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Old 28-11-2004, 01:11 AM
Sacha
 
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On 27/11/04 23:51, in article ,
"Klara" wrote:

In message , Sacha
writes
On 25/11/04 12:38, in article
,
"Klara" wrote:


We have a big bag of soot the sweep left behind. We only ever burn wood,
so no coal soot is included. Is it ok to put this on the compost? Or are
there any other uses for it?

Thanks-


My grandfather always scattered it round roses, straight from the chimney.
I have no idea why but that seemed to be the traditional use for it at one
time.


Presumably, though, not until the summer?
Or might it be just as useful now?


From childhood memory, as it came out of the chimney it went onto the soil
and, IIRC, those were coal fires. This would have been around
September/October where we lived, because autumn is mild.
I really can't swear to that but that's what I seem to recall.

Having written the above, I went off and Googled and found this:

"ROSES -- BLACK SPOT -- POWDERY MILDEW -- MILK 2: 22 April 2004
*
as a nuisance that must be corrected. It is the price that the rose lover
pays for living where the air is unpolluted by the burning of fossil fuels."
*
No wonder, the head gardener commented, that the city dwellers of the
industrial societies of the eighteen and nineteen hundreds were able to grow
such marvellous blossoms. Indeed, in the U K, that was the position right up
to and beyond World War II. Even now, he noted -- in 2004 -- there were
towns of the United Kingdom where the local authorities refused to introduce
clean air zones, and permitted the burning of raw coal in domestic grates.
*
"In short, dirty air kills off the spores of the black spot," he summed up,
"and leaves the roses with clean faces."
*
Soot was one organic cure, if it could be obtained -- soot created by the
burning of coal and taken from the domestic chimney, not from the burning by
any means of gasoline or oil or wood.
*
"Wait for the affected bush to become fully dormant," he prescribed. "In the
U K that is in November, December and January. Choose a windfree day when
the weather is truly miserable, a damp and wet day, when it is no time for
sensible human beings to be in the garden.
*
"Remove every bit of the mulch and debris that is on the earth around the
plant's base. Do so with the least disturbance to the lifted mulch. In fact,
good practice is to take it up in small, undisturbed quantities which are
immediately and carefully placed into a plastic bag, with the top of the bag
being kept closed until more has to be added. At the end of the job, tie up
the bag or bags tightly and take them off site for disposal in a safe kind
of way. You can be sure that what you cart away in this very controlled
manner contains black spot spores just waiting to rise up and settle on the
new growth as the season improves and the plants revive from their dormancy.
*
"With the old, infected mulch removed, apply the soot to the plant -- a
handful or so scattered over what at this time of the year are pruned
branches. Then spread it on the ground -- a large handful to the square yard
or square metre of surface. The damp conditions will encourage it to stick
to wherever it is put, which is what you want."
*
The operation must be repeated six weeks later.
*
"If soot is not to be had," continued the head gardener, "and judging by her
words, this lady gardens where little coal is burned domestically, then, in
exactly the same way, with exactly the same rate of application, use
charcoal that has been ground up into charcoal dust. You can get it by the
bag from the merchants who sell charcoal for the barbeque and other cooking
devices."
http://www.moongardening.cwc.net/roses.html
--

Sacha
(remove the weeds for email)