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Re: Violets What DO they want!

At 09:22 AM 7/15/97 +0000, you wrote:
>Michael,
>
>I'm thinking that if soot is carbon, and charcoal is carbon, then
>finely ground up BBQ charcoal might do the job. Of course they may be
>something in soot other than carbon that charcoal doesn't contain; I
>didn't do any chemistry after high school!
>
>Nick.
>
>> Now Dickens and Chimney Sweeps are no longer with us, could the chemists
>> out there please tell me what the chemical or organic equivalent of "aged
>> soot" might be. I will be eternally grateful!

>From my understanding, virtually all carbon used by plants is obtained from
atmospheric CO2.  The older references to aged soot probably allude to two
things, increased potassium = potash - assuming 'soot' to include fly-ashes
etc.  and also that ashes will also tend to increase the pH of the media.
Whether there is any significant chemical changes brought about by the
'aging' process, I do not know.  Aging could merely allow the leaching of
any potentially toxic levels of micro-elements from the soot.  But then
again you would likely be leaching K as well...

Just a thought....
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