In message , Sacha
writes
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.


"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."
*
"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.

Thanks, Sacha - though it looks a bit as if our soot isn't quite dirty
enough, as it's from burning wood. Still, if charcoal is second-best,
then wood soot should at least do no harm - I'll have a go, anyway, as
black spot is really a problem with some of our roses!

--
Klara, Gatwick basin