Neil Trotter wrote:

The programme is based around the remarkable nutritional qualities of
"terra preta" in the Amazon.

A quick excerpt from the above BBC link:

"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.

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?


Interesting wasn't it.. Charcoal is traditionally recommended for use
with bulbs to 'keep the soil sweet'. I use a bit in planters for
similar reasons and stuff 'does' seem to do exceptionally well with it I
must admit.
Also used against poisoning and upset stomachs.

Those trials that Dr Steiner showed were impressive.

Any waste from planters goes in the compsot if 'clean' so i get some
charcoal in the soil.

What would interest me would be the species used for the charcoal
production and whether they were local (very likley), and specifically
selected ( also likely, as with Salix in this country)

Soild science wasn't my keenest topic at University, but this is
fascinating!-))

Less related but loosely interesting
BD Agric Methods (interestingly pioneered by a Rudolf Steiner during the
last 50 years) use ashes (or charcoal) from pests as a pest control
method.

//
Jim