Hi Soren,

Ash has little or no long lasting effect in the soil, however charcoal, especially if inoculated with nutrient will have great longevity within the soil.

The ratio of compost to charcoal is 2:1, as to ingredients for said inoculation, it is your preference as to what you see as a good inoculation mixture.

Personally I use blood, fish and bone granules together with molasses in liquid form poured over the charcoal in hot liquid form and allowed to soak for at least 48 hours. The charcoal is then allowed to sun dry and used in the ratio as stated.

I use a shredder to mix the charcoal and compost together to ensure that said charcoal is thoroughly mixed in a finer form.

See my previous posts.


uriel13

The mind is like a parachute it is totally useless unless it is open

[/quote]

Hi All,

It is necessary I think, that we begin growing heirloom crops again because F1, F2 and F3 hybrid seeds do not produce seed which can be saved for cultivation, as in such seeds don't grow true to type.

We must now look to this proven seed stock for our survival as they are the only seed stock type which can be saved which will grow true to type.

They may not initially give the yields of these hybrid varieties, but they can be cultivated at no cost other than seed stock saving.

As oil and its derivatives become more expensive so will the seed of hybrid cultivars which must be purchased year after year.

The multi-national companies have us locked into their products, if we want to go and grow our own way then it is essential the we return to heirloom seed stock.

Now many of the old varieties were subject to disease and low harvest potential, however we now have three new tools in our locker in the form of a Terra Preta type soil, VAM's and EM's.

This soil and these micro-organisms were not available in past, and it is my belief that we can produce greater and healthier crops from these old varieties.

The amendment of our soils with EM's, inoculated charcoal and VAM's in conjunction with home made compost inoculated with EM's will I believe produce heirloom crops which will benefit from this soil remediation.

It is also my belief that the use of diluted EM's as a foliar amendment to crops may give extra protection to these heirloom crops against succumbing to disease.

If we seed save those crops which prove to be unaffected by disease due to this foliar amendment and plant them in the next season their disease resistance will be enhanced.

I believe that once a plant recognises the disease resistance of such an amendment it will automatically seek to create a mutual symbiotic relationship with these bacteria. I maybe totally wrong but I think that any life form when presented with a means by which to sustain, and or, extend its life would do so!

The prime directive for all of Mother nature's life forms is, "do what you must do in order to survive as a species!"

Many of the diseases suffered by heirloom crops have not been properly addressed as to cause and effect. The primary cause of disease is lack of specific nutrients, and or, failure to effectively rotate crops.

I also believe that adding salt water to our EM cultivation techniques will supply these vital trace elements to our soil.

As I previously said we now have a superior soil type and a range of hand picked bacteria and fungi to aid us in the reintroduction of heirloom crops. The results of such a reintroduction would be breaking new ground in terms of the results.

We I believe will be the first to have tested these old varieties under such new conditions. Everything which we achieve will be new information in terms of growth, harvest, disease resistance and longevity within this soil and its amendments.

The most positive aspect about this is that we will be in control of our own destiny, nobody will have the right to say you can't do that. We will be taking the first steps into deciding what does and does not give us the results which we require.


Uriel

The mind is like a parachute, its totally useless unless its open

[/quote]

Hi All,

I found this link in my favourites while deleting some of the old links which had been disconnected.

It is a simple barrel within a barrel method of creating your own special charcoal put the chicken carcasses bones etc in first. Having done that load the rest of the inner barrel with forest wood and proceed as per the instructions.

A 30 and 45 gallon drum would be better suited to the task, however 30 gallon metal drums are hard to come by these days.

Just thought that this would be of interest.

Simple method of charcoal production


Uriel

The mind is like a parachute, its totally useless unless its open