What made my Soil start smoking?

bluenitsuj

Obviously not smoking cigs lol.

I got home last night and on getting near my house I could smell some burning whixh I thought must be a neighbours garden fire. When I went out the back garden and put the light on, there was smoke billowing from the soil in one of my pots. The soil had sunk about 5 inches so I presume it was burning from the bottom of the pot.
Anyone have any idea whatsoever? We do not smoke so we can rule that out, my neighbours had not had a fire or BBQ, even if they did how did it start smoking from the bottom/inside of the pot.

I would be fascinated to here your theories!!

Raksha

A piece of glass magnifying the sun's rays which ignited peat based compost?

bluenitsuj

Raksha wrote: »

A piece of glass magnifying the sun's rays which ignited peat based compost?

Possibly, but could find no glass close by, and not sure that would have set light at the bottom.

valk_scot

Some sort of chemical reaction which generated enough heat to dry out and ignite the peat? Did you use some sort of add-in fertilizer? Liquid feed? What was the pot made of?

emiff6

Peat will self-ignite when it gets hot enough, under the right circumstances, and added fertiliser will probably increase its flammability. There have been several cases of house fires in the States caused by potting compost, either in planters, or stored in bags on sun-soaked verandahs etc.

It mostly smoulders, but if it melts a plastic pot and there is other combustible material close by, then a proper fire develops.

Its very rare though.

emiff6

A good place for a gentle reminder to smokers that stubbing out a cigarette in a plantpot is possibly not a good idea!

cootambear

which part of the country do you live in? some coal areas have underground fires that burn for years.