Prior to our attempts at making a carbon/nitrogen fertilizer we began to see hints that we were making some material that plants liked.

This is a mound of char pellets we use to start our reactor.  It has pyrolyzed at 450 degrees Celsius for about 45-50 minutes.  The char mound is 1.5 meters high and takes up an area about 30 sq meters in space. It is completely covered with vegetation.  You can see where we recently dug out of it.

There has been no soil added to this. You can see the roots of the grasses where we have dug out the char.

This pile has been here since December 2000. It doesn't take long for grass to completely cover a fresh pile or areas where we dig out like below.

The roots of the grass hold the pellets.

A grass root close up.

But it is not only grass, but larger plants as well.

The roots of the larger plants.

I was surprised to see moss.

We had turnips that sprang up from some stray seeds.  Nate said they were so pretty and big that he and Phillip had taken them home to eat. Unfortunately we do not have any pictures of those, but according to Nate,

"They sure were good".