Terra Preta - Dark Soil - Experiment

[MrFista]

Here's a char recipe I've used with success.

Make char and pulverise (grinding better than smashing less energy and finer pieces).

Add liquid seaweed and nitrosol organic fertiliser to the char and make a slurry, 1 part each to ten parts water so it covers the char completely. As this is anaerobic while it soaks I also added some EM-A and lacto bacillus culture. Soak for a few days.

Then make a mix.

1 part char slurry
3 parts worm castings
6 parts compost
4 parts clay soil
6 parts sand/pumice/what you like for aeration and porosity.

Lime and blood and bone as usual. Cook for one month minimum. Enjoy.

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

11.11 Aye!

Hey thatsa nice recipe Fista... what you grind wiv?

I think you are right that we cant recreate the original TP Jaykush... but its only a matter of time before someone here gets their mits on a sample of the real thing... sharing is caring!!

 

[onegreenday]

American soils equal

American soils equal

i don't even think we can recreate True TP personally. but we can learn from it to improve our own soils, and maybe it will have some similar properties.

I'm not sure that it's been demonstrated that "terra preta"
soils are "superior" to the great amerikan organic soils;

the jury out on that and

this soil regow stuff where TP grows back each
year may be that "eldorado" stuff to lure you there
to spend green-backs;
like ayahuasca ceremonies for 10K$$$

early on in study if it really regrows or a little fudging
with the ruler...

1 early canadian test found a 15 % increase with char
over a conventional (non-organic) grow

 

[jaykush]

they are superior in the amazon thats for sure, compared to non TP areas. and really theres no way to test side by side which is better unless someone actually gets some TP to play with. charcoal can increase your soils fertility for sure, but that doesnt mean its the above all other methods to the best soil.

 

[montanaorganics]

I completely believe we can 100% replicate TP, given that we figure out how it may have been made, and what went into it. After all, what ingredients did indigenies have that we dont? What I do doubt is that we can replicate it within our lifetimes. or that we can mimic the grand outdoor organic environment offered within the rainforests.

 

[MrFista]

Lot of tosh getting posted.

Replicate... Some char from same woods as in the region
Some pottery fired from the same clay
Some bones from fish in the same rivers

Add humanure compost food scraps etc and leave for hundreds of years.

Be pretty close.

TP improves crap soils and yields in them by hundreds of percent in cases of severely depleted soils.

On moderately good soils it still shows significant improvements in cropping.

In excellent soils it adds porosity, drainage, elevates available P, provides draught tolerance, houses extra microbes and more. These benefits all happen in poor and moderate soils too.

Soil regrowth at 1 cm a year happens all over the globe and is due to earthworm activity as is most elegantly portrayed by Darwin. With organic matter, and without chems everywhere, this is normal.

 

[onegreenday]

I did read that the north amerikan glacier destroyed
all worm life in it's path and upon the glacier's receding the ground was barren of earthworms and the worm were brought here by europeans

but if this is true how did the ground after the glacier regenerate, grow without
earthworms.

maybe that bacteria fungi stuff all on it's own forest litter and such and the earth worm is a later arrival.

 

[jaykush]

i have read books and journals from people when the west coast was discovered. like you said there was no earthworms. and it was mostly done by fungi. the term they used to describe the "fungal castings", was forest duff. i collect similar stuff here on my property to this day where fungi are rich and worms are in very low populations if non existant, yet teh soil is so full of fungi i can find 20-30 species within ten feet. after sifting out what isnt processed its like the best leafmold you can ever find or make. the perfect word for it, is forest duff. i always toss some in my ACT brews.

 

[MrFista]

Very interesting, thanks for the info on glaciers and worm free zones. Worms are even supposed to be in deserts albeit less of them. The worms in TP as you'd know go off the charts so after reading Darwins take on worms (years of observations) I put 2 and 2 together and came up with castings raising soil matter easily, without the need for a mystery.

 

[Strains]

"Here is an interview which ACRES USA conducted with Charles C. MANN, a researcher into Terra Preta Soils."

http://www.truehealth.org/terrapretainterview.html

-Strains

 

[onegreenday]

thanks strains.

It would appear the domed mud cover on the char factory would be the only
method able to produce char & pottery.

regular pottery is too small for char; even big bowls.
so they start the fire small and keep adding branches (maybe damp/wet)
till they get the dome shape; cover in mud and bake;
withholding oxygen;
when the fire is consumed/finished they break the dome.

do the shards in TP come from 'pottery' or 'domes' from char factory?

EDIT: So they may not be 'pottery shards' as such in TP,
but remnants
of the domes.
I wonder.........

 

[xmobotx]

wow strains - great article!

this guy's probably one of the foremost authorities on TP

[FONT=ARIAL, HELVETICA]Next you crush the charcoal and you stir it into the soil, along with, in many cases, unfired pottery, smashed pieces of plates, etc. It appears that putting the pottery in there promotes circulation — water and nutrients can keep circulating around — and it prevents the soil from contracting into something like brick, as we were discussing[/FONT]

so like Jaykush and myself, Charles Mann considers the pottery a contributing element to the process

[FONT=ARIAL, HELVETICA]The third element — and this is the least understood at the moment — appears to be a special set of biota, of microorganisms[/FONT]

in the interview, he also refers to innoculating the soil mix - and how the TP could be transported great distances to start a new patch

may be some challenges to getting a hold of the real deal - but, it would probably have to be sustained indoors in non-tropical climates

 

[MrFista]

GRINDING

To grind char instead of having it in a vessel and bashing it with a log I lean on the log adding weight to it and screw it down into the char. It breaks up much finer and a lot less work and shock to hands/arms.

Push it down on top, lean on it, and turn.

 

[jaykush]

i thought it was fired unglazed clay pottery, not unfired pottery. unfired pottery would break apart in no time it seems.

heres a tip i am going to mention again, it involves grinding. well it eliminates grinding.....chop things up BEFORE you char it. it makes your life so much easier, trust me.

 

[xmobotx]

unfired pottery

i guess terra cotta is close because it's only fired a little

i'm thinking i can pick up some broken shards from a local pottery studio or ?

it would be interesting to look into the techniques of the time and introduce a fairly similar unfired pottery shard to the mix?

just for authenticity (but with possible benefits)

 

[onegreenday]

I'd say a smashed dome from the char kiln qualifies as 'unfired pottery'...

EDIT: Yah maybe "unfired pottery" is very important with more open pores;
than full fired pottery.

go for it botx the kiln & everything see if you can make char and unfired pottery shards
at the same time (small scale of course)

I'm on the 3rd floor or I might try it.

 

[onegreenday]

I completely believe we can 100% replicate TP, given that we figure out how it may have been made, and what went into it. After all, what ingredients did indigenies have that we dont? What I do doubt is that we can replicate it within our lifetimes. or that we can mimic the grand outdoor organic environment offered within the rainforests.

we don't know if terra preta from Brazile would last in our soils or even 'inocculate' our soils.


Our normal soil fungi/bacteria may 'outcompete' them and render
them inoperative in our soils; perhaps in the amazonian soils they have
little competition.

EDIT: Canna ships Dutch dirt to asmerika; perhaps Terra Preta can be had in a bag...

 

[h.h.]

I'm on the second floor and I'm trying it...Importing the dirt would be a disaster for Brazil. I wouldn't buy it.

 

[onegreenday]

I'm on the second floor and I'm trying it...

be sure to open the windows; could get smokyyyyyyyyyyyyy

 

[jaykush]

you guys really think unfired pottery would last as long as fired pottery in the soil? unfired pottery is just clay!