Charcoal as an additive

I found this article about charcoal as a soil enhancer; I think it is very exciting. Do you think I could use commercial charcoal for the barbeque?

Please check this out on this link:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410153658.htm

This is another one of those looking down the microscope articles. All composting of soil raises the level of organic carbon in the soil. Duh. The oxidation of this stuff causes a blackening of the soil profile that we see. I add all my charcoal grill leavings to the compost as an additive, but to add charcoal is just buying in to what they want to sell you. Just keep adding the organics and the charcoal will come along just fine.

Please see the thread for 3/14 on Amazon charcoal via a TV documentary. Len123 provides great research sources. I added lump charcoal but still need to crush it further. Looks great though, even in chunks. Anything I can do to help my soil I will do. I am also adding coir peat and compost (found the cottom burr compost at another nursery here = love it). Good luck. Carol

Having read the 3/14 thread on this, I still cannot see why this is such a big deal.

Lets take a pound of dehydrated charcoal vs a pound of dehydrated compost. Dehydrated to avoid the water content

Which one has more carbon?

Pretty much a toss up. All life is carbon based on this planet, more or less, we've removed the water by defination, so its just trace elements and carbon. The source of the charcoal is wood, which is carefully burned to produce the charcoal, and the process of burning removes some of the carbon as CO2.

Which one has more trace elements?
The compost pile retains all the trace elements that are not leached away during composting. The charcoal burning process mobilizes some elements more than others due to chemcial properties. But lets face it, burning is crude and effective at removing stuff. There are likely more trace elements in the compost.

Why all the noise about charcoal and greater fertility?
I would fathom a guess, that it has to do with the accessability of the trace elements and nutrients that are left behind in the burned charcoal. They are poorly bonded into the structure of the charcoal and readily obtained by the plants. In this case the charcoal is merely a fertilizer, which will get worn out.

Compost is broken down much more slowly. The creatures that do the breaking down are the biologic agents that we try to add to our gardens in the forms of other potions. These creatures are made of the nutrients in the compost and when they die, their nutrients are released into the soil. As the process of decay goes on, residual carbon is left in the soil, which I why soils being fed compost tend to be dark or black after a few years. The carbon is there.

Here's my final note.

There is no reason to buy lump charcoal, kingsford or whatever to put in your garden. Get the grill going, and invite me over! The ash waste contains many nutrients and can be added to the garden or the compost pile, its good, nutritious stuff, which is having a second life as a plant food. If it does not have a first life creating the fire for our food stuffs, there is no difference between that charcoal and the organics in your compost pile. And if you want to give me $10 to stuff a charcoal bag with compost, come on over! What it comes down to is that the tribes studied were doing was taking their grill charcoal and putting it on their gardens. Duh.

If you all have read "In Defense of Food" which is about whole nutrient debate and his arguement , "eat food, mostly plants, not too much". I see this thing as telling us that we need to add stuff they make rather than let us be free to "make compost, add to gardens, grow food". Compost flipping works, because it builds and maintains an active living soil. Charcoal alone cannot do that, it is just a simple list of nutrients, against biologically active compost.

I think they are trying to confuse it with 'Activated Carbon'. While considerabley higher priced it not only provides carbon but alo neutralizes toxins. All garden supply and all aquarium & pond supply stores carry it.

Compost also collects and "neutralizes" toxics. Look into raingardens for stormwater cleaning.