[Terrapreta] Charcoal, Earthworms and Switchgrass

[John G. Flottvik]

Jeff.

Tree planters here in BC ( and US) Have a pointed spade type tool they use 
for replanting logged areas.
That would probably work well leaving a single hole to put one seedling 
(characoal) into.

Regards
John


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Davis" <jeff0124 at velocity.net>
To: <terrapreta at bioenergylists.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2007 6:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Charcoal, Earthworms and Switchgrass


> Hi Larry,
>
>
> Well, for this field you have to wait until it dries up a bit. It's flat
> and well drained soil but behind a flood control dam so it is not uncommon
> to have 8 ft. of water on it by spring.
>
> How about a post hole digger/drill. Drill some holes every spring or fall,
> fill 3/4 with charcoal and top off with the dug soil. It would be like a
> 8" wide worm. We could call this "Mega-Worming.
>
>
> Jest an idea,
>
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
>> Jeff-------I have a tendency to use unconventional techniques if I
>> think that they will work. In your situation I am working off of the
>> barest details of what you are looking at. There are far more ways
>> for a task not to work than there are for accomplishing the task.
>>
>> Your suggestion to press the "charcoal into the soil" may cause more
>> soil damage with tire compaction that minimum mixing is worth. The
>> word "might" seems significant in this case.
>>
>> I am back to the disc, except instead of using the disc when the
>> ground is thawed, can the disc be used when the ground is in some
>> stage of freezing or thawing? It sounds like the cutting of the above
>> ground switchgrass with a disc with minimal slicing action in the
>> soil is a way to do some mixing of soil, charcoal and grass stems.
>> Working on frozen ground will do little compaction to the soil or
>> damage to the plants. Consider doing a small test area with repeated
>> passes, in two direction, using a disc. This should show you if a
>> disc will accomplish anything.
>>
>> My response is to a technical problem for jump-starting a biological
>> process and not related to an energy audit for bio-gas.
>>
>> In the early nineties I used a skid steer to place woody debris in a
>> wetland on my property. The wetland was about 1 acre. This land had
>> been used to pasture horses. The problem was that the previous owner
>> had allow the animals on this wetter portion of his land during the
>> wet season (Whatcom County, up against the Canadian border and in the
>> Puget Sound basin).
>>
>> This resulted in soil compaction on the young alder trees. The stress
>> occurred twice a year, from what I could see, during the rainy season
>> and during our summer droughts which can form 30 to 90 days. Given
>> the glacial clays in this area, that meant that the soil saturated
>> for the winter months and went bone dry in the late summer. Many
>> alder trees, fifteen years old at that time, had died and the
>> remaining trees looked stressed when leafed out.
>>
>> Hooves, wet clay and tree roots do mix and don't work well together.
>> I haven't seen any soil type except dune sand that won't puddle under
>> the influence of hooves or tires.
>>
>> In 1990 there was an opportunity to receive the tree prunings of
>> trees being cleared from the local power lines. I probably received
>> around 5-600 yards, for free, of knife-cut material plus hardwood
>> rounds over three year period. Also I was getting Douglas fir planner
>> shaving from a saw mill that bought dimension old growth timber
>> (Douglas fir) from dismantled mills and warehouses in the Puget Sound
>> basis, close to 150 yards. I used a mid-size excavator to create
>> several vernal pools for seasonal ponds. Between the tree pruning
>> company, lumber mill and the free stumps (replanted---ah, re-
>> positioned) I was able to jump-start the biological process in this
>> degraded pastureland.
>>
>> I have since moved and this project has been doing it's thing on it's
>> own. The 5-600 yards of wood chips, partly hauled away, has
>> disappeared (via oxidation). The 150 yards of Old Growth shavings
>> (400 to 1, C/N ratio) is faded on the edges. Basically the shaving
>> pile is intact as I left it with some being hauled away. I have
>> aerial pictures taken in Jan 06' with the reflected light off the
>> constructed vernal pools (which were created with discrete placement
>> of the those spoils) match the puddling on adjacent properties while
>> the house-looking-back shows the smaller trees currently on this
>> property as compared to the adjacent properties. Currently trees are
>> replacing the perennial shrubs. Now, I would be managing for perennials.
>>
>> I have additional prints that show the minimal, detrimental or no
>> impacts of woody debris placement. Small machinery was used in the
>> driest, wettest and coldness (frozen ground) weather. A dry wheel
>> barrow path through a vernal pool is evident in one picture. In this
>> project the vernal pools reduced the plant stress going into the
>> summer drought and, now, the alder roots are doing nicely. Ya, I played.
>>
>> I won't tell anyone that it could easily be returned to a degraded
>> pastureland. Put animals on it during the wet season, i.e. compacting
>> the soil. I can send you some pictures if it helps.
>>
>> I hope that this gives you some help-------Larry
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Jeff Davis
>
> Some where 20 miles south of Lake Erie, USA
>
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