Terra Preta - Dark Soil - Experiment

[Albertine]

Thanks Mr. Fista. A bubbler seemed to make sense to me too, for the same reasons.
I ended up soaking this batch first in the ewc tea to get the dust down, then crushed, using a 1" steel plate on the bottom and a maul head as the mortar - metal against metal was a vast improvement from the 2X4 in a bucket approach I tried first. Just have to tap it. I expected to see briquet sized chunks in the bag, but there were actual logs. I'll put them back in a fish/ alfalfa mix for another 24. I'll switch to that for the presoak on the next batch too - hell, I'll just mix 'em all up.

 

[guest2012y]

Thanks Mr. Fista. A bubbler seemed to make sense to me too, for the same reasons.
I ended up soaking this batch first in the ewc tea to get the dust down, then crushed, using a 1" steel plate on the bottom and a maul head as the mortar - metal against metal was a vast improvement from the 2X4 in a bucket approach I tried first. Just have to tap it. I expected to see briquet sized chunks in the bag, but there were actual logs. I'll put them back in a fish/ alfalfa mix for another 24. I'll switch to that for the presoak on the next batch too - hell, I'll just mix 'em all up.

I used a common red brick and a sidewalk. (where no one would ask, "what R U doing?") I just held the red brick and smashed the char with it using a sliding motion to the smash.....worked great. Got the finger a couple times.
They've been in my soil for a while now.....kind of just let the soil do it's thing rather than the N soak....no issues so far.

 

[jaykush]

i just made some char powder because i had a bag of old char laying around. used a 5 gallon bucket and 4 inch x 4 ft log. filled the bucket and started smashing. ended up with 20 lbs of char in about 30 minutes. sifted the small powder out, re smashed the big bits and repeated until it was all smashed.

good thing now i just char stuff that's already small(chipped wood, chicken manure, rice hulls), no need to smash thankfully.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

I gotta dvd from the library all about container gardening and propagation. Its made by the folks at the royal botanical gardens in england. They show how to make one of those fish bowl kinda things with lots of plants tucked in.

Anyhoo, they add a decent amount of horticultural charcoal and say it absorbs toxic/harmful gas and sweetens the soil... anyone here know which gases it is absorbing? Also the char is far from being crushed to a powder. More like little nuggets.

This is one aspect i dont think we have covered...

 

[MrFista]

Methane (CH4), Nitrous Oxide (N2O - I know! sniff your char!), Carbon dioxide (CO2) among others.

 

[Albertine]

I so need a stove. Any reports on stoves that have been purchased?

I want the city to start making biochar with a TLUD power plant using all the recycled yard waste they pick up.

 

[Albertine]

Another report on bio char's increased production.

http://scitizen.com/future-energies...biochar-experiment-in-cameroon_a-14-3011.html

 

[MrFista]

Excellent link!

"a) Adding biochar at the rate of 10 or 20 tonnes a hectare typically added about 85% to the weight of grain produced compared to the adjacent plot with no fertiliser.
b) This is about the same increase as would be gained by adding both organic and artificial fertiliser to the unfertilised soil. So biochar is as effective at increasing yields as heavy application of fertiliser.
c) If both biochar and two types of fertiliser are added, the yield rises to an average of about 140% of the level without any additions. Biochar therefore substantially increases the food production of land above what would be achieved either with or without added fertiliser.
d) It seems as though the most striking results are found on the poorer soils.

It is interesting that adding fertiliser further increases yield. interesting to me in that, I know the soil will only take so much food, and the char seems to keep a lot of goodness locked in binding methane NO2 etc it is accumulating reserves a typical soil would be offgassing. There comes a point whre adding ferts seems pointless. It took me three years before my soil was 'too rich' and I was adding less and less ferts as I went.

From the start where I followed a standard peat, lime, compost, perlite, blood and bone recipe, the first addition full strength. The rest of that year 1/2 strength addbacks. The second and third year I'd look at the plants see if something was missing. 1/4 strength addbacks (blood and bone, seaweed, lime), a few teaspoons of guano over a long period, lots of compost and worm castings, compost teas with EJ products in them. Basically just using what I had lying around, trying not to overdo the ferts as I'd read about the "40 years with no additions" TP plot being monitored in South America somewhere's. It took about a month to 6 weeks to fully correct the damage done by my mix getting too hot (basic). I concentrated on fungal teas and brown mulch materials and the EWC plus mycelium tea was amazing in the recovery process.

So now it's got to the point I'm not needing fertilisers, but I am adding mulch which provides nutrients via the soil food web. I predict the people trying to force the Nth degree out of char with fertiliser will crash and burn. But once they've bankrupted and left - buy the land! It's loaded with OM, and will correct itself fairly quickly with some well made teas.

I love studies like this, local materials, no huge expense just using the land's resources to improve the land. good stuff.

 

[Albertine]

My favorite quotes:

"Getting heavy doses of char into the soil will be demanding but the great advantage of biochar may be that it only needs to be applied once and its effects persist for decades. "

"If I may give a personal view, I think these research projects are among the most important in the world today. "

The idea of taking a few cycles of crop residue, making biochar out of them and ending up with something that can improve soil for decades is nothing less than stunning.

The idea of a communal village pyroliser, perhaps on a truck, that can go from farm to farm simultaneously making biofuel and biochar from crop waste...unbelievable. We lived to see it.

 

[jaykush]

the only problem i have with tests like that is they are usually only for one year. terra preta kicks into high gear after the first season imo. good link none the less.

 

[MrFista]

Soil.

David R. Montgomery

Author of Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, University of Washington.

"To avoid the mistakes of past societies, as 2020 approaches, the world must address global soil degradation, one of this century's most insidious and under-acknowledged challenges. Humanity has already degraded or eroded the topsoil off more than a third of all arable land. We continue to lose farmland at about 0.5% a year — yet expect to feed more than 9 billion people later this century.

During the twentieth century, the Haber–Bosch process (allowing the mass production of nitrogen-based fertilizers) and the Green Revolution effectively divorced agriculture from soil stewardship. Increased yields were supported by intensive fertilizer inputs and mechanization that simplified and devastated soil life, reducing native soil fertility. For example, research in some conventional agricultural settings shows that other species such as bacteria have virtually replaced mycorrhizal fungi, which deliver soil nutrients to most plants. In a post-petroleum world, as the era of cheap fossil-fuel-produced fertilizers comes to an end, conventional, high-input agriculture is neither sustainable nor resilient. Ensuring future food security and environmental protection will require thoughtfully tailoring farming practices to the soils of individual landscapes and farms, rather than continuing to rely on erosive practices and fertilizer from a bag.

Towards these ends, governments should aggressively fund research on and promote the adoption of agricultural practices and technologies that cultivate beneficial soil life and sustain soil ecosystems. Over the next few decades, approaches such as low-till and organic methods could restore native soil fertility and store enough soil organic matter to offset global fossil-fuel emissions by 5–15%. Offsets, and soil fertility, could be further increased through adding biochar — charcoal made by heating organic wastes.

The thin layer of minerals, living microorganisms, dead plants and animals blanketing the planet is the mother of all terrestrial life and every nation's most strategic resource. Yet we treat it like dirt. Business as usual is not an option when it comes to soil, food and people. It's time for a greener revolution."

 

[MrFista]

Johannes Lehman.

"At the local or field scale, biochar can usefully enhance existing sequestration approaches. It can be mixed with manures or fertilizers and included in no-tillage methods, without the need for additional equipment. Biochar has been shown to improve the structure and fertility of soils, thereby improving biomass production3. Biochar not only enhances the retention6 and therefore efficiency of fertilizers but may, by the same mechanism, also decrease fertilizer run-off."

Farmers will love paying for less ferts. Why isn't this is the farmers news?

"We calculate that biochar sequestration in conjunction with bioenergy from pyrolysis becomes economically attractive, under one specific scenario, when the value of avoided carbon dioxide emissions reaches $37 per tonne."

Currently only trading at $4.

"This calculation does not consider the indirect benefits associated with biochar — which do not currently have a dollar value — from reduced pollution of surface or groundwaters.Subsidies to support biochar sequestration, in conjunction with bioenergy production, would be sufficient to jump-start this technology. US Senator Ken Salazar is working on comprehensive legislation, as part of the 2007 Farm Bill, that would provide significant support for biochar research and development."

Anything come of this farmers bill?

 

[h.h.]

I gotta dvd from the library all about container gardening and propagation. Its made by the folks at the royal botanical gardens in england. They show how to make one of those fish bowl kinda things with lots of plants tucked in.

Anyhoo, they add a decent amount of horticultural charcoal and say it absorbs toxic/harmful gas and sweetens the soil... anyone here know which gases it is absorbing? Also the char is far from being crushed to a powder. More like little nuggets.

This is one aspect i dont think we have covered...

I think nuggets, mixed in the soil, create pockets that hold bits of water supporting micro environments. The roots seem to cling to them for nutrient and support as well as deflect from them causing them to spread.
I found from playing with coconut milk, that it will coat the char with the cream which appears to help support the micro environment as well.

 

[MrFista]

Coconut milk also has auxins in it. Might encourage root growth if encountered in the soil mix.

Busting up the char will greatly increase surface area and provide more benefits. Those 'lumps' - on a micro scale are enormous mountains not condominiums for microbes. The roots will spread if they need to, ie if nutrition is thin, otherwise the plant is wasting energy navigating your soil. Screen your char as you would your soil if you want max out of it. I don't bother, I don't care, but a lot of folks round here do.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Hmm i like playing with coconut milk too but usually its going in a nice green curry!

I bought 5 tins of homebrand coconut cream just now at woolworths... might havta chuck one into my char marinade along with the leftover baby formula and prawn shells etc

I usually aim for char thats crushed up to less than 5mm. Some is superfine the rest bit rougher.

 

[Albertine]

Here's a link addressing your comment, Jaykush. Big improvement after 4 years. I really like the conclusion that it helps with cal mag. It looks like one of the biggest problems growers in containers have is cal mag issues. Since I read on the K-mag site about the tendency of mag to leach easily, I started watching my runoff, and since I've started minimizing runoff, as in most of the time none, it seems like my pots have been holding a lot longer before showing defs. I love that biochar will help address that issue. The point about exchangeable acidity sounds wonderful too.

http://seachar.org/wordpress/?p=393

http://www.springerlink.com/content/n073641q14661246/

Published in “Plant and Soil”, Springer Netherlands

ISSN 0032-079X (Print) 1573-5036 (Online)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Julie Major1, Marco Rondon2, 3, Diego Molina2, 4, Susan J. Riha5 and Johannes Lehmann1

(1) Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA

(2) Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), A.A. 6713 Cali, Colombia

(3) Present address: International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, ON, K1G 3H9, Canada

(4) Present address: Centro de Investigaciones en Palma de Aceite, cra 42 # 33-07, Villavicencio, Colombia

(5) Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA

Abstract

The application of biochar (biomass-derived black carbon) to soil has been shown to improve crop yields, but the reasons for this are often not clearly demonstrated. Here, we studied the effect of a single application of 0, 8 and 20 t ha−1 of biochar to a Colombian savanna Oxisol for 4 years (2003–2006), under a maize-soybean rotation. Soil sampling to 30 cm was carried out after maize harvest in all years but 2005, maize tissue samples were collected and crop biomass was measured at harvest. Maize grain yield did not significantly increase in the first year, but increases in the 20 t ha−1 plots over the control were 28, 30 and 140% for 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively. The availability of nutrients such as Ca and Mg was greater with biochar, and crop tissue analyses showed that Ca and Mg were limiting in this system. Soil pH increased, and exchangeable acidity** showed a decreasing trend with biochar application. We attribute the greater crop yield and nutrient uptake primarily to the 77–320% greater available Ca and Mg in soil where biochar was applied.

The online version of this article (doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0327-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

**For a definition of “Exchangeable Acidity” see:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/q57u45884n7n5331/fulltext.pdf?page=1

“Exchangeable acidity… can be regarded as a deterioration of the exchange surfaces. …the surface exchangeable cations decrease and gradually aluminium dominates the negative charges, the pH of the soil drops towards 4.0…

Acid rains that accompany fossil fuel emissions, and repeated application of acidifying fertilizers during crop cycles can accelerate soil deterioration.”

 

[schwagg]

I started watching my runoff, and since I've started minimizing runoff, as in most of the time none, it seems like my pots have been holding a lot longer before showing defs. I love that biochar will help address that issue. The point about exchangeable acidity sounds wonderful too.

hell yeah!!

 

[shroomyshroom]

Hi SilverSurfer_OG

great thread mate a fellow aussie here

just made up my own version of this consisting on the follwoing :

1 part char
1 part cow poo (composter)
1 part chinken poo (compster)
2 parts high quaity potting mix

i made it into not so wet slurry and will leave it for a week b4 i use it.

what are you thought on using this mix with just germed seeds ?
and seedlings that are about 4 weeks old ?

to strong to weak ?

and if it is to strong do thing cutting with an equal amount of potting mix woud make it useabe

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Gday cobber!

If you refer to my original experiment you will see i burnt most of my seedlings except the big bud who were very hungry... i would say your mix is good for the 4 week olds but probs too strong for just cracked uns. However you never know... if its all been composted it will be much gentler on your wee plants. You could also use your char mix as a top dressing/mulch.

Good luck and let us know how ya go!



I would strongly recommend using the char and other goodies in a LC's #1 mix. If you like more of a soil base maybe equal parts coco and potting mix.

 

[shroomyshroom]

sounds good thanx for your input SilverSurfer_OG

I will also be making up 50ltrs of this stuff and be using it as my medium for one of my outdoor plants that will be in the ground, should be intersting to see how she does comparedtothe rest