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biochar and compost
Jan. 28th, 2021 08:15 amI want to experiment with this -
A Perspective on Terra Preta and Biochar
"In the Amazon Basin, there exists thousands of hectares of cultivated plots consisting of unusually fertile black soil, termed Terra Preta de Indio — “dark earth of the Indians” — called Terra Preta for short. These soils are many hundreds if not thousands of years old, and have remained remarkably fertile in spite of the tropical rainfall, which accelerates the weathering of soil and the leaching of water soluble nutrients"
Youtube biochar workshop:
Inoculating Biochar:
"What happens when we put biochar directly into the soil without charging it? If I was to go out into my garden and apply 5% biochar to my topsoil, chances are I'm not going to have a very good crop next year because it's going to come in and it's going to pull all the nutrients from my topsoil. It's gonna hold on to 'em. It may take a year, it may take two years to recover. And that's if I have good soil with high organic matter and a nice microbial population in it already. Dead soil, damaged soil -- it's not likely to do much of anything until it has microbes in it, and something to eat. So again, that's what we're talking about: nutrients and microbes.
Why this matters to me: The soil in the UP, where we're going to be growing our food, is acidic and sandy. Great for blueberries and potatoes. But I'm also fond of sweet corn, lettuces, and peas.
"Here's this little tip -- For you guys making this at home, some of you guys have systems where you have got drums, where you can let it cool off and you don't have to quench it -- but there are some systems where you need to be there to quench it or else gonna smolder and turn to ash... I would recommend that if you the opportunity, to quench it... That steam is gonna come inside and it's gonna inter those little pores in the biochar and crack them out even further... In some cases, it'll wash out some of the tar ... So what you're gonna end up is this wetting and cracking process all in one that will make the char way more absorptive. It's actually a process that they use to make activated carbon."
A Perspective on Terra Preta and Biochar
"In the Amazon Basin, there exists thousands of hectares of cultivated plots consisting of unusually fertile black soil, termed Terra Preta de Indio — “dark earth of the Indians” — called Terra Preta for short. These soils are many hundreds if not thousands of years old, and have remained remarkably fertile in spite of the tropical rainfall, which accelerates the weathering of soil and the leaching of water soluble nutrients"
Youtube biochar workshop:
Inoculating Biochar:
"What happens when we put biochar directly into the soil without charging it? If I was to go out into my garden and apply 5% biochar to my topsoil, chances are I'm not going to have a very good crop next year because it's going to come in and it's going to pull all the nutrients from my topsoil. It's gonna hold on to 'em. It may take a year, it may take two years to recover. And that's if I have good soil with high organic matter and a nice microbial population in it already. Dead soil, damaged soil -- it's not likely to do much of anything until it has microbes in it, and something to eat. So again, that's what we're talking about: nutrients and microbes.
Why this matters to me: The soil in the UP, where we're going to be growing our food, is acidic and sandy. Great for blueberries and potatoes. But I'm also fond of sweet corn, lettuces, and peas.
"Here's this little tip -- For you guys making this at home, some of you guys have systems where you have got drums, where you can let it cool off and you don't have to quench it -- but there are some systems where you need to be there to quench it or else gonna smolder and turn to ash... I would recommend that if you the opportunity, to quench it... That steam is gonna come inside and it's gonna inter those little pores in the biochar and crack them out even further... In some cases, it'll wash out some of the tar ... So what you're gonna end up is this wetting and cracking process all in one that will make the char way more absorptive. It's actually a process that they use to make activated carbon."
