[SilverSurfer_OG]

Hey thats awesome information there konstantgrdnr!

I really liked the part "terra preta has increased crop yields by as much as 800 percent" and "Rich in humus, pieces of pre-Columbian unfired clay pottery and black carbon, it's a "microbial reef" that promotes and sustains the growth of mycorrhizae and other benificial microbes and it has been shown to retain its fertility for thousands of years"

The article recommends 30% charcoal which helps.

Really interesting that this type of soil has been found in other places around the world.

Keep up the good work people!

Looks like the world is starting to embrace its use again.

[ThaiPhoon]

Hey guys, I found the following science forum on Terra Preta...I have just started sifting through it...

https://forums.hypography.com/terra-preta.html

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Good find Thaiphoon!

Lots of reading to do over there...

[jaykush]

nice TP, that link looks familiar from back in the ofc or somewhere. either way good stuff i bet we all forgot it.

to start out with our own discussion lets look at some of there soil mixes.

To All,

I thought we might need a thread on how we use Terra Preta and results.

I took the liberty to put on a couple from other sources.

Mine: I have solid clay - no SOM soil that I am amending. I have made charcoal from pine and biochar from kitchen wastes, pine needles (to lower soil ph- wild idea of mine), and mule manure. About 50% charcoal, 10% kitchen wastes, and 20% both pine needles and manure. I am composting it with regular compost material; kitchen scraps, dead leaves, grass clippings and a fair amount of Bone Meal, about 5 times recommendation for my size of garden (this replaces the fish “residue”, bones, and turtle shells that the Amazonians had in their mix). I don’t have the time to compost this correctly because I got a late start but it will have about 6 weeks before I till it into the clay on April 9 – 11. I will let this sit in the soil until I plant on May 12. This is a VERY experimental mix for my particular soil. I will plant shade tolerate garden crops of which I am still trying to figure out what. Right now absolutely nothing grows there and hasn’t for two years. After all the snow melted it has grown a green slime across the top but I don’t consider this a “crop”. I am very interested to see what weeds I get between April and May as this will show if I have a fertile soil or not.

This was from Make do:
We're using a typical 55 gal drum charcoal maker to produce so far hardwood and softwood charcoal, and plan to try these other sources over 2007; One or more sources may prove to provide biochar suited to northern new England. To date we've been growing wheat and chia as test species, in trays of 75% vermiculite, 25% hardwood charcoal, The controls with no charcoal; both with rainwater and sea solids. Wheat roots grew approximately 50% faster in the biochar-mixed ones than the control ones, The Brix (refractive index, or nutrient density) was about 40% higher in the stems of the charcoaled wheat, but around 50% lower in the roots than the control wheat. Interesting potential for wheat-farming.

This was from Janice Thies posted on the original thread:
Lastly, from my personal gardening experiences, I use spent charcoal from the filters of the 14 aquaria I maintain for my viewing pleasure. I combine it as about 5% of my mix with 65% peat moss, 10% vermicompost (from my worm bin in my basement where I compost all my household kitchen waste - aged and stabilized, not fresh!), 5-10% leaf mulch (composted on my leafy property in NY), 5-7% perlite to increase drainage, decrease bulk density and improve water retention and percolation, and some bone meal and blood meal (to taste :-) ). This makes an excellent potting mix for my indoor 'forest'. I am very much still playing around with this.

Here's a nice find - DIY!

Charcoal retort

Recycling the gases to aid in the charcoal making makes sense to me. This wee system looks easily sufficient for the home gardener.

I'm not sure about his using wood scraps from building sites. The cyanide etc will eat away at those barrels of his and they'll not last nearly as long as without those type substances burning in them.

I'm still trying to find the solar char maker I saw at one time. If you find it please link us up.

[jaykush]

nice find bongsong i like how he describes it as being a big show. i dont think id be able to do that around here wayyy to big, maybe we can dumb it down for smaller uses thats a hell of a lot of charcoal.

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Yeah that looks like a beast of a BBQ!

Cool how it captures the gases and burns em off.

My Reclining Buddahs are going well in their new homes. All plants show about the same growth rate. The coco girl is bit bushier.

Pics soon.

[SilverSurfer_OG]

@Bongsong
Heres a link to a discussion on a Solar Parabolic Trough Charcoal Oven
https://forums.hypography.com/science...coal-oven.html


How to build a small charcoal kiln
These small kilns may not process much wood in one go but are quick and easy to build, transport and use. They can be used to make both artists and BBQ charcoal.

You will need

* An old oil drum or metal dustbin.
* Three or four bricks
* Something to use as a lid.

How to build it

1. If you are using a drum, one end needs to be removed. If the top has not been removed, cut the top out using a chisel or an angle grinder.
2. Cut some holes in the base of the drum or bin. About a dozen openings of an inch or two should be fine.
3. Place the drum or bin, with its open end up, on bricks to enable air to flow through the holes you have cut in the base.
4. You will need a lid - perhaps a metal dustbin lid or something similar.

How you use it

1. Start a fire in a bottom of the kiln using paper, cardboard and larger kindling.
2. Once you have a strong fire, load your branch wood randomly into the kiln leaving air gaps.
3. When the fire is burning really well, restrict the air intake by banking earth around the base but leave a small (4 inch) gap. Place the lid partially on so that smoke can still excape.
4. Thick white steamy smoke is created during the charring process. Bang or shake the kiln to settle the contents and create more smoke when the process seems to have slowed.
5. When the smoke changes to thin blue smoke the water has been driven off and the charcoal is burning. Close off all the air intakes at the base with more earth and close the lid fully. Make it as air tight as possible.
6. The burn will continue for three to four hours and should then be left to cool for another 24 hours before the kiln is tipped over and emptied of the charcoal you have produced.

https://www.stewardwood.org/resources/DIYcharcoal.htm

[jaykush]

well got some random discovery today might not even mean anything but i had some extra charcoal soil left and i accidentally broke a branch off a young bamboo shoot. well i stuck it in wondering if it would root. come to my surprise 3-4 days later it had small roots about half inch long when i popped it out for a look. now that would seem normal other than when i rooted it in water and in a soilless mix it took 2 weeks+ to root the same size cuts and from the same plant. so how bout cloning in a TP mix? oh yea this was from the mix that had been sitting since i first started, left outside and it got some rain every now and then.

[ThaiPhoon]

That's cool JK...All the nurseries here actually sell cutting of many types of plants in small growbags packed with rice husk charcoal! I think having it set out and weather a bit may also help bring the ph down a bit. I haven't tested that theory, but I do believe ash/charcoal to have an alkaline ph...