Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Marty Kraft <martyk@allspecies.org>]

From what i have read about biochar or charcoal is that it has or 
causes in the soil a high cation exchange capacity. This makes sense 
because the carbon in charcoal has a valence of four so it has many good 
sites to hold minerals needed by plants. I've also read that the terra 
prita or charcoal soils in the Amazon have held their charcoal for 
thousands of years despite very high rainfall. The charcoal dosen't 
leach out or degrade appreciably. I would think that it is wise to add 
charcoal to sandy soils of Florida because it is warm and rainy, at 
least when i visited.

I think a study by Johannes Lehmann found that charcoal added to 
temperate soils didn't add much if any productivity. However if 
productivity stays the same and i can sequester carbon by adding it to 
the soil i will do it. I figure if we can mitigate global warming in 
this way we humans might survive to garden in the future.

The part i don't like about making biochar is the waste of energy when 
the wood is burned. We need stoves designed to make charcoal AND heat 
our homes and businesses. That way we can use some of the energy and 
sequester carbon from a renewable source. I have a fireplace insert 
stove which provides much of the heat for our home. I keep it stoked so 
that it keeps the gas furnace from turning on. When the fire box is full 
of ash so it's hard to add more logs i shovel ash and coals into a metal 
tub. I quench the coals with the hose so they remain charcoal instead of 
burning away. I have documated my efforts on youtube at 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0nfXkcsV2Y
On my video you see a difficult charcoal crushing method. Here is a link 
to plans for a better grinding tool. 
http://www.appropedia.org/Corn_Cob_Charcoal_Crusher

Marty

On 12/7/10 11:20 PM, Tradingpost wrote:
> I tend to agree with Ken on that. What we're not given is the amounts of "other 
> things" added for three years - what does "in moderation” mean - very little? or 
> amounts added with the charcoal. Without knowing that, there could be a cumulative effect at 
> work to explain yield. We're also not told possible impacts of weather, pests, cultivation, 
> or planting methods. All in all, we have no way of guessing about the reasons for results.
>
> I have experience with trying to grow in soil too sandy. Soluble nutrients as 
> fertilizer will leach out as fast as you can irrigate, because - soluble 
> nutrients are soluble. It’s useless. Sandy soil can only hold nutrients when 
> enough finished compost amended soil is added. Nutrients are bound with 
> decomposed plant matter in soil. Greensand is said to help along with that. 
> Undigested compost won’t cut it.
>
> I’m also going to caution readers about using large amounts of hard wood 
> charcoal. The bagged charcoal we can buy locally has dangerous petrochemicals 
> added, and is not intended for food production.
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>
> On 12/7/2010 at 10:56 PM richard green wrote:
>
> > Once again the yields "did not" increase after adding the other things
> > for three years, only after addition of innoculater charcoal did the
> > yields increase drastically! What I suspect is that the charcoal holds the
> > nitrogen ect. in my sand.
> >
> >
> > Rick
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2010 07:17:24 -0800
> > From: minifarms2@yahoo.com
> > To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> > Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] the learning curve
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > The yields increased due to the other things you added; not the charcoal.
> > The other things is what soil needs.
> >
> > Ken Hargesheimer
> >
> > --- On Mon, 12/6/10, richard green<greenrw71@hotmail.com>  wrote:
> >
> >
> > From: richard green<greenrw71@hotmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] the learning curve
> > To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> > Date: Monday, December 6, 2010, 5:23 PM
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I wish to add to the line concerning the use of charcoal, I live in north
> > florida and have very sandy soil. In my back yard I have a small vegetable
> > garden approx. 1000sqft. that I've had for the past three years. The first
> > year the yields were nothing spectacular but good. Use of COF as Steve
> > Solomon recommended, also chicken manure and some horse manure used in
> > moderation. Leaf and garden clipping compost from a former garden site.
> > The second year the production yields were way down both summer and winter
> > gardens. The first half of the third year was not good either. I happened
> > across several articles concerning charcoal, having nothing to lose I
> > tried adding it. I crushed ten forty pound bags of hard wood charcoal I
> > soaked the crushed charcoal in a liquid solution of 1 part dry chicken
> > manure, 1 part leaf compost and 1 part comfrey tea (the part being a 2lb
> > plastic coffee container I use for measurement) I put the dried parts in
> > donated panty hose and soaked in 25 gal. of tap water maybe 2 weeks prior
> > to use. This being a liquid fertilizer I commonly use. I am now into the
> > last month of the third year and the yields thus far have exceeded my
> > wildest expectations. I am growing the garden I had wished for. Simply put
> > the ground/sand has come alive. Inoculate the charcoal prior to amendment
> > to the soil.
> >
> >
> > Rick
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