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Terra Preta - Dark Soil - Experiment
- Thread starter SilverSurfer_OG
- Start date
S
Stankie
I use about a gallon sized metal bucket with 2 holes drilled in the lid. Pack it full of dry wood (kiln dried fir 2x4 - they fit good/easy) and put it in my fireplace -- very simple method. The next day I open it and soak the biochar in diluted alfalfa/kelp/Fish-Seaweed hydrolysate. Then drain the liquid the next day and go to work on it in the bucket with a sledge hammer. Add this to EWC for a few weeks.
It has a much more grey appearance as opposed to the black of charcoal.
It has a much more grey appearance as opposed to the black of charcoal.
I was using up to a cup per gallon with some alfalfa and some ewc to bubble char. The char would float and mix with the separated creme. Once separated and diluted,it is ok to water with otherwise the creme tends make the soil gunky and choke out the roots.
Chared some yucca. Also full of saponins. Plentiful around here.
So these saponins are retained after charring? Thats interesting...
I love all things coconut!!!
I bet you could figure out an entire grow based around the coconut palm. Pots, medium and fertiliser.
Green coconut juice is so yummy! If i see a green coconut in my supermarket i am on to it. Did you know it has been used during war times for blood transfusions? Amazing.
I love all things coconut!!!
I bet you could figure out an entire grow based around the coconut palm. Pots, medium and fertiliser.
Green coconut juice is so yummy! If i see a green coconut in my supermarket i am on to it. Did you know it has been used during war times for blood transfusions? Amazing.
I wonder about what is rendered immobile by charring and what would still be able to influence the plant negatively in some way, for example, walnut char. Would the juglone still be an issue? Does mesquite have an allelopathic trip too?
Just googled for mesquite, didn't find anything specific for it, but the whole subject seems to be one to learn about in a lot more detail - perhaps some plant meals have a positive relationship with cannabis? I bet Jaykush already has all this in a thread - the plant extracts thread? One step at a time.
Just googled for mesquite, didn't find anything specific for it, but the whole subject seems to be one to learn about in a lot more detail - perhaps some plant meals have a positive relationship with cannabis? I bet Jaykush already has all this in a thread - the plant extracts thread? One step at a time.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/11/biochar-solution.php?campaign=weekly_nl
Some believe biochar could offset as much as 12% of CO2 emissions, but others warn that biochar is no miracle cure—with the prospects of large-scale biochar plantations and other such enterprises getting activists worried. The ambiguous nature of biochar as both a potential solution, and a potential challenge, is not lost on Albert Bates—author of The Biochar Solution—who doesn't seem too keen on the title of his own book.
Albert—who is also the author of The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook—is an unashamed advocate of biochar. Done right, he says, it can help farmers earn money, improve their soils, sequester carbon, and reduce reliance on polluting, old-fashioned cook stoves in the process.
But that doesn't stop Mr Bates worrying about a title like "The Biochar Solution", which he says is too unequivocal. Yet his publisher seems to think that it will sell better than Bates' preferred "Beyond Zero", or the slightly less catchy "The Biochar Partial Solution". They're probably right, of course, when it comes to book sales—but it is good to see the author is fully aware of the limitations of his subject matter.
Just as solar, wind, plug-in hybrids or reforestation are not "the solution" to climate change, so too biochar has to be taken as one tool in our armory. Good for Mr Bates for putting his book in that context...
Some believe biochar could offset as much as 12% of CO2 emissions, but others warn that biochar is no miracle cure—with the prospects of large-scale biochar plantations and other such enterprises getting activists worried. The ambiguous nature of biochar as both a potential solution, and a potential challenge, is not lost on Albert Bates—author of The Biochar Solution—who doesn't seem too keen on the title of his own book.
Albert—who is also the author of The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook—is an unashamed advocate of biochar. Done right, he says, it can help farmers earn money, improve their soils, sequester carbon, and reduce reliance on polluting, old-fashioned cook stoves in the process.
But that doesn't stop Mr Bates worrying about a title like "The Biochar Solution", which he says is too unequivocal. Yet his publisher seems to think that it will sell better than Bates' preferred "Beyond Zero", or the slightly less catchy "The Biochar Partial Solution". They're probably right, of course, when it comes to book sales—but it is good to see the author is fully aware of the limitations of his subject matter.
Just as solar, wind, plug-in hybrids or reforestation are not "the solution" to climate change, so too biochar has to be taken as one tool in our armory. Good for Mr Bates for putting his book in that context...
An important note:
An important note:
I have recently aqcuired a good ph testing kit for soil samples. Turns out all of my char and my compost with char (and also few buckets of ash from wood-fire) is quite strongly alkaline.
I would put it around the 9 mark.
This could cause problems. However it could also be useful in balancing out an acid medium.
I will no longer be adding as much dolomite to my mixes as a result and anyone using bio-char with lime should be careful. Especially as our favourite plant thrives in a slight acid medium...
If the pyrolisation is not done correctly then the char will be alkaline seems to be the bottom line here.
An important note:
I have recently aqcuired a good ph testing kit for soil samples. Turns out all of my char and my compost with char (and also few buckets of ash from wood-fire) is quite strongly alkaline.
I would put it around the 9 mark.
This could cause problems. However it could also be useful in balancing out an acid medium.
I will no longer be adding as much dolomite to my mixes as a result and anyone using bio-char with lime should be careful. Especially as our favourite plant thrives in a slight acid medium...
If the pyrolisation is not done correctly then the char will be alkaline seems to be the bottom line here.
I never tested the char, but I figured it would be high. I usually soak mine first. The potash will dissolve in the water. I use this if I want potassium. Then I do a infusion soak
I have yucca soaked in molasses that tests low in ph, usually around 4.5, that I also add to the mix with occasionally cc milk, kitchen scraps, tree tips, flowers.. Make a tea. Use the tea then top dress with the char, usually during flower. It gets a third soak ,with nutrients when recycling , then put through hardware cloth and then added to the soil.
I have yucca soaked in molasses that tests low in ph, usually around 4.5, that I also add to the mix with occasionally cc milk, kitchen scraps, tree tips, flowers.. Make a tea. Use the tea then top dress with the char, usually during flower. It gets a third soak ,with nutrients when recycling , then put through hardware cloth and then added to the soil.
So you soak in plain water first to dissolve the potash? Thats a good idea.
Which parts of the yucca do you soak? Whats cc milk? Coco?
Cheers!
Which parts of the yucca do you soak? Whats cc milk? Coco?
Cheers!
CC=Coconut milk.
I prefer the heart of the yucca. It's where everything travels up in the tree. It is similar to coco fiber.. It absorbs the molasses like a sponge.
While a little molasses promotes bacterial growth, straight molasses does the opposite. It hasn't gone bad.
I did add a little root excelurator as well as some White Shark. To what effect I'm really not sure..
I prefer the heart of the yucca. It's where everything travels up in the tree. It is similar to coco fiber.. It absorbs the molasses like a sponge.
While a little molasses promotes bacterial growth, straight molasses does the opposite. It hasn't gone bad.
I did add a little root excelurator as well as some White Shark. To what effect I'm really not sure..
Just going to attemp to convert an old concrete 'copper' washtub into a char maker.
It has a flue, a firebox in the base, and hopefully enough room to support a small drum and surrounding fire inside. All I need is a small drum and a plate for the top for once the fires taken. Should burn nice and 'cool'. Damn heavy these things! Moved it 50m myself took herculean effort, years of training, and about 3 vertebrae.
It has a flue, a firebox in the base, and hopefully enough room to support a small drum and surrounding fire inside. All I need is a small drum and a plate for the top for once the fires taken. Should burn nice and 'cool'. Damn heavy these things! Moved it 50m myself took herculean effort, years of training, and about 3 vertebrae.
I see. Can you extract the heart without killing or badly hurting the yucca?
That sounds good Fista... you really must get yourself an el cheapo camera
That sounds good Fista... you really must get yourself an el cheapo camera
Thats cool. Must be one of the perks of living in a desert. I just got one the other day as a house plant. Its small at the mo but hoping it will grow right up to my cathedral ceiling... i purposly got the kind that havent been topped and sealed off.
Probs take a decade or so
Probs take a decade or so
S
Stankie
Is it possible to collect yucca seeds and then germinate them? I tried when I was younger, like in HS, but I remember it didn't work. Wondering if anyone has any secrets or special tips?
RE: Yucca & Saponins
Saponins are (for the sake of this limited description) various carbohydrates meaning that I doubt the saponins would hold up during a process of turning it into 'charcoal' (generic term).
As far as the plant itself, the liquid yucca extract product (human food-grade) from T & J in Spokane, Washington is made from the leaves and bark of the yucca plant.
The root is where the uber high levels of saponins are found - up to 4x the amount in yucca root powder vs. the liquid extracts. The yucca powder runs around $10.00 per lb. and you only need about 1/2 tsp. per gallon of water to create massive amounts of foam which equals elevated surfactant action(s).
HTH
CC
Saponins are (for the sake of this limited description) various carbohydrates meaning that I doubt the saponins would hold up during a process of turning it into 'charcoal' (generic term).
As far as the plant itself, the liquid yucca extract product (human food-grade) from T & J in Spokane, Washington is made from the leaves and bark of the yucca plant.
The root is where the uber high levels of saponins are found - up to 4x the amount in yucca root powder vs. the liquid extracts. The yucca powder runs around $10.00 per lb. and you only need about 1/2 tsp. per gallon of water to create massive amounts of foam which equals elevated surfactant action(s).
HTH
CC
