07-09-2014, 12:47 PM
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Registered User
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Aug 2007
Posts: 168
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Hogg
On Sat, 6 Sep 2014 19:15:09 +0200, Bigal
wrote:
About 5 years ago I read an item on the American site of garden banter
giving some of the history of biochar and its uses.
snipped
Biochar was apparently used extensively by the Amazonian Indians,
before Europeans came along.
There was a TV program about ten years ago on the Amazon rainforest,
where they reckoned that at one time it was much more densely
populated than it is now, confirming reports from one of the earliest
Spanish explorers. But no-one in recent times could believe it,
because the soil is so unproductive, and the slash-and-burn methods
currently practiced only gives a couple of years of useful agriculture
before the soil is exhausted, which means it cannot support a large
population.
However, they'd discovered that three or four centuries ago, they used
to cultivate areas of soil enriched with charcoal (they didn't say how
it got there, whether from natural burning or man-made fires), and
this greatly improved the fertility of the soil and sustained a much
greater number of inhabitants. They call this soil Terra Preta. Sadly,
with the arrival of European diseases, this large indigenous
population mostly died out to the level it is today.
See also Terra preta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Never tried it. How does it differ from just adding lots of BBQ
charcoal?
--
Chris
Gardening in West Cornwall overlooking the sea.
Mild, but very exposed to salt gales |
Thank you Chris for adding in some of the history. It actually dates back over 2,000 years, and the large population of the Amazon Valley 500 years ago. Terra Preta was only discovered during the last century. It is thought that it got there through the cooking fires and the fertility from the middens. A lot of pottery shards was found in with the Terra Preta, and some reconstruction of them indicate very large pots. A large population, probably millions, has not produced any graves, skeletons etc., and another body of thought is cremation using the pots. Still an interesting thought. BBQ wood chunks can be used instead, but it is harder to break up. Probably due to being made at a different temperature. Like biochar, it does need to be primed with a liquid fertiliser before use.
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