seems to hold the perfect amount of water. and has a nice lil film of something growing on top like bongsong said. the others dont not nearly as much. i found soaking the charcoal chunks first. letting them dry till lightly moist, put in a bag and crush. then after run through water to get all that stuff thats not needed. eventually u have 1/8 to 1/4 inch sized particles perfect for amending. and clean to the touch so no charcoal dust everywhere which happened the first time.

I've added only charcoal to see if I can estimate when it 'comes right' - being, how long it takes for naturally occuring micro flora/fauna to get established. I'm thinking a few doses of rain and it will be well and truly seeded.

When bacteria are established in Aqua you can tell from - no ammonia - no nitrite, less deficiencies of any kind, robust growth.

In dirt? I'll have to keep observing dirts a learning curve for me here. - I was trained to be a market gardener - you know - kill everything and plant a hybrid on the scorched earth....

[konstantgrdnr]

Just a little more info. The first link is to the Terra Peta article, The second link is to the library of articles that Acres has for free. There are some real interesting articles that are worth a good look, especially if your into using soil.

Terra Preta article
https://www.acresusa.com/toolbox/repr...TerraPreta.pdf

catalog of articles.
https://www.acresusa.com/toolbox/articles.htm


Collectively we can start a Johnny chronic seed movement.Show a friend how to grow with a little soil and couple of cfl's.Then that friend shows another friend,and so on and hopefully on and on.