Pakistan Gardening Forum

Han anyone has practical experience of mixing charcoal (powdered) with cow manure for growing vegetables as I think this holds the nutrients for long specially in sandy soil ? Below is the extract from a website; (http://permaculturenews.org/2014/08/26/ ... andy-soil/)

Unless someone has experience, it is rather difficult to comment on internet material.

"coal or biochar has both a high Cation Exchange Capacity and Anion Exchange Capacity. That means it can hold all sorts of nutrients for plants very well – that’s why you want to use it in the first place!
Biochar is one of those things that the more you have in your soil, the better it is, but the minimum value I recommend to use in a garden is a 1″ (2.5cm) layer on top of your soil. No matter if you dig it in or not, you will have more than 10% organic matter content in the top 6-8″

regards

It has a tendency to "adsorb" the nutrients on its surface.. this enables it to hold the nutrients in soil... for nutrient deficient soils, it will be disastrous... however, if it is added with nutrients first and let it "age" for 40-50 days then it may benefit the fast draining soil...

It is very alkaline when fresh due to calcium and potassium oxides.. so it has to be neutralised with acids before use..

Sir, I have used it in my soil along with ash, it helped roses to get a boost due to calcium and potassium content... but I cannot attribute solely because I have used it in very small amount and my soils are organically rich due to use to manure..

Activated charcoal has been used for centuries in abdominal pain, food poisoning and diarrhoea.. it literally adsorb all the nutrients (whether bad or good) on its surface and saves the patient from the damage of toxins..

thanks, so it means if manure is sufficiently mixed then not so much requirement for such endeavors. I am putting a 2 inch layer of cow manure over sandy silt, then tilling and mixing, watering, leaving for 2weeks, then again some manure, then watering. Then sprinkling either DAP or NPK 20 20 20 and mixing amd watering again. After that bed preparation and planting vegetables etc. Hope it works for sandy silt.
yawer