Terry Coombs wrote:

I often end up with a pile of charcoal from burning brush piles . I'd like
to incorporate some of it into the soil in the wife's rose garden and into
my food garden . How fine does it need to be ? Are chunks somewhat smaller
than a briquet OK , or do I need to pulverize it before working it into the
soil ? Most of it is already pretty small , around teaspoon sized , with
some fines and some bigger chunks .

i'd leave it as it is. we need all the soil carbon
sequestration we can get. the larger chunks will be
around for hundreds or thousands of years.

if you are only using a small amount it doesn't
matter, but if you are going to put a larger amount
on a garden it is usual practice to run it through
the compost heap to give it some nutrients and
bacterial/fungi so it doesn't end up pulling them
from the garden soil. in the raw state it's a sink
for a while.

the more you pulverize it the larger the surface
area and that means it will bind more nutrients and
hold more bacterial/fungi but that also means it
won't last as long.


songbird