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Tree fruit growers in the Amazon area today use charcoal dust as a soil amendment.  They spread it around the base of the tree or bush.  (Charcoal production is a big industry in Brazil, and it contributes to the deforestation of the Amazon).

Eddie Earles

-----Original Message-----
From: Geoffrey Stone
Sent: Jul 30, 2008 11:08 AM
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [NAFEX] NAFEX Meeting Topic suggestion

At the NAFEX meeting this past weekend I mentioned two topics that seemed to me to be important to the group but which was missing from the discussion.

    The 1st is the book "Teaming With Microbes" by Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis. I haven't heard much at NAFEX about the role of microbes (soil food web) in the growing of fruit. Seems like an important aspect that needs more focus. Instead of chemical fertilizers perhaps we should be using actively aerated compost tea (AACT) in a soil rich in organic matter.

    The 2nd is the subject of "black dirt". I came across this in the book "1491" where mention was made of it in connection with studies of the Amazon. Seems that the soil in some regions has grown crops for thousands of years w/o depleting that particular soil. Recently I became aware of much study of this under the name "Terra Preta Nova Project" ( http://www.geo.uni-bayreuth.de/bodenkunde/terra_preta/ ). >From a scan of the reports it seems that this soil contains significant amount of carbon in the form of wood char. A distinction is made between "slash and burn" and "slash and char". The 1st uses very hot fires to burn up all the wood. The 2nd uses many small fires which leaves a significant amount of carbon in the form of charcoal.

    I'm putting the two together and speculating that this char is providing micro pores in a stable matrix that encourages the growth of "the soil food web" (microbes) that lives symbiotically with plants to sustainably produce abundance.

    What this means to me and the community I live in ( www.earthaven.org ) is that we should consider

A) clearing our steep slopes for perennial crops by:

    1) felling trees and making use of logs for lumber and firewood (do not destump)

    2) leave the limbs in place and add available organic matter and available char

    3) inoculate this prepared (terraced) area w/ "fungally dominated" AACT (see "Teaming With Microbes).

    4) plant fruit trees, nut trees, food producing shrubs on these terraces.

    5) manage the area w/ as little disturbance of the "soil foof web" as possible

B) clearing our flat land for annual crops by:

    1) clearing and destumping the area

    2) tilling in mulch

    3) inoculate w/ "bacterially dominated" AACT

    4) plant annual crops with as little disturbance of the "soil web" that is being established.

 

    I'd be interested in work along these lines done by others. I am new to these concepts and wish to avoid re-inventing the wheel.

 

Geoffrey Stone

Black Mountain, NC

 

PS: Dr. Julie Grossman did work at Cornell Univ. on "black dirt" and now has a position at NCS - Raleigh as Assistant Professor of Soil Fertility of Organic Crop Systems. She, or one of her associates, might be a speaker at a future event.