Increase the fertility of your garden for FREE.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organ...ar-To-Improve-
Your-Soil.aspx


Make Biochar ‹ this Ancient Technique Will Improve Your Soil
By Barbara Pleasant

Last year, I committed one of the great sins of gardening: I let weeds
go to seed. Cleaning up in fall, I faced down a ton of seed-bearing
foxtail, burdock and crabgrass. Sure, I could compost it hot to steam
the weed seeds to death, but instead I decided to try something
different. I dug a ditch, added the weeds and lots of woody prunings,
and burned it into biochar, thus practicing a ³new² soil-building
technique that¹s at least 3,000 years old.

What¹s biochar? Basically, it¹s organic matter that is burned slowly,
with a restricted flow of oxygen, and then the fire is stopped when the
material reaches the charcoal stage. Unlike tiny tidbits of ash, coarse
lumps of charcoal are full of crevices and holes, which help them serve
as life rafts to soil microorganisms. The carbon compounds in charcoal
form loose chemical bonds with soluble plant nutrients so they are not
as readily washed away by rain and irrigation. Biochar alone added to
poor soil has little benefit to plants, but when used in combination
with compost and organic fertilizers, it can dramatically improve plant
growth while helping retain nutrients in the soil.

Amazonian Dark Earths

The idea of biochar comes from the Amazonian rain forests of Brazil,
where a civilization thrived for 2,000 years, from about 500 B.C. until
Spanish and Portuguese explorers introduced devastating European
diseases in the mid-1500s. Using only their hands, sticks and stone
axes, Amazonian tribes grew cassava, corn and numerous tree fruits in
soil made rich with compost, mulch and smoldered plant matter.
Amazingly, these ³dark earths² persist today as a testament to an
ancient soil-building method you can use in your garden. Scientists
disagree on whether the soils were created on purpose, in order to grow
more food, or if they were an accidental byproduct of the biochar and
compost generated in day-to-day village life along the banks of the
Earth¹s biggest river. However they came to be, there is no doubt that
Amazonian dark earths (often called terra preta) hold plant nutrients,
including nitrogen, phosphorous, calcium and magnesium, much more
efficiently than unimproved soil. Even after 500 years of tropical
temperatures and rainfall that averages 80 inches a year, the dark
earths remain remarkably fertile.

Scientists around the world are working in labs and field trial plots to
better understand how biochar works, and to unravel the many mysteries
of terra preta. At Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., microbiologists
have discovered bacteria in terra preta soils that are similar to
strains that are active in hot compost piles. Overall populations of
fungi and bacteria are high in terra preta soils, too, but the presence
of abundant carbon makes the microorganisms live and reproduce at a
slowed pace. The result is a reduction in the turnover rate of organic
matter in the soil, so composts and other soil-enriching forms of
organic matter last longer.

In field trials with corn, rice and many other crops, biochar has
increased productivity by making nutrients already present in the soil
better available to plants. Results are especially dramatic when biochar
is added to good soil that contains ample minerals and plant nutrients.
Research continues (track it at*The International Biochar Initiative),
but at this point it appears that biochar gives both organic matter and
microorganisms in organically enriched soil enhanced staying power.
Digging in nuggets of biochar ‹ or adding them to compost as it is set
aside to cure ‹ can slow the leaching away of nutrients and help
organically enriched soil retain nutrients for decades rather than for a
couple of seasons.

Finding Free Biochar

Biochar¹s soil building talents may change the way you clean your
woodstove. In addition to gathering ashes (and keeping them in a dry
metal can until you¹re ready to use them as a phosphorus-rich soil
amendment, applied in light dustings), make a habit of gathering the
charred remains of logs. Take them to your garden, give them a good
smack with the back of a shovel and you have biochar.

If you live close to a campground, you may have access to an unlimited
supply of garden-worthy biochar from the remains of partially burned
campfires. The small fires burned in chimineas often produce biochar,
too, so you may need to look no further than your neighbor¹s deck for a
steady supply.

Charcoal briquettes used in grilling are probably not a good choice.
Those designed to light fast often include paraffin or other hydrocarbon
solvents that have no place in an organic garden. Plain charred weeds,
wood or cow pies are better materials for using this promising
soil-building technique based on ancient gardening wisdom.

How to Make Biochar

To make biochar right in your gardens, start by digging a trench in a
bed. (Use a fork to loosen the soil in the bottom of the trench and
you¹ll get the added benefits of this ³double-digging² technique.) Then
pile brush into the trench and light it. You want to have a fire that
starts out hot, but is quickly slowed down by reducing the oxygen
supply. The best way to tell what¹s going on in a biochar fire is to
watch the smoke. The white smoke, produced early on, is mostly water
vapor. As the smoke turns yellow, resins and sugars in the material are
being burned. When the smoke thins and turns grayish blue, dampen down
the fire by covering it with about an inch of soil to reduce the air
supply, and leave it to smolder. Then, after the organic matter has
smoldered into charcoal chunks, use water to put out the fire. Another
option would be to make charcoal from wood scraps in metal barrels. (For
details, go to*Twin Oaks Forge.)

I¹m part of the Smokey-the-Bear generation, raised on phrases like
³learn not to burn,² so it took me a while to warm up to the idea of
using semi-open burning as a soil-building technique. Unrestrained open
burning releases 95 percent or more of the carbon in the wood, weeds or
whatever else that goes up in smoke. However, low-temperature controlled
burning to create biochar, called pyrolysis, retains much more carbon
(about 50 percent) in the initial burning phase. Carbon release is cut
even more when the biochar becomes part of the soil, where it may reduce
the production of greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide.
This charcoal releases its carbon 10 to 100 times slower than rotting
organic matter. As long as it is done correctly, controlled charring of
weeds, pruned limbs and other hard-to-compost forms of organic matter,
and then using the biochar as a soil or compost amendment, can result in
a zero emission carbon cycling system.

Burning responsibly requires simple common sense. Check with your local
fire department to make sure you have any necessary permits, wait as
long as you must to get damp, windless weather, and monitor the fire
until it¹s dead.

The Bigger Picture

If global warming is to be slowed, we must find ways to reduce the loss
of carbon into the atmosphere. In the dark earths of the Amazon, and in
million-year-old charcoal deposits beneath the Pacific Ocean, charcoal
has proven its ability to bring carbon release almost to a standstill.
If each of one million farmers around the globe incorporated biochar
into 160 acres of land, the amount of carbon locked away in the Earth¹s
soil would increase five-fold.

But there¹s more. What if you generate energy by burning a renewable
biomass crop (like wood, corn, peanut hulls, bamboo, willow or
whatever), while also producing biochar that is then stashed away by
using it as a soil amendment? (For an example, see the Archive article,
Mother¹s Woodburning Truck, about wood-gas generators.) The carbon
recovery numbers in such a system make it the only biomass model found
thus far that can produce energy without a net release of carbon.
Research teams around the world are scrambling to work out the details
of these elegantly Earth-based systems.

Much remains to be known about how biochar systems should tick, but some
may be as simple as on-farm set ups that transform manure and other
wastes into nuggets of black carbon that help fertilizer go farther
while holding carbon in the soil.

As gardeners, it is up to us to find ways to adapt this new knowledge to
the needs of our land. To make the most of my bonfire of weeds, I staged
the burn in a trench dug in my garden, and then used the excavated soil
to smother the fire. A layer of biochar now rests buried in the soil.
Hundreds of years from now, it will still be holding carbon while
energizing the soil food web. This simple melding of soil and fire,
first discovered by ancient people in the Amazon, may be a ³new² key to
feeding ourselves while restoring the health of our planet.


To learn more about this fascinating topic, read Amazonian Dark Earths
by Johannes Lehmann. And click*here*for more articles on biochar
research. (A the above web site)
--

- Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being
is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the
moment of conception until death." - Rachel Carson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI29wVQN8Go

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072040.html

In article , Charlie wrote:

On Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:33:19 -0700, Billy
wrote:

Increase the fertility of your garden for FREE.


http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organ...-Improve-Your-
Soil.aspx


Ahem, OldeAlzheimers ! I posted this Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:43:03 -0600
Msg id

Namenda and Aricept is a good combination. Also read Bill's article
on rhubarb.

Not meaning to start a rhubarb here, or nothing......

Charlie

Never can tell when a newbi will stop by and say,"That's just the
question I've always wanted to ask, and there it is, right in front of
me. Glory be. "

I'm thinkin' we oten use it for wallpaper. Maybe put in a couple of
tasteful corner ads, and make the group some money.
--

- Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being
is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the
moment of conception until death." - Rachel Carson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI29wVQN8Go

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072040.html

In article , Charlie wrote:

On Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:24:17 -0700, Billy
wrote:

In article , Charlie wrote:

On Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:33:19 -0700, Billy
wrote:

Increase the fertility of your garden for FREE.


http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organ...-To-Improve-Yo
ur-
Soil.aspx


Ahem, OldeAlzheimers ! I posted this Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:43:03 -0600
Msg id

Namenda and Aricept is a good combination. Also read Bill's article
on rhubarb.

Not meaning to start a rhubarb here, or nothing......

Charlie

Never can tell when a newbi will stop by and say,"That's just the
question I've always wanted to ask, and there it is, right in front of
me. Glory be. "

I'm thinkin' we oten use it for wallpaper. Maybe put in a couple of
tasteful corner ads, and make the group some money.

Aye...well now, put that way, you are correct! Pardon me smart mouff.

Seems as if some folks needs lots o' repeating (self-included, where's
the rhubarb)...

BTW.....the effing weather here sucks.....not conducive to gardening
*at all*. Other than the garlic, nothing is up, or planted,
except-------- the heirloom greens bed that I planted this
afternoon. It's 4 x 10. I mix all the lettuces and stuff together
with some damp sand and broadcast it and then rake it in. Toss in
radishes also, they are good to create some space when harvested.

Rain anticipated five of the next seven days. I'm going out later and
cover a couple of the beds with plastic to keep the rain off and warm
them.

Found a good large metal trashcan with lid and am going to start
making batches of biochar out of the weeds, grass, sticks etc. that
always accumulate.


Charlie

Sorry to hear about the weather. Four years ago (I think) we had rain
until May. It was June before I could get the garden planted. Talk about
"sucked", it "Hoovered". Here, north of San Francisco, we just had a
week of overcast and rain (not enough to make any change in expected
water rationing but all donations are gratefully accepted). Lookin' in
to my little box of seeds, I found a number of partial packets of salad
and beets. There was already a thin layer of mulch in the salad patch as
well as in the old salad garden which is now mostly beets, onions,
garlic, chard. I took my hand full of lettuce seeds and cast them into
the salad patch did likewise with the beet seeds into the other patch
and now both are showing a number of sprouts. The salad garden actually
looks like a green carpet. Thank god for iron phosphate or I wouldn't
have any seedlings at all.

Finally got my carrots and parsnips bed seeded (mostly: ran out of
seeds) yesterday. I put up a barrier to keep the "Hounds from Hell" out
of it. When I finished, I found that they had strolled off, out of the
yard, and I spent the next hour finding them. They can enjoy the life of
being chained up for awhile. Usually, they don't run off, if I'm outside
with them.

I bought some starter plants of Brandywine, Striped German, and a couple
of bell peppers. They take so long to develop, I just wanted to have
back up to my germinated plants which aren't doing much right now,
outside in the cold. Hopefully, I'll get another germination tray
started tomorrow with my bitter melons and zuchetta included.

I wanted to thank you for the hanging petunias idea. They didn't do
anything last years but they over wintered and 2 out of 5 are blooming
already. I'm impressed. The geraniums blackened to the roots but most
are showing signs of life.

The garbage can sounds like a good idea, if you already have an old,
used-up one. Even when the bottom rots out, you still got the lid to
stop the fire.

Funny how things work out. Rome fell in the 4th century AD. Books were
used for toilet paper and fires. Knowledge was preserved by arabs and
re-discovered by Europeans on the Iberian peninsula in the 14th century.
A millennium of western intellectual development lost. Now, from the
Amazon, 600 years later, the gift of soil.

I wonder, how much more will humanity learn, what it used to know?

Gotta change the fishs water.

Bye
--

- Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being
is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the
moment of conception until death." - Rachel Carson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI29wVQN8Go

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072040.html

In article
,
Billy wrote:

Thank god for iron phosphate or I wouldn't
have any seedlings at all.

Well thank Billy for lining me up with a source for Iron Phosphate.
Got 16 ounces and thought of sending 4 your way then I thought about
sending white powder in the mail and in one of my saner moments said not
a good idea these days.

The garbage can sounds like a good idea, if you already have an old,
used-up one. Even when the bottom rots out, you still got the lid to
stop the fire.

Funny how things work out. Rome fell in the 4th century AD. Books were
used for toilet paper and fires. Knowledge was preserved by arabs and
re-discovered by Europeans on the Iberian peninsula in the 14th century.
A millennium of western intellectual development lost. Now, from the
Amazon, 600 years later, the gift of soil.

Slash and burn has incurred a nasty reputation but I'd guess the
folks calling the shots like heavy industry.

I wonder, how much more will humanity learn, what it used to know?

Hope is the learning may have a wide margin of error. Fingers crossed
as none of my kids know what a hoe is let alone there are many types.
Seems a down turn may wake up the notion of being more self sufficient.

Gotta change the fishs water.

I have to soon too.

Bill

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA
Not all who wander are lost.
- J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

Some Hopi gardener said, "This is not about growing vegetables; it
is about growing kids."

In article ,
Bill wrote:

Thank god for iron phosphate or I wouldn't
have any seedlings at all.

Well thank Billy for lining me up with a source for Iron Phosphate.
Got 16 ounces and thought of sending 4 your way then I thought about
sending white powder in the mail and in one of my saner moments said not
a good idea these days.

It finally came? Hallelujah. Now I can make eye contact with you again.
I was feeling pretty crumby coming up with what eventually looked like a
rip-off. I'd love 4 oz, if you can clear it with the postal service. I
promise not to use it recreationally;O)

My pots of parsley and cilantro that went to seed last year are showing
new sprouts. Potatoes that didn't get harvested last year are also of to
a roaring start. Three weeks now and no sign of the ones I planted this
year.

I'm slowly pushing back the wild onions, to expose the ground and warm
it up. Thinkin' about wrapping a couple of tomato cages with plastic and
covering the ground directly around them to see if I can hurry along the
growth of my store bought tomatoes.

Theory and application, and the gardener in between.
--

- Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being
is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the
moment of conception until death." - Rachel Carson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI29wVQN8Go

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072040.html

"Billy" wrote in message
...
Increase the fertility of your garden for FREE.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organ...ar-To-Improve-
Your-Soil.aspx


Make Biochar this Ancient Technique Will Improve Your Soil
By Barbara Pleasant

Last year, I committed one of the great sins of gardening: I let weeds
go to seed. Cleaning up in fall, I faced down a ton of seed-bearing
foxtail, burdock and crabgrass. Sure, I could compost it hot to steam
the weed seeds to death, but instead I decided to try something
different. I dug a ditch, added the weeds and lots of woody prunings,
and burned it into biochar, thus practicing a ³new² soil-building
technique that¹s at least 3,000 years old.

What¹s biochar? Basically, it¹s organic matter that is burned slowly,
with a restricted flow of oxygen, and then the fire is stopped when the
material reaches the charcoal stage. Unlike tiny tidbits of ash, coarse
lumps of charcoal are full of crevices and holes, which help them serve
as life rafts to soil microorganisms. The carbon compounds in charcoal
form loose chemical bonds with soluble plant nutrients so they are not
as readily washed away by rain and irrigation. Biochar alone added to
poor soil has little benefit to plants, but when used in combination
with compost and organic fertilizers, it can dramatically improve plant
growth while helping retain nutrients in the soil.

Amazonian Dark Earths

The idea of biochar comes from the Amazonian rain forests of Brazil,
where a civilization thrived for 2,000 years, from about 500 B.C. until
Spanish and Portuguese explorers introduced devastating European
diseases in the mid-1500s. Using only their hands, sticks and stone
axes, Amazonian tribes grew cassava, corn and numerous tree fruits in
soil made rich with compost, mulch and smoldered plant matter.
Amazingly, these ³dark earths² persist today as a testament to an
ancient soil-building method you can use in your garden. Scientists
disagree on whether the soils were created on purpose, in order to grow
more food, or if they were an accidental byproduct of the biochar and
compost generated in day-to-day village life along the banks of the
Earth¹s biggest river. However they came to be, there is no doubt that
Amazonian dark earths (often called terra preta) hold plant nutrients,
including nitrogen, phosphorous, calcium and magnesium, much more
efficiently than unimproved soil. Even after 500 years of tropical
temperatures and rainfall that averages 80 inches a year, the dark
earths remain remarkably fertile.

Scientists around the world are working in labs and field trial plots to
better understand how biochar works, and to unravel the many mysteries
of terra preta. At Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., microbiologists
have discovered bacteria in terra preta soils that are similar to
strains that are active in hot compost piles. Overall populations of
fungi and bacteria are high in terra preta soils, too, but the presence
of abundant carbon makes the microorganisms live and reproduce at a
slowed pace. The result is a reduction in the turnover rate of organic
matter in the soil, so composts and other soil-enriching forms of
organic matter last longer.

In field trials with corn, rice and many other crops, biochar has
increased productivity by making nutrients already present in the soil
better available to plants. Results are especially dramatic when biochar
is added to good soil that contains ample minerals and plant nutrients.
Research continues (track it at The International Biochar Initiative),
but at this point it appears that biochar gives both organic matter and
microorganisms in organically enriched soil enhanced staying power.
Digging in nuggets of biochar or adding them to compost as it is set
aside to cure can slow the leaching away of nutrients and help
organically enriched soil retain nutrients for decades rather than for a
couple of seasons.

Finding Free Biochar

Biochar¹s soil building talents may change the way you clean your
woodstove. In addition to gathering ashes (and keeping them in a dry
metal can until you¹re ready to use them as a phosphorus-rich soil
amendment, applied in light dustings), make a habit of gathering the
charred remains of logs. Take them to your garden, give them a good
smack with the back of a shovel and you have biochar.

If you live close to a campground, you may have access to an unlimited
supply of garden-worthy biochar from the remains of partially burned
campfires. The small fires burned in chimineas often produce biochar,
too, so you may need to look no further than your neighbor¹s deck for a
steady supply.

Charcoal briquettes used in grilling are probably not a good choice.
Those designed to light fast often include paraffin or other hydrocarbon
solvents that have no place in an organic garden. Plain charred weeds,
wood or cow pies are better materials for using this promising
soil-building technique based on ancient gardening wisdom.

How to Make Biochar

To make biochar right in your gardens, start by digging a trench in a
bed. (Use a fork to loosen the soil in the bottom of the trench and
you¹ll get the added benefits of this ³double-digging² technique.) Then
pile brush into the trench and light it. You want to have a fire that
starts out hot, but is quickly slowed down by reducing the oxygen
supply. The best way to tell what¹s going on in a biochar fire is to
watch the smoke. The white smoke, produced early on, is mostly water
vapor. As the smoke turns yellow, resins and sugars in the material are
being burned. When the smoke thins and turns grayish blue, dampen down
the fire by covering it with about an inch of soil to reduce the air
supply, and leave it to smolder. Then, after the organic matter has
smoldered into charcoal chunks, use water to put out the fire. Another
option would be to make charcoal from wood scraps in metal barrels. (For
details, go to Twin Oaks Forge.)

I¹m part of the Smokey-the-Bear generation, raised on phrases like
³learn not to burn,² so it took me a while to warm up to the idea of
using semi-open burning as a soil-building technique. Unrestrained open
burning releases 95 percent or more of the carbon in the wood, weeds or
whatever else that goes up in smoke. However, low-temperature controlled
burning to create biochar, called pyrolysis, retains much more carbon
(about 50 percent) in the initial burning phase. Carbon release is cut
even more when the biochar becomes part of the soil, where it may reduce
the production of greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide.
This charcoal releases its carbon 10 to 100 times slower than rotting
organic matter. As long as it is done correctly, controlled charring of
weeds, pruned limbs and other hard-to-compost forms of organic matter,
and then using the biochar as a soil or compost amendment, can result in
a zero emission carbon cycling system.

Burning responsibly requires simple common sense. Check with your local
fire department to make sure you have any necessary permits, wait as
long as you must to get damp, windless weather, and monitor the fire
until it¹s dead.

The Bigger Picture

If global warming is to be slowed, we must find ways to reduce the loss
of carbon into the atmosphere. In the dark earths of the Amazon, and in
million-year-old charcoal deposits beneath the Pacific Ocean, charcoal
has proven its ability to bring carbon release almost to a standstill.
If each of one million farmers around the globe incorporated biochar
into 160 acres of land, the amount of carbon locked away in the Earth¹s
soil would increase five-fold.

But there¹s more. What if you generate energy by burning a renewable
biomass crop (like wood, corn, peanut hulls, bamboo, willow or
whatever), while also producing biochar that is then stashed away by
using it as a soil amendment? (For an example, see the Archive article,
Mother¹s Woodburning Truck, about wood-gas generators.) The carbon
recovery numbers in such a system make it the only biomass model found
thus far that can produce energy without a net release of carbon.
Research teams around the world are scrambling to work out the details
of these elegantly Earth-based systems.

Much remains to be known about how biochar systems should tick, but some
may be as simple as on-farm set ups that transform manure and other
wastes into nuggets of black carbon that help fertilizer go farther
while holding carbon in the soil.

As gardeners, it is up to us to find ways to adapt this new knowledge to
the needs of our land. To make the most of my bonfire of weeds, I staged
the burn in a trench dug in my garden, and then used the excavated soil
to smother the fire. A layer of biochar now rests buried in the soil.
Hundreds of years from now, it will still be holding carbon while
energizing the soil food web. This simple melding of soil and fire,
first discovered by ancient people in the Amazon, may be a ³new² key to
feeding ourselves while restoring the health of our planet.


To learn more about this fascinating topic, read Amazonian Dark Earths
by Johannes Lehmann. And click here for more articles on biochar
research. (A the above web site)
--

- Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being
is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the
moment of conception until death." - Rachel Carson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI29wVQN8Go

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072040.html

Am not as smart as you Billy. There seems a mystery written in your post as
to where this partially burned material came from, biochar. After very
little time consumption for thought, I came up with this as to its origin.
It was common thoughout early farming to clear an area by burning. Tree and
other plant coverage is quite thick in the area of the world mentioned. The
area of the world you're talking about receives an inordinate amount of
rain. So, I submit that these burnings were partially slowed down or even
put out at times by the rain. Or, unable to completely burn as the center
of such piling of trees and plant life were to damp in the center of such
piles. Or, both. So, clearing an area for farming was not an overnight
burning process. Took decades if not longer for an area to be truly void of
nothing except of what was intended for farming. During this process, the
partially burnt and probably sopping wet material was worked back into the
soil both manually and naturally. Given a a milleniium, and natural
increase in soil/dust overtopping, and continually working that material
gave its gusto and final appearance today. I may be wrong, but that's my
interpretation.

--
Dave

It's windy and mostly sunny here, supposed to get in the 50s, was in the 40s
when I woke up 4 hours ago, and I just moved some logs that were next to the
herb bed, to make more room for more herbs or whatever I want to plant
there. So if you need a log, I got plenty! I'm also eager for my 2 dwarf
blueberries, ginger root, and 2 black walnut trees that have been shipped to
me finally to get here...have no idea where to plant the black walnuts
though, because a book on companion planting I have(Carrots Love Tomatoes,
by Louise Riotte) says there's a substance on their leaves called juglone
that washes off them when it rains and prohibit growth of other greenage
near them....anyone had any experience with that?

Charlie wrote in message
...
snip
Loverly day today! Rain, windy, temp 40F.

Wisht I had a damned log to crawl under.

Charlie

In article ,
"Lilah Morgan" wrote:

It's windy and mostly sunny here, supposed to get in the 50s, was in the 40s
when I woke up 4 hours ago, and I just moved some logs that were next to the
herb bed, to make more room for more herbs or whatever I want to plant
there. So if you need a log, I got plenty! I'm also eager for my 2 dwarf
blueberries, ginger root, and 2 black walnut trees that have been shipped to
me finally to get here...have no idea where to plant the black walnuts
though, because a book on companion planting I have(Carrots Love Tomatoes,
by Louise Riotte) says there's a substance on their leaves called juglone
that washes off them when it rains and prohibit growth of other greenage
near them....anyone had any experience with that?

Charlie wrote in message
...
snip
Loverly day today! Rain, windy, temp 40F.

Wisht I had a damned log to crawl under.

Charlie

I'd would forget to have anything grow under the drip line. Similar
to the way mother maples discourage kids from being too near. You are
talking a long term time investment but growing stuff for the next
generation is nobel. The largest we had was about 30 years old that my
dad grew from seed. It was maybe 10 feet in diameter drip line when my
brother took it down. The wood is valued highly and some folks use the
fruit for dying cloth. I like black walnut brittle. Heard some folks
run their cars over the seeds to crack them.

Bill

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA
Not all who wander are lost.
- J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

Some Hopi gardener said, "This is not about growing vegetables; it
is about growing kids."

Maples too? I also got a sugar maple this year(we named it Miss Marple, just
like we named the dwarf fig we got Puddin'). I hadn't known about dying
cloth with walnuts, but I have a recipe to make ink and ground walnut shells
are one of the ingredients. And yeah I know it's long term investment, but
I'm thinking years down the road. Pretty much all the plants I ordered this
year won't start bearing for at least 2 years, 2-5 is the range for all of
them 'cept the maple and walnuts. For the sugar maple, after it's filled out
enough, could I just take a branch of it and get it to root to have more?

"Bill" wrote in message
...

I'd would forget to have anything grow under the drip line. Similar
to the way mother maples discourage kids from being too near. You are
talking a long term time investment but growing stuff for the next
generation is nobel. The largest we had was about 30 years old that my
dad grew from seed. It was maybe 10 feet in diameter drip line when my
brother took it down. The wood is valued highly and some folks use the
fruit for dying cloth. I like black walnut brittle. Heard some folks
run their cars over the seeds to crack them.

Bill

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA
Not all who wander are lost.
- J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

Some Hopi gardener said, "This is not about growing vegetables; it
is about growing kids."

In article ,
"Dioclese" NONE wrote:

"Billy" wrote in message
...
Increase the fertility of your garden for FREE.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organ...ar-To-Improve-
Your-Soil.aspx


Make Biochar this Ancient Technique Will Improve Your Soil
By Barbara Pleasant

Last year, I committed one of the great sins of gardening: I let weeds
go to seed. Cleaning up in fall, I faced down a ton of seed-bearing
foxtail, burdock and crabgrass. Sure, I could compost it hot to steam
the weed seeds to death, but instead I decided to try something
different. I dug a ditch, added the weeds and lots of woody prunings,
and burned it into biochar, thus practicing a ³new² soil-building
technique that¹s at least 3,000 years old.

What¹s biochar? Basically, it¹s organic matter that is burned slowly,
with a restricted flow of oxygen, and then the fire is stopped when the
material reaches the charcoal stage. Unlike tiny tidbits of ash, coarse
lumps of charcoal are full of crevices and holes, which help them serve
as life rafts to soil microorganisms. The carbon compounds in charcoal
form loose chemical bonds with soluble plant nutrients so they are not
as readily washed away by rain and irrigation. Biochar alone added to
poor soil has little benefit to plants, but when used in combination
with compost and organic fertilizers, it can dramatically improve plant
growth while helping retain nutrients in the soil.

Amazonian Dark Earths

The idea of biochar comes from the Amazonian rain forests of Brazil,
where a civilization thrived for 2,000 years, from about 500 B.C. until
Spanish and Portuguese explorers introduced devastating European
diseases in the mid-1500s. Using only their hands, sticks and stone
axes, Amazonian tribes grew cassava, corn and numerous tree fruits in
soil made rich with compost, mulch and smoldered plant matter.
Amazingly, these ³dark earths² persist today as a testament to an
ancient soil-building method you can use in your garden. Scientists
disagree on whether the soils were created on purpose, in order to grow
more food, or if they were an accidental byproduct of the biochar and
compost generated in day-to-day village life along the banks of the
Earth¹s biggest river. However they came to be, there is no doubt that
Amazonian dark earths (often called terra preta) hold plant nutrients,
including nitrogen, phosphorous, calcium and magnesium, much more
efficiently than unimproved soil. Even after 500 years of tropical
temperatures and rainfall that averages 80 inches a year, the dark
earths remain remarkably fertile.

Scientists around the world are working in labs and field trial plots to
better understand how biochar works, and to unravel the many mysteries
of terra preta. At Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., microbiologists
have discovered bacteria in terra preta soils that are similar to
strains that are active in hot compost piles. Overall populations of
fungi and bacteria are high in terra preta soils, too, but the presence
of abundant carbon makes the microorganisms live and reproduce at a
slowed pace. The result is a reduction in the turnover rate of organic
matter in the soil, so composts and other soil-enriching forms of
organic matter last longer.

In field trials with corn, rice and many other crops, biochar has
increased productivity by making nutrients already present in the soil
better available to plants. Results are especially dramatic when biochar
is added to good soil that contains ample minerals and plant nutrients.
Research continues (track it at The International Biochar Initiative),
but at this point it appears that biochar gives both organic matter and
microorganisms in organically enriched soil enhanced staying power.
Digging in nuggets of biochar or adding them to compost as it is set
aside to cure can slow the leaching away of nutrients and help
organically enriched soil retain nutrients for decades rather than for a
couple of seasons.

Finding Free Biochar

Biochar¹s soil building talents may change the way you clean your
woodstove. In addition to gathering ashes (and keeping them in a dry
metal can until you¹re ready to use them as a phosphorus-rich soil
amendment, applied in light dustings), make a habit of gathering the
charred remains of logs. Take them to your garden, give them a good
smack with the back of a shovel and you have biochar.

If you live close to a campground, you may have access to an unlimited
supply of garden-worthy biochar from the remains of partially burned
campfires. The small fires burned in chimineas often produce biochar,
too, so you may need to look no further than your neighbor¹s deck for a
steady supply.

Charcoal briquettes used in grilling are probably not a good choice.
Those designed to light fast often include paraffin or other hydrocarbon
solvents that have no place in an organic garden. Plain charred weeds,
wood or cow pies are better materials for using this promising
soil-building technique based on ancient gardening wisdom.

How to Make Biochar

To make biochar right in your gardens, start by digging a trench in a
bed. (Use a fork to loosen the soil in the bottom of the trench and
you¹ll get the added benefits of this ³double-digging² technique.) Then
pile brush into the trench and light it. You want to have a fire that
starts out hot, but is quickly slowed down by reducing the oxygen
supply. The best way to tell what¹s going on in a biochar fire is to
watch the smoke. The white smoke, produced early on, is mostly water
vapor. As the smoke turns yellow, resins and sugars in the material are
being burned. When the smoke thins and turns grayish blue, dampen down
the fire by covering it with about an inch of soil to reduce the air
supply, and leave it to smolder. Then, after the organic matter has
smoldered into charcoal chunks, use water to put out the fire. Another
option would be to make charcoal from wood scraps in metal barrels. (For
details, go to Twin Oaks Forge.)

I¹m part of the Smokey-the-Bear generation, raised on phrases like
³learn not to burn,² so it took me a while to warm up to the idea of
using semi-open burning as a soil-building technique. Unrestrained open
burning releases 95 percent or more of the carbon in the wood, weeds or
whatever else that goes up in smoke. However, low-temperature controlled
burning to create biochar, called pyrolysis, retains much more carbon
(about 50 percent) in the initial burning phase. Carbon release is cut
even more when the biochar becomes part of the soil, where it may reduce
the production of greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide.
This charcoal releases its carbon 10 to 100 times slower than rotting
organic matter. As long as it is done correctly, controlled charring of
weeds, pruned limbs and other hard-to-compost forms of organic matter,
and then using the biochar as a soil or compost amendment, can result in
a zero emission carbon cycling system.

Burning responsibly requires simple common sense. Check with your local
fire department to make sure you have any necessary permits, wait as
long as you must to get damp, windless weather, and monitor the fire
until it¹s dead.

The Bigger Picture

If global warming is to be slowed, we must find ways to reduce the loss
of carbon into the atmosphere. In the dark earths of the Amazon, and in
million-year-old charcoal deposits beneath the Pacific Ocean, charcoal
has proven its ability to bring carbon release almost to a standstill.
If each of one million farmers around the globe incorporated biochar
into 160 acres of land, the amount of carbon locked away in the Earth¹s
soil would increase five-fold.

But there¹s more. What if you generate energy by burning a renewable
biomass crop (like wood, corn, peanut hulls, bamboo, willow or
whatever), while also producing biochar that is then stashed away by
using it as a soil amendment? (For an example, see the Archive article,
Mother¹s Woodburning Truck, about wood-gas generators.) The carbon
recovery numbers in such a system make it the only biomass model found
thus far that can produce energy without a net release of carbon.
Research teams around the world are scrambling to work out the details
of these elegantly Earth-based systems.

Much remains to be known about how biochar systems should tick, but some
may be as simple as on-farm set ups that transform manure and other
wastes into nuggets of black carbon that help fertilizer go farther
while holding carbon in the soil.

As gardeners, it is up to us to find ways to adapt this new knowledge to
the needs of our land. To make the most of my bonfire of weeds, I staged
the burn in a trench dug in my garden, and then used the excavated soil
to smother the fire. A layer of biochar now rests buried in the soil.
Hundreds of years from now, it will still be holding carbon while
energizing the soil food web. This simple melding of soil and fire,
first discovered by ancient people in the Amazon, may be a ³new² key to
feeding ourselves while restoring the health of our planet.


To learn more about this fascinating topic, read Amazonian Dark Earths
by Johannes Lehmann. And click here for more articles on biochar
research. (A the above web site)
--

- Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being
is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the
moment of conception until death." - Rachel Carson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI29wVQN8Go

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072040.html

Am not as smart as you Billy. There seems a mystery written in your post as
to where this partially burned material came from, biochar. After very
little time consumption for thought, I came up with this as to its origin.
It was common thoughout early farming to clear an area by burning. Tree and
other plant coverage is quite thick in the area of the world mentioned. The
area of the world you're talking about receives an inordinate amount of
rain. So, I submit that these burnings were partially slowed down or even
put out at times by the rain. Or, unable to completely burn as the center
of such piling of trees and plant life were to damp in the center of such
piles. Or, both. So, clearing an area for farming was not an overnight
burning process. Took decades if not longer for an area to be truly void of
nothing except of what was intended for farming. During this process, the
partially burnt and probably sopping wet material was worked back into the
soil both manually and naturally. Given a a milleniium, and natural
increase in soil/dust overtopping, and continually working that material
gave its gusto and final appearance today. I may be wrong, but that's my
interpretation.

"My" understanding of present day slash and burn in the Amazon is that
it produces marginal subsistence soil from the laterite for a few years
and then takes decades to recover. Normal burning would produce mostly
ash, not the quantities of charcoal needed to produce "terra preta"
which would have come with extended occupation of an area. The burning
would also destroy the organic material needed for the nutrient depleted
laterite soil to become fertile. Once exposed, laterite can become very
hard. It seems more reasonable that the "terra preta" was developed by a
hunter gatherer culture as a bridge to agriculture. In the book, 1491,
areas of the Amazon are described as orchards. Early European
descriptions of New England forests, compared them to parks (it was easy
to access the trees). One of the assertions of the book is that Native
Americans had a different attitude about the land and how to use it. The
book "1491" also addresses some of their screw ups but indigenous
Americans seemed to be able to learn from their mistakes.

I have no idea if the book "1491" is correct, only that it makes a good
argument that Native Americans saw (see) the world differently than we
do.

1491
pg. 346

Despite the charcoal, terra preta is not a by-product of slash-and-burn
agriculture. To begin with, slash-and-burn simply does not produce
enough charcoal to make terra preta‹the carbon mostly goes into the air
in the form of carbon dioxide. Instead, Indians apparently made terra
preta by a process that Christoph Steiner, a University of Bayreuth soil
scientist, has dubbed "slash-and-char." Instead of completely burning
organic matter to ash, ancient farmers burned it incompletely to make
charcoal, then stirred the charcoal into the soil. In addition to its
benefits to the soil, slash-and-char releases much less carbon into the
air than slash-and-burn, which has large potential implications for
climate change. Trees store vast amounts of carbon in their trunks,
branches, and leaves. When they die or people cut them down, the carbon
is usually released into the atmosphere, driving global warming.
Experiments by Makoto Ogawa of the Kansai Environmental Engineering
Center, near Kyoto, Japan, demonstrated that charcoal retains its carbon
in the soil for up to fifty thousand years. "Slash-and-char is very
clever," Ogawa told me. "Nobody in Europe or Asia that I know of ever
understood the properties of charcoal in soil."
----

"Terra preta" is an intriguing idea that could give us immediate
benefits and bequeath them to our descendants as well. Additionally, the
idea of fixing CO2 in charcoal to alleviate global warming is very
timely. It looks like it is all win/win.
--

- Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being
is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the
moment of conception until death." - Rachel Carson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI29wVQN8Go

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072040.html

"Lilah Morgan" wrote in message
ers2...
It's windy and mostly sunny here, supposed to get in the 50s, was in the
40s
when I woke up 4 hours ago, and I just moved some logs that were next to
the
herb bed, to make more room for more herbs or whatever I want to plant
there. So if you need a log, I got plenty! I'm also eager for my 2 dwarf
blueberries, ginger root, and 2 black walnut trees that have been shipped
to
me finally to get here...have no idea where to plant the black walnuts
though, because a book on companion planting I have(Carrots Love Tomatoes,
by Louise Riotte) says there's a substance on their leaves called juglone
that washes off them when it rains and prohibit growth of other greenage
near them....anyone had any experience with that?

Yep, don't plant them anywhere near your vegetables. Tomatos, especially,
refuse to grow near black walnuts. The squirrels plant nuts in my garden
every year & every year I have to dig them out. Black walnuts are almost a
weed here in western NC. Use lots of organic matter & mulch for the
blueberries as they are very shallow rooted. The ph should be 5.5 or lower
for them as well.
Good luck,
Steve (650+ blueberry plants & a small crop this year)


Charlie wrote in message
...
snip
Loverly day today! Rain, windy, temp 40F.

Wisht I had a damned log to crawl under.

Charlie

"Lilah Morgan" wrote in message
...
Maples too? I also got a sugar maple this year(we named it Miss Marple,
just
like we named the dwarf fig we got Puddin'). I hadn't known about dying
cloth with walnuts, but I have a recipe to make ink and ground walnut
shells
are one of the ingredients. And yeah I know it's long term investment, but
I'm thinking years down the road. Pretty much all the plants I ordered
this
year won't start bearing for at least 2 years, 2-5 is the range for all of
them 'cept the maple and walnuts. For the sugar maple, after it's filled
out
enough, could I just take a branch of it and get it to root to have more?

There'll be more seed than you know what to do with. In a few years you will
have little maples sprouting everywhere.
Steve

sage
...

I'd would forget to have anything grow under the drip line. Similar
to the way mother maples discourage kids from being too near. You are
talking a long term time investment but growing stuff for the next
generation is nobel. The largest we had was about 30 years old that my
dad grew from seed. It was maybe 10 feet in diameter drip line when my
brother took it down. The wood is valued highly and some folks use the
fruit for dying cloth. I like black walnut brittle. Heard some folks
run their cars over the seeds to crack them.

Bill

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA
Not all who wander are lost.
- J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

Some Hopi gardener said, "This is not about growing vegetables; it
is about growing kids."

In article ,
says...
It's windy and mostly sunny here, supposed to get in the 50s, was in the 40s
when I woke up 4 hours ago, and I just moved some logs that were next to the
herb bed, to make more room for more herbs or whatever I want to plant
there. So if you need a log, I got plenty! I'm also eager for my 2 dwarf
blueberries, ginger root, and 2 black walnut trees that have been shipped to
me finally to get here...have no idea where to plant the black walnuts
though, because a book on companion planting I have(Carrots Love Tomatoes,
by Louise Riotte) says there's a substance on their leaves called juglone
that washes off them when it rains and prohibit growth of other greenage
near them....anyone had any experience with that?


Walnuts have juglone in the leaves, roots and bark which stunts the
growth of a number of species.

Look here for juglone tolerant plants and trees.

In article , phorbin1
@yahoo.com says...
In article ,
says...
It's windy and mostly sunny here, supposed to get in the 50s, was in the 40s
when I woke up 4 hours ago, and I just moved some logs that were next to the
herb bed, to make more room for more herbs or whatever I want to plant
there. So if you need a log, I got plenty! I'm also eager for my 2 dwarf
blueberries, ginger root, and 2 black walnut trees that have been shipped to
me finally to get here...have no idea where to plant the black walnuts
though, because a book on companion planting I have(Carrots Love Tomatoes,
by Louise Riotte) says there's a substance on their leaves called juglone
that washes off them when it rains and prohibit growth of other greenage
near them....anyone had any experience with that?


Walnuts have juglone in the leaves, roots and bark which stunts the
growth of a number of species.

Look here for juglone tolerant plants and trees.


I'll try this again...

http://www.uwex.edu/ces/wihort/landscape/Juglone.htm

"Billy" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Dioclese" NONE wrote:

"Billy" wrote in message
...
Increase the fertility of your garden for FREE.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organ...ar-To-Improve-
Your-Soil.aspx


Make Biochar this Ancient Technique Will Improve Your Soil
By Barbara Pleasant

Last year, I committed one of the great sins of gardening: I let weeds
go to seed. Cleaning up in fall, I faced down a ton of seed-bearing
foxtail, burdock and crabgrass. Sure, I could compost it hot to steam
the weed seeds to death, but instead I decided to try something
different. I dug a ditch, added the weeds and lots of woody prunings,
and burned it into biochar, thus practicing a ³new² soil-building
technique that¹s at least 3,000 years old.

What¹s biochar? Basically, it¹s organic matter that is burned slowly,
with a restricted flow of oxygen, and then the fire is stopped when the
material reaches the charcoal stage. Unlike tiny tidbits of ash, coarse
lumps of charcoal are full of crevices and holes, which help them serve
as life rafts to soil microorganisms. The carbon compounds in charcoal
form loose chemical bonds with soluble plant nutrients so they are not
as readily washed away by rain and irrigation. Biochar alone added to
poor soil has little benefit to plants, but when used in combination
with compost and organic fertilizers, it can dramatically improve plant
growth while helping retain nutrients in the soil.

Amazonian Dark Earths

The idea of biochar comes from the Amazonian rain forests of Brazil,
where a civilization thrived for 2,000 years, from about 500 B.C. until
Spanish and Portuguese explorers introduced devastating European
diseases in the mid-1500s. Using only their hands, sticks and stone
axes, Amazonian tribes grew cassava, corn and numerous tree fruits in
soil made rich with compost, mulch and smoldered plant matter.
Amazingly, these ³dark earths² persist today as a testament to an
ancient soil-building method you can use in your garden. Scientists
disagree on whether the soils were created on purpose, in order to grow
more food, or if they were an accidental byproduct of the biochar and
compost generated in day-to-day village life along the banks of the
Earth¹s biggest river. However they came to be, there is no doubt that
Amazonian dark earths (often called terra preta) hold plant nutrients,
including nitrogen, phosphorous, calcium and magnesium, much more
efficiently than unimproved soil. Even after 500 years of tropical
temperatures and rainfall that averages 80 inches a year, the dark
earths remain remarkably fertile.

Scientists around the world are working in labs and field trial plots
to
better understand how biochar works, and to unravel the many mysteries
of terra preta. At Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., microbiologists
have discovered bacteria in terra preta soils that are similar to
strains that are active in hot compost piles. Overall populations of
fungi and bacteria are high in terra preta soils, too, but the presence
of abundant carbon makes the microorganisms live and reproduce at a
slowed pace. The result is a reduction in the turnover rate of organic
matter in the soil, so composts and other soil-enriching forms of
organic matter last longer.

In field trials with corn, rice and many other crops, biochar has
increased productivity by making nutrients already present in the soil
better available to plants. Results are especially dramatic when
biochar
is added to good soil that contains ample minerals and plant nutrients.
Research continues (track it at The International Biochar Initiative),
but at this point it appears that biochar gives both organic matter and
microorganisms in organically enriched soil enhanced staying power.
Digging in nuggets of biochar or adding them to compost as it is set
aside to cure can slow the leaching away of nutrients and help
organically enriched soil retain nutrients for decades rather than for
a
couple of seasons.

Finding Free Biochar

Biochar¹s soil building talents may change the way you clean your
woodstove. In addition to gathering ashes (and keeping them in a dry
metal can until you¹re ready to use them as a phosphorus-rich soil
amendment, applied in light dustings), make a habit of gathering the
charred remains of logs. Take them to your garden, give them a good
smack with the back of a shovel and you have biochar.

If you live close to a campground, you may have access to an unlimited
supply of garden-worthy biochar from the remains of partially burned
campfires. The small fires burned in chimineas often produce biochar,
too, so you may need to look no further than your neighbor¹s deck for a
steady supply.

Charcoal briquettes used in grilling are probably not a good choice.
Those designed to light fast often include paraffin or other
hydrocarbon
solvents that have no place in an organic garden. Plain charred weeds,
wood or cow pies are better materials for using this promising
soil-building technique based on ancient gardening wisdom.

How to Make Biochar

To make biochar right in your gardens, start by digging a trench in a
bed. (Use a fork to loosen the soil in the bottom of the trench and
you¹ll get the added benefits of this ³double-digging² technique.) Then
pile brush into the trench and light it. You want to have a fire that
starts out hot, but is quickly slowed down by reducing the oxygen
supply. The best way to tell what¹s going on in a biochar fire is to
watch the smoke. The white smoke, produced early on, is mostly water
vapor. As the smoke turns yellow, resins and sugars in the material are
being burned. When the smoke thins and turns grayish blue, dampen down
the fire by covering it with about an inch of soil to reduce the air
supply, and leave it to smolder. Then, after the organic matter has
smoldered into charcoal chunks, use water to put out the fire. Another
option would be to make charcoal from wood scraps in metal barrels.
(For
details, go to Twin Oaks Forge.)

I¹m part of the Smokey-the-Bear generation, raised on phrases like
³learn not to burn,² so it took me a while to warm up to the idea of
using semi-open burning as a soil-building technique. Unrestrained open
burning releases 95 percent or more of the carbon in the wood, weeds or
whatever else that goes up in smoke. However, low-temperature
controlled
burning to create biochar, called pyrolysis, retains much more carbon
(about 50 percent) in the initial burning phase. Carbon release is cut
even more when the biochar becomes part of the soil, where it may
reduce
the production of greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide.
This charcoal releases its carbon 10 to 100 times slower than rotting
organic matter. As long as it is done correctly, controlled charring of
weeds, pruned limbs and other hard-to-compost forms of organic matter,
and then using the biochar as a soil or compost amendment, can result
in
a zero emission carbon cycling system.

Burning responsibly requires simple common sense. Check with your local
fire department to make sure you have any necessary permits, wait as
long as you must to get damp, windless weather, and monitor the fire
until it¹s dead.

The Bigger Picture

If global warming is to be slowed, we must find ways to reduce the loss
of carbon into the atmosphere. In the dark earths of the Amazon, and in
million-year-old charcoal deposits beneath the Pacific Ocean, charcoal
has proven its ability to bring carbon release almost to a standstill.
If each of one million farmers around the globe incorporated biochar
into 160 acres of land, the amount of carbon locked away in the Earth¹s
soil would increase five-fold.

But there¹s more. What if you generate energy by burning a renewable
biomass crop (like wood, corn, peanut hulls, bamboo, willow or
whatever), while also producing biochar that is then stashed away by
using it as a soil amendment? (For an example, see the Archive article,
Mother¹s Woodburning Truck, about wood-gas generators.) The carbon
recovery numbers in such a system make it the only biomass model found
thus far that can produce energy without a net release of carbon.
Research teams around the world are scrambling to work out the details
of these elegantly Earth-based systems.

Much remains to be known about how biochar systems should tick, but
some
may be as simple as on-farm set ups that transform manure and other
wastes into nuggets of black carbon that help fertilizer go farther
while holding carbon in the soil.

As gardeners, it is up to us to find ways to adapt this new knowledge
to
the needs of our land. To make the most of my bonfire of weeds, I
staged
the burn in a trench dug in my garden, and then used the excavated soil
to smother the fire. A layer of biochar now rests buried in the soil.
Hundreds of years from now, it will still be holding carbon while
energizing the soil food web. This simple melding of soil and fire,
first discovered by ancient people in the Amazon, may be a ³new² key to
feeding ourselves while restoring the health of our planet.


To learn more about this fascinating topic, read Amazonian Dark Earths
by Johannes Lehmann. And click here for more articles on biochar
research. (A the above web site)
--

- Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being
is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the
moment of conception until death." - Rachel Carson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI29wVQN8Go

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072040.html

Am not as smart as you Billy. There seems a mystery written in your post
as
to where this partially burned material came from, biochar. After very
little time consumption for thought, I came up with this as to its
origin.
It was common thoughout early farming to clear an area by burning. Tree
and
other plant coverage is quite thick in the area of the world mentioned.
The
area of the world you're talking about receives an inordinate amount of
rain. So, I submit that these burnings were partially slowed down or
even
put out at times by the rain. Or, unable to completely burn as the
center
of such piling of trees and plant life were to damp in the center of such
piles. Or, both. So, clearing an area for farming was not an overnight
burning process. Took decades if not longer for an area to be truly void
of
nothing except of what was intended for farming. During this process,
the
partially burnt and probably sopping wet material was worked back into
the
soil both manually and naturally. Given a a milleniium, and natural
increase in soil/dust overtopping, and continually working that material
gave its gusto and final appearance today. I may be wrong, but that's my
interpretation.

"My" understanding of present day slash and burn in the Amazon is that
it produces marginal subsistence soil from the laterite for a few years
and then takes decades to recover. Normal burning would produce mostly
ash, not the quantities of charcoal needed to produce "terra preta"
which would have come with extended occupation of an area. The burning
would also destroy the organic material needed for the nutrient depleted
laterite soil to become fertile. Once exposed, laterite can become very
hard. It seems more reasonable that the "terra preta" was developed by a
hunter gatherer culture as a bridge to agriculture. In the book, 1491,
areas of the Amazon are described as orchards. Early European
descriptions of New England forests, compared them to parks (it was easy
to access the trees). One of the assertions of the book is that Native
Americans had a different attitude about the land and how to use it. The
book "1491" also addresses some of their screw ups but indigenous
Americans seemed to be able to learn from their mistakes.

I have no idea if the book "1491" is correct, only that it makes a good
argument that Native Americans saw (see) the world differently than we
do.

1491
pg. 346

Despite the charcoal, terra preta is not a by-product of slash-and-burn
agriculture. To begin with, slash-and-burn simply does not produce
enough charcoal to make terra preta in the form of carbon dioxide.
Instead, Indians apparently made terra
preta by a process that Christoph Steiner, a University of Bayreuth soil
scientist, has dubbed "slash-and-char." Instead of completely burning
organic matter to ash, ancient farmers burned it incompletely to make
charcoal, then stirred the charcoal into the soil. In addition to its
benefits to the soil, slash-and-char releases much less carbon into the
air than slash-and-burn, which has large potential implications for
climate change. Trees store vast amounts of carbon in their trunks,
branches, and leaves. When they die or people cut them down, the carbon
is usually released into the atmosphere, driving global warming.
Experiments by Makoto Ogawa of the Kansai Environmental Engineering
Center, near Kyoto, Japan, demonstrated that charcoal retains its carbon
in the soil for up to fifty thousand years. "Slash-and-char is very
clever," Ogawa told me. "Nobody in Europe or Asia that I know of ever
understood the properties of charcoal in soil."
----

"Terra preta" is an intriguing idea that could give us immediate
benefits and bequeath them to our descendants as well. Additionally, the
idea of fixing CO2 in charcoal to alleviate global warming is very
timely. It looks like it is all win/win.
--

- Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being
is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the
moment of conception until death." - Rachel Carson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI29wVQN8Go

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072040.html

As you pointed out, todays' slash and burn isn't working to produce the
amount of carbon needed in the soil for biochar. I submit in former times,
this was on much smaller scale and the increased the size of such an area
over much longer time. The scale is one of the things that important when
comparing then and now.

Another point is pilings of trees and other plants for burning. Its highly
unlikely that such were made in in a large cleared centralized area as is
done now in a large scale, rather, were the tree fell instead. And such
trees weren't appreciably broken down, if at all, to facilitate burning. No
bulldozers or chainsaws for facilitate these pilings and burning. So, the
yield of carbon to the ground back then is increased much over current
practices of making major bonfires with high heat yield that consume much
more of its fuel source. This billows carbon in the form of gases much more
per amount of carbon fuel available as the older method did not burn nearly
as well or completely So, I fail to make the association of clear and burn
techniques used now compared to those methods used over a 1000 years ago.
There is no association that I can see.
--
Dave