Terra Preta - The parent thread which started it all

[Michaelangelica]

I spoke with the author of a Terra Preta (TP) story in Solar Today, Ron Larson ,

http://www.solartoday.org/2006/nov_d...CornerND06.pdf

he said he spoke with a major National Geographic editor, who is preparing a big article on TP. but Doesn't know when it will be out.

Erich at large:-

Terra Preta Soils to Save the Biosphere :: The Environment Site Forum

 

(Pls post it here too so we have one cenrtal data base???)

[Taildragerdriver]

I measured the Wigwam Burner this weekend and it is 75 feet in diameter. Still seems real big.

 

I have talked to several people in the local community and there is a lot of interest in the concept so I may have help testing these ideas out. One of the great things about living in a real small place is that people are used to working together because it is the only way we can get things done.

 

I had not though about how the charcoal could absorb water. I think I will get it wet before I transport it. I have been concerned about how a manuer spreader would work with a powery substance. I think getting it wet will work much better.

 

I'm working on contacting university soil scientists and getting feedback on the concepts we are planning on using here. I will keep the forum posted as I get replies.

 

Thanks

 

Taildragerdriver

[erich]

A writer/Bio-Dynamic farmer contacted me about my postings on TP.

His interest in TP for his own operations, and his persistent will , has lead to him being granted an interview with none other than Charles C. Mann , author of "1491".

 

He is writing the story for Acres USA

Acres U.S.A. -- A Voice for Eco-Agriculture

[justforfun]

QUOTE=Michaelangelica;99726]This is a very good article on terra preta soils " saving soil as well as the planet" an amazing article with a lot of implications for climate control, global warming as well as agriculture

Saving The Planet While Saving The Farm: How soil carbonization could save the planet while it makes farming profitable again

 

That was indeed an excellent article. I think the major flaw in his theory is getting millions of farmers to 'jump on the charcoal bandwagon.' But for gardens everywhere it is a good idea. I am wondering if ashes from normal campfires would be a good soil additive...

[erich]

Here are some Questions and Suggestions I sent to Allan Balliett for his interview with Charles C. Mann

 

 

Questions:

1. Is Mr. Mann aware of Danny Day's Eprida work, that they are a social purpose firm, designing equipment and a business model that will not cost the farmer anything out of pocket and create a many fold increase in rural high pay employment.

 

And this commercial , larger industrial scale effort of a similar closed-loop pyrolysis system now on the market:

BEST Pyrolysis, Inc. | Slow Pyrolysis - Biomass - Clean Energy - Renewable Energy - Char - green coal - pelletized fuel - syngas for electrical generation - carbon credits - increases rural jobs and construction development

 

 

2. Given that, as Lehmann at Cornell points out, "systems such as Day's are the only way to make a fuel that is actually carbon negative". and that " a strategy combining biochar with biofuels could ultimately offset 9.5 billion tons of carbon per year-an amount equal to the total current fossil fuel emissions! "

 

What does Mr Mann suggest to implement the grand convergence we need for this technology to be brought front and center?:

 

In academia; among Engineers, agronomist, soil geologist,anthropologist, bio-chemist, mycologist, andzoologist ..............................?

 

In the Public sector; among waste managers, Extension agents, Environmental engineers, and Energy Policy makers,........................................?

 

In the private Sector; among corporate farms, fossil fuel producers, fossil fuel power generators, small farmers, and the few charcoal makers left.........................?

 

 

 

3. Does Mr. Mann know of any updated estimates of the total mass of soil flora and fauna?

 

This is the only one I have found , from 1998, only covering bacteria and is inclusive of marine sediments:

 

First-ever estimate of total bacteria on earth

ET 9/98: First-ever estimate of total bacteria on earth

 

 

 

SUGGESTIONS:

 

In E. O. Wilson's "The Future of Life" he opens the book with a letter to Thoreau updating him on our current understanding of the nature of the ecology of the soils at Walden Pond.

 

xvi / Prologue

" These arthropods are the giants of the microcosm (if you will allow me to continue what has turned into a short lecture). Creatures their size are present in dozens-hundreds, if an ant or termite colony is presents. But these are comparatively trivial numbers. If you focus down by a power of ten in size, enough to pick out animals barely visible to the naked eye, the numbers jump to thousands. Nematode and enchytraied pot worms, mites, springtails, pauropods, diplurans, symphylans, and tardigrades seethe in the underground. Scattered out on a white ground cloth, each crawling speck becomes a full-blown animal. Together they are far more striking and divers in appearance than snakes, mice, sparrows, and all the other vertebrates hereabouts combined. Their home is a labyrinth of miniature caves and walls of rotting vegetable debris cross-strung with ten yards of fungal threads. And they are just the surface of the fauna and flora at our feet. Keep going, keep magnifying until the eye penetrates microscopic water films on grains of sand, and there you will find ten billion bacteria in a thimbleful of soil and frass. You will have reached the energy base of the decomposer world as we understand it 150 years after you sojourn in Walden Woods."

 

This microcosm needs to be shown to the public. I suggest that Mr. Mann use his influence to convince an ecologically-minded Hollywood mogul to produce a DVD to add to his book jacket. A computer-generated film highlighting this dynamic ecology like those done of the flora and fauna of the Jurassic and Ice Age periods that you may have seen on the Science channels.

Here is an example that gives a great perspective on the scale of things, although not a video, but you get my point :

Molecular Expressions: Science, Optics and You - Secret Worlds: The Universe Within - Interactive Java Tutorial

 

 

 

GOOD LUCK with the interview!!

 

Erich

[davidgmills]

Erich:

 

Question about the bacteria in terra preta.

 

I presume that the bacteria is anaerobic due to the fact it is underground and would be oxygen starved. Do the bacteria live off of CO2 themselves or some other carbon source that when they die also means sequestration of carbon in the soil?

 

I am curious about this because of the reports that terra preta will regenerate itself if enough of it is left after it is mined. It seems like it would need to come up with a new carbon source and I wonder if this source of carbon is from the bacteria itself.

 

Obviously if the bacteria will sequester carbon as well, it could be a huge additional bonus to the atmosphere.

[erich]

David,

I'm not a soil scientist, juat a landscaper, It's my understanding there are both anaerobic & arobic bugs, depending on soil horizon , soil condition, moisture and available gases etc.

 

TP seems to provide greater opportunity for them all, greater gas and moisture movment, cation exchange, and thus a continued benifit on up the soil food chain.

 

I guess regeneration results from the deeper horizons being exposed to more O2 and moisture. Even without addition of more char because this is an active system, worms and bugs will move more char up from lower horizons

 

Either dead or alive more bugs and microbes means more carbon. however only temporary juat as compost only locks up carbon for a few months until liberated by soil activity as CO2. The char is the way more perminant sequestration.

 

 

Erich

[Michaelangelica]

Good link

paleorthid / terra_preta

 

1. Copy this CiteULike: Ameliorating physical and chemical properties of highly weathered soils in the tropics with charcoal – a review

Rapid turnover of organic matter leads to a low efficiency of organic fertilizers applied to increase and sequester C in soils of the humid tropics.

Charcoal was reported to be responsible for high soil organic matter contents and soil fertility of anthropogenic soils (Terra Preta) found in central Amazonia.

Therefore, we reviewed the available information about the physical and chemical properties of charcoal as affected by different combustion procedures, and the effects of its application in agricultural fields on nutrient retention and crop production.

Higher nutrient retention and nutrient availability were found after charcoal additions to soil, related to higher exchange capacity, surface area and direct nutrient additions.

Higher charring temperatures generally improved exchange properties and surface area of the charcoal. Additionally, charcoal is relatively recalcitrant and can therefore be used as a long-term sink for atmospheric CO2.

Several aspects of a charcoal management system remain unclear, such as the role of microorganisms in oxidizing charcoal surfaces and releasing nutrients and the possibilities to improve charcoal properties during production under field conditions.

Several research needs were identified, such as field testing of charcoal production in tropical agroecosystems, the investigation of surface properties of the carbonized materials in the soil environment, and the evaluation of the agronomic and economic effectiveness of soil management with charcoal.

by paleorthid 2006-02-25

simpy

Search All Users' Link

I don't quite understand how it works?

erich?

Who is comming to Oz for the Terrigal Confrence?

[erich]

Just hit the Terra_preta link, and a list comes up, but nothing there newer than september , most articles are from febuary. but I had not seen most of them.

 

Here's a conference I had not heard about:

 

Weekly newsletter from Innovation Alberta

 

Georgia Conference on Sustainable Agriculture

 

Organizers of the Energy with Agricultural Carbon Utilization Symposium Sustainable Alternatives to Sequestration, to be held on the campus of The University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia on June 10th and 11th, have issued a "Preliminary Call for Papers ". This symposium is a global event co-hosted by Eprida and The University of Georgia and is timed to coincide with the G8 Summit.

 

Share your work and experiences in soil carbon, carbon utilization, sequestration and related fields with the world-wide energy, forestry, biomass and carbon utilization communities. Over thousands of years of agricultural cultivation, our soils have lost up to 50% of their stored carbon. The use of biomass to produce energy and the use of the residual carbon charcoal as a soil amendment, fertilizer and other agricultural co-products offers a significant value-added use for this very stable carbon and returns the carbon to the soil.

 

Abstracts are invited in the following topic areas:

1. Historical Usage of Charcoal including Terra Preta.

2. Benefits, limits and performance of charcoal soil applications.

3. Stability of charcoal or black carbon in the soil as a sink.

4. Methods and results of agricultural charcoal and/ or other large applications.

5. Integrated energy and agricultural charcoal production techniques.

6. Large scale use of charcoal for other non-fuel applications.

[Michaelangelica]

[PDF]

GROWTH PROMOTION OF TEA TREES BY PUTTING BAMBOO CHARCOAL IN SOIL

ファイルタイプ: PDF/Adobe Acrobat

... Japanese with English summary). T. Hoshi, and T. Kaneko (2001): A practical study on bamboo charcoal use to tea trees, Report on research ... plants in tea field soil. Tea Research Journal, 88, 31-38 (in Japanese with English summary).

http://www.fb.u-tokai.ac.jp/WWW/hoshi/cha/paper.pdf - 関連ページ

http://www.fb.u-tokai.ac.jp/WWW/hoshi/cha/paper.pdf

Very little (100g per M, per year) bamboo charcoal added to soil over a ten year period reduced fertiliser costs

Growth of trees was 20 to 40% greater

Ph dropped 1 to 1.5 points

[davidgmills]

RE: Nature Article -- several posters keep citing the Nature article and the link given will not allow access without being a subscriber to Nature.

 

Before Nature started requiring a subscribing membership, I had somehow run across a link to the original pdf version. The pdf version is still accessible without a membership.

 

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v442/n7103/pdf/442624a.pdf

 

For those of you who are, or have been posting elsewhere, using the Nature article as an authority, it might be advisable to update to this pdf link which was actually in a much better format than the article, and had better photos.

[davidgmills]

Terra Preta and Worms:

 

So far my TP garden has few worms. Is this to be expected? Should I be concerned? Of course I didn't start it until six weeks ago and maybe it has been too cold for worm population increases.

[InfiniteNow]

Depends on what type of worms, but, as a general rule, earth worms tend to be indicative of very healthy soil.

[Michaelangelica]

Terra Preta and Worms:

 

So far my TP garden has few worms. Is this to be expected?

Should I be concerned? Of course I didn't start it until six weeks ago and maybe it has been too cold for worm population increases.

Worms need lots of organic matter to thrive.

 

Winter does not seem to be the best time for worms.

 

Charcoal is not on their diet as far as I know.

 

Buy some compost, manure or throw kitchen peelings, vacuume bag contents,,shreded newspaer, etc onto the garden

[Michaelangelica]

Erich:

 

Question about the bacteria in terra preta.

 

I presume that the bacteria is anaerobic due to the fact it is underground and

 

I don't know whether you can assume this.

There is a lot of air in most soils except perhaps the heaviest of compacted clays.

Worms, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, green manures termites etc all help aerate soil.

The clay potshards would also help .

Sir Albert noticed an effect near Jais in Oudh which led to an explanation of the aerating effects of using potsherds or brick to dress the land

. . .

That this organic matter produces such excellent results is, in all probability, a consequence of the copious aeration of the soil produced by the great number of potsherds present.

. . .

The potsherd enables us permanently to aerate the soil; and thus make the best use of organic matter including green-manures. The potsherd by itself has only a limited value, but with the help of small quantities of organic matter extraordinary results are possible

. . .

But if lack of aeration is the real cause of the degeneration of soils into the alkali condition, then not the washing out of the salts, which in any case is usually impossible in practice, but the opening up of the surface and the subsoil to the air by any and every means will be the only efficient remedy.

 

Thus in a curious and unexpected way drainage, irrigation, alkali lands, were found to be nothing but illustrations of the aeration problem. The results of surface drainage alone at Pusa had been staggering.

. Sir Albert Howard in India - Chapter 3

 

Charcoal would probably also help aeration, especially bigger bits?

[davidgmills]

Michaelangelica:

 

That makes sense. When I started I had a couple of bags of mower mulched leaves that I put on top (we are talking a small plot of about 100 sq ft which I am in the process of more than doubling). I started turning them under and most of the leaves are gone now.

 

Am thinking about putting in a couple more bags of leaves. I know in the past I have found worms thriving on my concrete patio where leaves were allowed to accumulate during a period where I got lazy and did not bag or mulch the leaves.

 

So I know they are here. But I know I am not doing something right. I think the leaves on the patio must have been very easy for them to move around in. That is all I can figure.

[davidgmills]

Wow! Wow! Wow!

 

Went to Lowe's this morning for the purpose of getting a big galvanized garbage can to make charcoal. Guess they don't make them anymore.

 

But while I was perusing the garden section, I came across "Cowboy Lump Charcoal."

 

Get this. An 8.5 lb bag for $4.95. So I bought four. This is really good stuff. Having made my own, I can certainly appreciate the quality of this charcoal. Better than I could do (or at least more consistent char throughout). You know you have bought the good stuff when it tinkles like a wind chime. With tax, less than $22. Probably couldn't get good fertilizer for that price.

 

Put all 35 lbs on my 100 sq. foot plot. Then I tore up the bags and made paper balls about 2" in diameter. Figured these balls would make good worm home bases. Easily pushed the paper balls under the ground (having turned it a number of times now) and turned under about 2/3 of the charcoal. Left the other 1/3 on top.

 

So we shall see.

 

Link to Cowboy Charcoal site:

 

wwwdotcowboycharcoaldotcom/

 

Figure it out since I can't post links yet.

 

Here's there phone number to find nearest location to you:

 

1-800-775-4060