Carbon - use in growing ??

[solway cropper]

Surely, if it is carbon it will contain only...carbon. The benefits of material like wood ash are they contain numerous other things which are useful to plants. Personally I can't think what benefit you'd get from adding pure carbon to your garden other than as a way to get rid of it. Why not just put it in the bin?

[Aberdeenplotter]

it is not pure carbon, it is carbon which has been impregnated with impurities which accumulated whilst it was being used as a filter. There could be all sorts of stuff in there and it needs to be disposed of safely. The local authority should really be consulted, They should have a safe disposal facility

[Katog]

Land fill is already too full

[solway cropper]

it is not pure carbon, it is carbon which has been impregnated with impurities which accumulated whilst it was being used as a filter. There could be all sorts of stuff in there and it needs to be disposed of safely. The local authority should really be consulted, They should have a safe disposal facility

Some years ago we had to dispose of small amounts of some nasty industrial chemicals so we asked the local council who had no idea what to do with it. They said ask the fire brigade, so we did and two officers came round. They talked to each other for a while then they simply removed the lids from the containers and poured all the stuff down a drain. Out of sight, out of mind!!

[Katog]

I got a useful reply from Carbon Gold - thanks for suggesting them.
The charcoal from a filter is activated charcoal. Therefore it has a lot more receptor sites and should not be used directly on soil. With biochar we seek receptor sites, but not so many that minerals in the soil get locked up and are unavailable to plants
However, it is likely that your water filter charcoal has now filled up the receptor sites and won't have that effect in soil. As long as the filter isn't full of heavy metals (unlikely in a hill stream unless there's an old mine upstream) you could apply it to soil. Why not try a small patch first, applying at a rate of 500g per sq. metre?

[Newton]

So where is it? I don't see it. Any chance of posting it here? Isn't that the idea? Maybe they will......I suppose its early!

[VirginVegGrower]

I got a useful reply from Carbon Gold - thanks for suggesting them.
The charcoal from a filter is activated charcoal. Therefore it has a lot more receptor sites and should not be used directly on soil. With biochar we seek receptor sites, but not so many that minerals in the soil get locked up and are unavailable to plants
However, it is likely that your water filter charcoal has now filled up the receptor sites and won't have that effect in soil. As long as the filter isn't full of heavy metals (unlikely in a hill stream unless there's an old mine upstream) you could apply it to soil. Why not try a small patch first, applying at a rate of 500g per sq. metre?

You're welcome!

[Katog]

I don't understand this post....

[Newton]

You thanked VVG for suggesting you contact CG. She said your welcome........simples.

Note we still haven't heard from our carbon soil expert on this which is disappointing!