Is Carbon Fertilizer ??

[Gordon Gould]

I took the long ride to my nearest Kabota dealer to get some filters and along the way passed a big cornfield with last years stubble. There was a huge pile of manure ready to be spread and along side it was a similar sized pile of what looked like carbon. The fine granular stuff you get when you clean a chimney. I have never seen this before. Does the carbon have a benefit to the soil or is this just a way to dispose of large quantities of soot ?? Just curious.

 

[smstonypoint]

Biochar is supposedly a useful soil amendment -- Biochar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Steve

 

[DFB]

I just went through a similar situation. When I went get several loads of manure for my garden someone had been disposing of winters worth of woodstove ash cleanout all on top the manure pie...was no problem for me.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Thank smstonypoint. I didn't know that. I new that ashes had potash and other minerals in them but I had no idea that pure carbon was a benefit.

 

[Rustyiron]

Could it be limestone? I've seen (in limestone country) bulk granular ground limestone delivered in stockpiles in the field, except what I've seen is a light gray. A much cheaper alternate to burnt limestone that you might expect see when a heavy manure application is in store.

 

[Billrog]

There is a fella here that has a cooker just for making carbon he sells to enrich soil. I don't know enough about it to make any kind of credible statement.

 

[Fawken]

Pure carbon is not digestible by plants.

 

[vtsnowedin]

I'm betting what you were looking at was a pile of composted sewer plant sludge. Good fertilizer as long as it has been tested and doesn't have heavy metals in it. It is high in carbon which helps to improve soil texture and it's ability to hold onto other nutrients in a form plants can access them.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I wish I had my camera and took a picture. It was the color of asphalt, very granular but fine. Looked like a black sand pile. I know nothing about farming practices so it could be anything but it looked like chimney cleanings to me. I have seen large lime spreaders from Northeast Ag. The ones I recognize as lime spreaders spread white pulverized lime that comes in by rail which is loaded into their specialized truck spreaders.

 

[DFB]

Bulk Greensand maybe?


Greensand has been used since the eighteenth century as a soil amendment and slow-releasing fertilizer (0-0-3). It is one of the best certified organic sources of potassium. It comes from sandy rock or sediment containing a high percentage of the mineral glauconite (greenish-black to blue-green). It contains potash, magnesium, iron, silica and can contain as many as 30 other trace minerals. The recommended usage is to broadcast 50 to 100 lbs. per 1,000 square feet. It improves plant health in general and is also be used to loosen heavy, clay soils. It will also improve the moisture retention of sandy soils. Greensand is OMRI listed for organic use