Science Forums 2

[davidgmills]

Maikeru: To answer your question, I have been using chemical fertilizers and well chopped leaves to hep kick start the terra preta. I have noticed that after a couple of weeks the leaves are nearly gone.

Questions for all:

I am wondering about worms. We have lots of worms here and I wonder if they will be attracted to TP and also help improve the soil.

My problem at the moment is that I am doubling the size of my vegetable garden and I have to kill off the bermuda to do it. So far not having much success with the new half of the garden.

BBQ charcoal here is fairly cheap. $5-7 for 20 lbs. Have already put 80 lbs on the garden (about 250 sq ft). Lots of flower beds to go after the vegetable garden is in place. Also want to plant blueberries and a couple hazelnut trees. Am wondering how they might do charcoaled.

Taildragerdriver:

I like the idea of the mound method of making charcoal. But my experience with making charcoal in a 2 and 1/2 gallon can has led me to believe that starting a good hot fire first and then pilling on wood chunks or logs works much better than starting with a pile and trying to get some low spot of the pile ignited. I also think you end up with less wood being wasted as a starter fuel (the starter fuel makes ash rather than charcoal) that way. It is also much easier to get the whole process started. And very easy to build up in size of wood used -- from smaller to bigger. The bigger chunks and logs piled on last help keep the process smoldering rather than igniting.

One other thing. I like the idea of the 55 gallon drum. But I don't like the idea of starting a fire outside the drum. It wastes too much wood. The beauty of a tall drum is that heat rises and "roasts" all the wood above. I don't think you can get this effect as easy with a mound. You might be a lot better off with ten drums rather than one mound. Plus you would have it all turned to charcoal in several hours versus days. Plus drums are very easy to handle and rolling them around with the lid on quickly puts out the "fire" and also begins the pulverizing process.