Fertilizer recipe
 

1 bag lump charcoal 5 - 10 kilo's
Liquid manure 5 Litres

Break up charcoal as fine as possible for preference to pass through 1/4 inch sieve. Place in bucket and cover with liquid manure. Leave for 2 to 3 weeks for the charcoal to thoroughly absorb the manure.
In the meanwhile prepare 2 to 3 sq. m's of garden space for growing your favourite vegetable. Dig the fertilizer into one half of the prepared area, and leave the other half for the remainder of your required plants. Of course, the actual size of the area is entirely up to you. For the remainder of the year treat your plants as usual.
The amount of charcoal used is not critical but a couple of kilos per sq.m is about normal. You can use any excess on your compost heap or if you have a wormery try a small amount with them. Apparently the love it.
Last year I tried it with Swiss Chard - it was the largest I have ever grown.
It is fully organic - or as organic as the the liquid fertilizer you use.
Bigal

Fertilizer recipe
 

On 18 Jan, 14:58, Bigal wrote:
1 bag lump charcoal * 5 - 10 kilo's
Liquid manure * *5 Litres

Break up charcoal as fine as possible for preference to pass through 1/4
inch sieve. * Place in bucket and cover with liquid manure. * Leave for
2 *to 3 weeks for the charcoal to thoroughly absorb the manure.
In the meanwhile prepare 2 to 3 sq. m's of garden space for growing your
favourite *vegetable. * Dig the fertilizer into one half of the prepared
area, *and leave the other half for the remainder of your required
plants. * Of course, the actual size of the area is entirely up to *you.
For the remainder of the year treat your plants as usual.
The amount of charcoal used is not critical but a couple of kilos per
sq.m is about normal. * You can use any excess on your compost heap or
if you have a wormery try a small amount with them. * Apparently the
love it.
Last year I tried it with Swiss *Chard - it was the largest I have ever
grown.
It is fully organic - or as organic as the the liquid fertilizer you
use.
Bigal

--
Bigal

I take it you are talking about 5 litres of made up liquid fertilizer,
not neat?
David Hill

Yes. The liquid feertilizer is really to prime the charcoal. The charcoal itself is not a fertilizer but acts as a store for it and the soil bacteria which grow when in use. It acts as a slow release for fertilizer - not just for months but for many years. In later years you can just add the charcoal to the soil, but in the first instance it could absorb some of the nutrients from the soil. It also reduces some of the moisture loss from the soil. The soil I was using had been manured the previous year. This year I shall be adding it to the garden via the compost from my compost bin. The worms appear to love it. For a few quid, it is definitely worth a try.
Unlike wood ash, charcoal will not wash out of the soil and will continue to hold the fertilizer.
Bigal

Fertilizer recipe
 

Perhaps you would like to make your own charcoal as well,
see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXMUmby8PpU
for how it can be done.

Mike

Thanks mike. Yes, I do actually make my own charcoal using chippings from a planer which saves me having to crush it. Have been experimenting with making it for about a year. Unlike the Americans, fires in back gardens tend to be frowned upon, so I have used Google well with ChARCOAL PRODUCTION. Still some more work to do to get it to a fine art, but I'm getting there. I wish I could get it commercially in powder form and save myself a lot of hard work.
Bigal