Terra Preta - Dark Soil - Experiment

[jaykush]

I see I can buy horticulture charcoal.

from my experiences, horticultural charcoal is much more expensive. and does the same thing as 100% natural wood charcoal found at stores locally. but of course homemade is best but we cant always be burning things, only in the winter here.

Oh BTW you should see the pepper plant.. I need to snap some pictures.. That was char and well my compost...

my peppers have responded extremely well to the char this year. some of the plants have over 50 peppers on them and under a ft tall.

 

[onegreenday]

Nice jaykush.
but since char is not really burning but heating very little flame, almost smolder) in reduced
oxygen atmosphere I wonder if you'd be under the radar for fire.

About your sig & "soil as entity"; well my friend once told me that
the soils of southeast Asia are purple in color with so much rotting
veg material and very loose is the way I picture their soils.

your quite fits what my friend suggested.

 

[jaykush]

Nice jaykush.
but since char is not really burning but heating very little flame, almost smolder) in reduced
oxygen atmosphere I wonder if you'd be under the radar for fire.

most of the methods out there use an outside fire source to heat the oxygen free chamber that makes the char. i still prefer to make it in winter here, its way too dry now if i caught something on fire the whole community would be PISSED at me lol. so for me its better to just make as much as i need for a year in the winter, use it all summer then next winter make some more.

 

[ripman]

Guys, seen that you are interested in the production of biochar, have you already seen the power of the "Lucia stove"? I've searched the term here but I did find nothing, so I will let you know about this invention. I just discovered it yesterday but to sum up its potentiality, basically it is a stove that, using wood pellets or any wood material, creates a circle of gases which then burn giving you a very nice flame, which can be used to cook or do other works. The result is that, with 100g of wood pellets, you can cook for some 40 minutes and get in return 40g of biochar.
The unit has got a very neat design and they seem to have retail prices as well. At present they don't have an e-commerce platform in their site, but you can order through a mail system; I've tried to buy the cheaper product, hope they will respond to me and get me to try the base system (the beaner backpack unit, 27 Euros) before I invest in a higher-end system with flame-control (which go from 95 Euros to 350 Euros for the BBQ). The product was designed by a Georgian living in Italy and is now produced in Italy. Apparently, if you don't want to spend money but want to build your own, you can ask for the plans and get them for free, here is what they say:
"The EverythingNice Stove Plans! (microgasification and pyrolysis!)
Free plans to anyone interested!
The EverythingNice Stove was created almost by accident when we were researching the LuciaStove. It works pretty well, and since it’s super easy to make we decided to offer the plans for free! It’s called the EverythingNice Stove because we made if from nesting spice, tea, or coffee containers purchased at the Euro Store for, you guessed it—a Euro! You will only need two of the containers and only one lid, so you could make this with fruit cocktail tins or bean cans, or any two tins that fit inside each other, so long as the outer one has a lid! And, this stove makes biochar! Simple carbon negative cooking!"

Here are some interesting links:
Website product page
Short one-minute video
Presentation by the Inventor (in Italian, but it's a nine minute workshop, so you get to see interesting stuff)

Hope this post gets some interest, so you can help me get aspects I've not explored yet!

 

[JackTheGrower]

I just looked up that stove..

It is suppose to run on Rabbit droppings as well?

I bet Hemp will do fine as a pellet?

Still looking but a bit distracted..

edit..

Reminds me of chatting with the guy from Africa when we talked about evap cooling..

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Hands-On-How-To/Biochar-Stoves.aspx

 

[ripman]

Jack,

interesting article! As you see the second product discussed is in fact the Lucia Stove, by Nat Mulcahy, who is the inventor I was talking about. The difference with the other products and inventions is that "Contrary to the approach of many stove designers who search for designs that can be easily manufactured in poor countries, Mulcahy wondered what could be accomplished using advanced manufacturing technology. He found that metal injection molding allowed him to make a burner with a swirl pattern resulting in highly efficient combustion and heat transfer." So the point about the Lucia Stove is that it is an industrial design product, which means to me greater and neater functionality and added safety.
As far as your questions, I don't know about rabbit droppings, but for sure you can use hemp, bamboo and anything which can be carbonized I believe. In the two videos I've put, in one case a piece of lavender is pyrolized, in another the inventor uses a rose. In other videos I've seen corncobs as "base fuel".

 

[jaykush]

ripman, there are a lot of things not posted in this thread about TP. that burner being one of them. thanks for posting it, everyone needs to make there own char for amending soil. i saw a picture yesterday, it was a charred rose flower. 100% intact except it was 100% char now. looked exactly like a rose just black. was pretty cool.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

Yeah that lucia stove thing is awesome! I want one!!

Super effiecient BBQ that makes biochar... perfect!!!

 

[JackTheGrower]

me three and good to see yer post..

I am cooking outside to save the smell from my house believe it or not..

That would be ideal.. Cook and char for the Garden.. Who could ask for more?

Edit..

Ouch on that price for that one.. 350 euro? Ho man.. LOL..

BTW added a pepper picture a few posts up..

 

[ripman]

Hope I'll soon understand if they are already delivering in retail-distribution, how fast their response is and so on... as far as I've gotten, Worldstove is fairly committed in delivering as soon as possible, but they really are a start-up (I believe everything has basically started in 2009 or 2008, so I believe they are really a baby-company right now), and at present they are also very focused in research to apply the same concept on a larger scale. I know they are getting some big orders, like Mulcahy mentioned in an article they got the mandate to produce 1,4 million stoves to be placed in saunas in Finland. Mulcahy says as well that his technology is already sold in Canada as eco-friendly stoves for heating, as he says that wood burning is now forbidden in Canada. He is also working on microcredit to foster production and distribution of the product in third world countries. Actually, that is apparently his main focus (he looks seriously as a socially and environmentally responsible person, the cash he is making from the business sales are apparently reinvested in such socially-responsible activities). With all these things going on, a normal person would probably avoid retail-distribution as working small orders is ineffective, but the guy was a manager at Gillette, so maybe he knows what he is doing and he has already sorted out the industrial politics issues like outsourcing of production, licensing and so on.
Being Mulcahy environmentally committed and knowing his product is very effective at both providing fire and charcoal, I believe he will sort out everything soon for retail as well. If the products are not yet shipped right now I believe that by the end of the year anyone of us should be able to have a Lucia Stove in his house, if one wants to

PS: Jack, the grill is really expensive, but there is a smaller version which is 95 Euros and has flame-control. If you want the large one but spend less, there is one at 250 Euros. I believe what we need is probably some people that makes a little investment and tell us more about it by trying. If they are delivering, I'll soon have the 27 Euros one. It will help me understand its power and wheter it is needed to get a 95€ or a 250€ version. I believe though that I'll have to spend 250€, that version just seems more complete. After all, it is an industrial design product which doesn't rely on chips and electronic technology if I understand right, so it should last for ages, as it is just metal and an effective design

 

[JackTheGrower]

Oh I want one for real..


Really!

I'll look into it.. I cook outside most every day in the open air and sun shine.. With the birds singing.. And I cook well.. No one complains for a meal I prepare.

I was impressed with the NewsPaper BBQ unit.. Every one laughed until I Wok'd dinner.. Shrimp, chicken and crab ( water chestnuts and such too ) with that Special oil I mentioned to them after a Chilled salad and Wine..

Can you guess what that Walnut and Olive oil contained to make it so special>?

No really I understand the Utility and I want the 350 euro unit really.. So yes I'm in the market.. I'll look at that seriously.. I may even want to retail it on my web site..

CaliCannabis.com

 

[onegreenday]

terra preta grows more 'soil'

terra preta grows more 'soil'

If the TP grows more soil as they suggest at the location;
then a raised bed /container grow with
terra preta soil might just keep rebuilding itself with each

addition of nutrient and enzymes for root matter.
might never have to change the bed/container media.........

 

[JackTheGrower]

If the TP grows more soil as they suggest at the location;
then a raised bed /container grow with
terra preta soil might just keep rebuilding itself with each

addition of nutrient and enzymes for root matter.
might never have to change the bed/container media.........

The closest in the USA is forest microbiology I understand..

I would like to know more first hand my self..

Edit:

My soil is 8 going on 9 years so we don't have to change media.. Focus on humus IMO

 

[ripman]

I was impressed with the NewsPaper BBQ unit..

hey Jack, what is that? A Barbeque which uses newspapers for combustion? Do you have any links for the unit?

I wonder whether we could use newspaper in the Lucia Stove instead of wood... considering there are free magazines and free newspapers, and that the press gets old the day after it is published, we would have an infinite supply for free!

The nice thing about pyrolisis and of the Lucia Stove is that what you burn is gas, not the product itself which is just pyrolised. The emissions hence should be much less toxic, if at all. About the charcoal, I don't know how toxic is ink, and if it is released as a gas or if it remains in the charcoal.

I hope somebody with more experience on these issues chimes in, it is very interesting stuff. I'm starting to believe that maybe a thread for "Pyrolitic stoves for Charcoal Production (Biochar, Terra Preta)" should be started, so that people can focus there on the commercial and homemade units and of the biochar production aspects, what do you think of it? Of course, there needs to be enough people interested on the subect, I really don't like it when threads don't take off!

 

[ripman]

If the TP grows more soil as they suggest at the location;
then a raised bed /container grow with
terra preta soil might just keep rebuilding itself with each

addition of nutrient and enzymes for root matter.
might never have to change the bed/container media.........

yes, I guess that any soil rich in castings, mychorrizzae and beneficial bacterias can go on forever without needing to be changed. The important thing is not to let such organisms die by keeping them with enough food. Such organisms are so powerful that you can cut a plant and let the roots in the soil, give a week and you won't be able to find any dead roots, all of them will be decomposed by such agents!
The thing to watch out for is the use of particular agents like hormones: I know that for instance, if you use products like Bushmaster and Gravity in soil, you might not be able to take them out of the soil. Since they are products which inhibit growth or fuck up vegging plants, you might be no longer able to reuse that soil to sprout seeds. Also that aspect perhaps could be "fixed" by using hydrogen peroxide and other products and bacterias, if you use the first though you'll have to rebuild all the living organisms, as they find it too hot.

 

[onegreenday]

thanks ripman. real good info.

 

[JackTheGrower]

No links to the unit I had Ripman.. It was one of those TV specials. I think we got two of $19.99

Wouldn't be hard to make really think of a small metal desk garbage can.

The kind we have all seen ( smaller at the base and larger at the rim ) and imagine it in three sections of a bottom a center ring and a top ring. The two rings would have air holes in them around the circumference.
That newspaper unit worked well.. We used it one summer and then we didn't use it after that. With that unit we used small kindling as well. I thought a lot of the news paper but the kindling worked better for a longer cook time.. The Unit was a novelty and fell out of use after a month or so.

On the Soil.. I have to agree that we need to watch what we do to a permanent soil such as a planter bed. I don't recommend anything but readily understood materials. For example kelp meal or Azomite rock dust ; for example.
If I am to use premixed liquids or powders then I run the risk of building up salts or hormones for example.

In truth we should watch what we do to all the soils but we don't ( as humans ).

 

[Clackamas Coot]

On my latest grow, I added activated charcoal that I got from an orchid grower. $20.00 per 50-lbs. - fair enough.

They're at Day 25 and things look great. I'll report as they move through the flowering process.

Cheers!

CC

 

[Phillthy]

every timei see this thread i think it says Terra Patrick

 

[JackTheGrower]

every timei see this thread i think it says Terra Patrick

OMG.. Tera not Terra LOL I didn't know...