Thanks Todd, I enjoy reading this type of paper. One detail that was alluded to as an X factor was in fact the water itself. I noticed that distilled water was used, as a "control" to eliminate contaminants in the water. What is kinda cool about water though, especially in its purest form, is that the electromagnetic energy in the very bonds of the water itself are strong enough to lift the water up into a bubble when it is on a clean surface, such as the waxed hood of a car. We have seen this many times.and the droplets can stand up and be suprisingly tall. What we do not register is that the characteristic of spreading out and attaching to surfaces we would actually consider to be wetness or wettability, and that means the opposite action would be an act of dryness, measurable in its electrical values among materials including water. So long story short, water is one of the drier substances on the planet relative to that capacity. Adding anything to the water, such as one might with a form of fertilizer, will help break this internal attraction and promote wetness.
Having said that, I also noticed the article seemed to connotate a direction without my particular purpose. Specifically that the char was problematic if it did not absorb water immediately and that the clogged pores were problematic. I do not see this as a problem, because the char has an extraordinary love of oxygen, the other mega nutrient with water. As it simply sits exposed, it will suck oxygen out of the air, and begin oxidation. This characteristic seems to be a concern to some who point out that it offsets the carbon sequestration effect. I view it as aeration for roots. As this oxidation occurs, the surfaces change, and water suddenly finds itself sitting on a surface much like old oxidized chalky paint like an old car would have, and there is no water drops standing up or resisting wetting that kind of surface as you know. From what I have read, older incorporated char becomes so oxidized that its porosity becomes that of modern activated charcoal over a period of years.
Secondarily, I tend to be in that camp which sees the organic residuals, described in the article as tars, as food for bugs. I think its a good thing over time to not open up the porosity to the exent possible in a manual fashion, rather letting nature do this work. Activatied carbon is highly porous, but this is arrived at through exceptionally high temps, or additional chemistry, and at a loss of volume of 2/3 of the char. Its just overkill that slows the adoption of the char into the biosphere. I would soak the char in a myco enhanced liquid fertilizer compost or compost tea type mix, after I let it sit dry and aired out a while.
This stuff is so cool!
