An interesting program on National Public Radio said that the ancient Amazonian cultures used charcoal as a way to keep their poor jungle soils fertile. Discover Magazine also has a nice article about the same subject and Johannes Lehmann of Cornell University has done some research on the subject and has great information online.

I'm giving it a try and would like other gardeners to participate and report their results. Here's what I'm doing:

	I started off with a bag of Fertilome Potting Mix - note that it does not have any fertilizer. It's mainly just peatmoss and perlite.

I created 3 different pots with identical plants.

1. Pot #1 has just the Potting Mix - nothing else. 6 quarts.

2. Pot #2 has the potting mix with 1 1/2 tsp 10-10-10 fertilizer.

3. Pot #3 has potting mix, fertilizer and 1/4 cup powdered charcoal.

Note - this is charcoal taken from the bag and pounded into a powder. I used hardwood charcoal as briquettes may have other additives.

I'm hoping to see results over the summer.

Let me know if you try the experiment and what your results are.