RE: [CH] Soil question for L.B., or anyone else who may feel like jumping in...

T. Matthew Evans (matt.evans@ce.gatech.edu)
Thu, 11 Apr 2002 18:19:49 -0400 

Erich --

Well, good news and bad news....ashes contain all sorts of tasty treats for
your chile plants and the would be very happy to have such a wonderful home.
However, the pH of said ashes is very low (too low for chile plants) and
commercial charcoal (i.e., briquettes as opposed to lump hardwood) contains
all sorts of bad chemicals.

All of that said, my recommendation would be to remove what charcoal you can
easily reach.  The remainder, I would till under.  I would check your soil
pH at this point and adjust accordingly, most likely by adding lime.  The
concentration of other nasties will most likely be low enough such that you
don't have to worry about them.

Disclaimer:  I know much more about environmental geotechnics than I do
environmental chemistry (fate and transport, etc.) -- in other words, I am
not a soil chemist, I just play one on the internet....Good luck.

Matt

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
T. Matthew Evans
Graduate Research Assistant
Geosystems Group, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
URL:  www.prism.gatech.edu/~gte964w
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-chile-heads@globalgarden.com
[mailto:owner-chile-heads@globalgarden.com]On Behalf Of tucker
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2002 5:00 PM
To: chile-heads
Subject: [CH] Soil question for L.B., or anyone else who may feel like
jumping in...



  Making what could be a long story short...

  New (to us anyway) house.  Happy to see a little garden patch that I
can call my own behind the garage.  Previous owners decided to dump the
used charcoal from a grill into the garden.

  Question is:  Do I try to get every little piece out that I can; or is
this actually a good thing to have in the soil, and I should just till
it in???

  Thanks,


--
Erich
C-H # 2099
Silver Glen American Shorthairs
www.worzellaphoto.com/pets/index.htm