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  • From: "Ossi Kakko" <ossi@kulma.net>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] help with "terra preta" issue needed ?
  • Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 23:18:54 +0200 (EET)

Humble greetings from Finland,

I got stuck reading articles about two meter topsoil layer of terra preta
region at Amazon, which is an issue also discussed some months ago on this
mailing list.

Now, I would need an extended focus on this website:
http://www.stand-center.com/terrapreta.html

Reading several hours this material I found nothing there pointing out
that it would have been biochar type of charcoal which indigenous tribals
used to deepen the top soil layer of terra preta. Maybe I just miss that
for some reason ? Can you check, please ? Can you find biochar treatments
compared to RCW type of treatment, as I don't ?

To me it seems that all presented values are comparable to the values and
properties of ordinary forest based humus, resulting from fungal
degradation of undergrowth ramial brushwood in interaction with microbes
and earthlings.

Reason for asking help with this issue is my involvement in a group that
has started discussion about proposed wide scale field trials for such
"biochar" based agriculture in order to slow down and halt meltdown of
Arctic Ocean ice mass in order to prevent methane clathrate emissions that
would possibly wipe us out if the melting continues.

I see no problem with funding these field trials, but think at least there
should be control with RCW and decomposition of branches less than 8 mm
diameter without machinery...

thank you for you are,
ossi kakko


> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------------------
>
>
>
> The terra preta do Indio system is interesting from the viewpoint of
> charcoal-making technologies. It has generally been believed that
> rainforest soils cannot be cultivated because all the nutrients are too
> easily washed into the deeper soil layers. However, in the Amazonas
> there are patches of black soil, which have a thick humus layer up to 2
> metres thick. They are known as the terra preta do Indio, black soil of
> the indians. They are artificial. Their secret is charcoal. The
> Indians mixed the soil with charcoal and the nutrients were stuck into
> small pieces of carcoal and were not washed away. This leads to
> increased amounts of humus in the soil. The researchers in the Bayreuth
> University of Germany,
> Bruno Glaser, Wolfgang Zech and Christoph Steiner, together with the
> Brazilian researcher Wenceslaus Teixeira, have tried to recreate the
> system. In their studies in Amazonas the patches which were treated
> with fertilizer and charcoal yielded nine times more than the patches
> which only received fertilizer. The difference can only be this big in
> rainforests where there is plenty of water and sunlight and only the
> nutrients are a limiting factor, but the method could also increase
> yields and reduce the need of fertilizer to a fraction on all kinds of
> soils. Tropics would benefit the most. And also possibly water-intensive
> rice farming. In China the recent experiments showd 3-fold decrease in
> need of fertilizers with this system.
>
> Besides, the carbon store in the soil would increase in a very
> significant way, partly due to the charcoal but mostly because the humus
> content will increase. I think experiments should be started with this
> technology in many places, it could be one important partial solution to
> the carbon dioxide problem and global warming.
>
> More information about this can be found from internet with google, for
> example
>
> http://www.stand-center.com/terrapreta.html
>
>
>


  • [permaculture] help with "terra preta" issue needed ?, Ossi Kakko, 01/30/2008

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