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Old 20-12-2002, 10:47 PM
Stewart Robert Hinsley
 
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Default BBC2 Horizon 19-Dec-2002: The Secret of El Dorado -- Terra Preta

In article , Neil Trotter
writes
"Bruno Glaser, from the University of Bayreuth, has found that terra
preta is rich in charcoal, incompletely burnt wood. He believes it acts
to hold the nutrients in the soil and sustain its fertility from year to
year. This is the great secret of the early Amazonians: how to nurture
the soil towards lasting productivity. In experimental plots, adding a
combination of charcoal and fertiliser into the rainforest soil boosted
yields by 880% compared with fertiliser alone."

I'm impressed.


I suspect that the same improvement would not be achieved under British
conditions. Rainforest soils are notoriously infertile - due to leaching
of nutrients by the continual rainfall, potentiated by the high
temperatures.

Has anyone here experimented with charcoal as a soil additive? Better
still, has anyone managed to get their hands (here or abroad) on some of
this magic stuff?


--
Stewart Robert Hinsley