On 8/7/2010 12:48 PM, songbird wrote:
after nosing through the book
the other day the only thing that
struck me as different/interesting
from what i've read elsewhere was
that the author recommended not
using charcoal in the compost pile
saying that it did not decompose.

ok, this is true and fine, but
what other substrate would you like
to use for the bacteria/fungi/etc.
to have a happy home for when it
gets spread or used elsewhere?

i would think that using charcoal
in a pile would help keep some of
those nutrients in the pile and not
as many leached out...

so gardening gurus what do you think?
does it have to be activated charcoal
instead of the stuff i would get from
an enclosed fire?


songbird

Waste of effort. Charcoal likes to hold onto polar organic compounds
and water would elute low molecular weight nutrients. Burnt charcoal is
OK otherwise you're wasting your time.