USE OF CHARCOAL IN CREATING SUPERIOR QUALITY TURF SURFACES
Spring Greenup of dormant couch, maintaining vigorous turf growth, reducing disease incidence all from an application of a commonly available but until recently neglected natural product? When it is realised that there is strong evidence that applications of this also help counter greenhouse gases by acting as a carbon dioxide sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide, increased usage of this should become the norm and not the exception. The product is: Activated charcoal
Products based on this have been around for years but one of the major issues with it have been it is extremely messy to apply and it can be very expensive. Recently limited success has occurred with liquid suspensions but these have a tendency to drop out of solution in cold weather and are also prohibitively expensive and difficult to apply.
A research based approach is one which we believe is crucial to any new product innovation so rather than "jumping the gun" and promoting a product with obvious drawbacks Endeavour Turf Products (ETP) have spent considerable time and effort developing an application system.
Work both within Australia and overseas has shown:
1. Activated charcoal increases turf growth, visual quality and early season turf colour compared to fertilizer treatments, with visual quality being enhanced 27 days after treatment by charcoal. It does this by increasing canopy and soil temperatures which is called albedo and is a term for lower reflectance and increased potential solar heat gain.
2. In addition, the charcoal acts as a sponge holding water for plant growth and slowly allowing the roots to absorb this water during several days between rainfalls or irrigation cycles. Some estimates state that applications of activated charcoal to sandy soils could increase moisture retention by up to 18%.
3. Higher nutrient retention and nutrient availability are found after charcoal additions to soil, related to higher exchange capacity, surface area and direct nutrient additions.
4. Charcoal is relatively recalcitrant and can therefore be used as a long-term sink for atmospheric CO2. Only when the soil physically is burned (as happens with charcoal in a barbecue) does this carbon return to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Consequently, the charcoal has sequestered the carbon in the soil in a form whereby global warming is reduced by the amount of charcoal carbon sequestered in the soil.
5. Work in 1999 showed that applications of activated charcoal to the soil showed a significant increase in the weight of shoots produced.
6. The key to carbon working appears to be the action of what are termed Arbuscular Mychoryzal Fungi, which are found on the roots of almost all plants where they bring moisture and nutrients through tiny hair-like tubes called hyphae. The hyphae extend out from the root and can reach into tiny pores in the charcoal where dissolved nutrients and moisture are drawn by a static electric charge.
A research based approach is one which ETP believes is crucial to any new product innovation so rather than "jumping the gun" and promoting a product with obvious drawbacks we have spent considerable time and effort developing an economical application system.
Over the last three years in association with Martin Greenwood, Superintendent at Kingston Heath GC we have looked at means of applying this at the appropriate rate and also in a manner that did not leave a messy residue in the tank. The end results can be seen for all with the upcoming Australian masters being an excellent example of where carbon application has lead to reduced fertiliser and chemical inputs whilst maintaining a superior surface comparative to "normal" practices.
Image: Martin Greenwood, Kingston Heath (left) and Jerry Spencer (right), Endeavour Turf Products consultant discussing the application of Charcoal.
For more information about Charcoal application please feel free to call:
 Jerry Spencer - Turf Consultant
Mobile - 0439 019 050
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 Grant Greenway - Turf Consultant
Mobile - 0419 527 209
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 Jim Porter - Turf Consultant
Mobile - 0418 587 916
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References
Gilbert JJ and Kopec DM Spring Greenup of Dormant Non-Overseeded Bermudagrass (2005)
University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona ag.arizona.edu/pubs/crops/az1359/az13593c11.pdf
Glaser, Lehmann and Zech (2002) Biol Fertil Soils 35: 219-230 http://link.springer-ny.com/link/service/journals/00374/contents/02/00466/s00374-002-0466-4ch002.html
Lehmann J and Pereira da Silva Jr J, Steiner C, Nehls T, Zech W, & Glaser B (2003) Nutrient availability and leaching in an archaeological Anthrosol and a Ferralsol of the Central Amazon basin: fertilizer, manure and charcoal amendments, 249 Plant & Soil 343, 355
Nishio M, (1999) National Institute of Agro-Environmental Sciences
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