[Terrapreta] Greetings

[Kevin Chisholm]

Dear AD

Wow!! With your different approach to Problem Solving, it is easy to see 
why you win Ashden Awards!!

I an an ignorant amateur gardener, amazed by Mother Nature. I started 
off as a great fan of "Chemical Agriculture", as promoted by the 
multi-national fertilizer companies. Then I swung over to "Feed the 
Soil, and it will feed the Plant." One of the key beliefs in so-called 
"Organic Agriculture" is that one must compost the organic additions 
before adding to the soil, because if the "raw" organic material 
composts in place, it will rob Nitrogen from the plants.

On the other hand, composting "in place" does end up with more "in place 
energy availability". The first question is: Is this potential energy 
available to the plant, or does it simply get consumed by the "in-place 
composting bacteria", with no direct benefit to the plant?

The next question is: It there any way to prevent the "in-place 
composting process" from temporarily depleting the Nitrogen that would 
otherwise have been available for plant growth?

One obvious solution to the Nitrogen Availability problem might be to 
ensure the raw materials had adequate Nitrogen to permit "self 
composting" ingredients to compost in-place, without the need for 
temporarily robbing Nitrogen from the plant. However, all that this 
might accomplish would be a "self fueled fire". The ingredients would 
have no need to interact with the Soil, and rob its nitrogen.

On the other hand, your "Sugar Fertilizer" procedure seems to work 
wonderfully, and no Nitrogen is added to the Soil... only energy for the 
plants.

Is it perhaps a case of "too much of a good thing is a bad thing?" One 
can see that too much cellulostic plant material with a high C/N ratio 
added to the soil could possibly deplete N from plants, but if a smaller 
amount was added, there might not be enough cellulose to deplete 
existing soil N to retard plant growth over the short term.

So we seem to get back to the first question: Could you please explain 
how the release of energy from "in-place composting" is more beneficial 
to the "Soil Food Web" than would be the addition of the same material 
that was composted externally?

Thanks!!

Kevin Chisholm

adkarve wrote:
> Dear Juergen,
> Do not apply compost to the soil.  On the one hand, agronomists tell us to
> apply organic matter to the soil in order to feed  the soil micro-organisms,
> but on the other hand, they ask us to compost the biomass before applying it
> to the soil. The nutritional value of the biomass is lost in the process of
> composting. Also, while recommending the dose of compost to be applied,
> agronomists calculate it according to the N.P and K content of the compost
> and not according to the nutritional calories in the compost. We found in
> our experiments that non-composted green leaves, applied at the rate of 125
> kg per ha, once every 2 to 3 months, gives as high yield from crops as
> application of recommended doses of chemical fertilizers.  Even in the case
> of dung, we found that relatively small quantities of dung are highly
> effective, if the dung is applied in the raw and non-composted form.  Dung
> consists partly of lignin (which can be digested neither by herbivorous
> animals nor by the anaerobic bacteria in their guts) and partly of a large
> number of bacteria. Both the lignin and the dung bacteria serve as food for
> the soil bacteria. By composting dung, we unnecessarily rob the soil
> micro-organisms of nutrition.
> Yours
> A.D.Karve
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Juergen Botz <jurgen at botz.org>
> To: <terrapreta at bioenergylists.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 5:45 PM
> Subject: [Terrapreta] Greetings
> 
> 
>> Hello, all.  I just joined the list, glad to see it so lively!
>>
>> To introduce myself... about a year ago I acquired a small farm
>> in coastal Bahia, Brazil.
>>
>> The land is 2/3 secondary growth Atlantic rain forest, the other
>> 1/3 is partially planted with coconut palms and pineapple, plus
>> various fruits and plenty of manioca.  Unplanted areas that
>> aren't forest are heavily overgrown with dense brush.  The
>> subsoil is nutrient-poor loam, often highly compacted.  In most
>> spots there's a layer of anywhere from an inch to a foot that
>> has a significant amount of organic matter, and yes, quite a bit
>> of charcoal.
>>
>> The charcoal doesn't seem to have been deliberately incorporated...
>> rather, the area has been cleared by fire a couple of times in
>> the past and because of the high humidity here that leaves a
>> lot of charred matter.
>>
>> I am experimenting with various natural farming and permaculture
>> techniques here, and my main goal right now is to get the soil
>> in better shape.  That means breaking up the compacted subsoil,
>> adding organic matter, adding more charcoal to stabilize it and
>> reduce future compaction, planting various leguminous trees and
>> ground covers, and of course building up a layer of humus.
>>
>> I have a source of humus and wood for charcoal in the forest.
>> I've also been making large quantities of compost from a mixture
>> of wood- chips, manure, and seaweeds raked up at the beach.  I'm
>> thinking of adding charcoal to this mix right from the start of
>> composting.
>>
>> One of the things that led me to this list was that I was
>> scouring the Net for info on small-scale charcoal production.
>> I found a bunch, and I found this list.  I think I'll be trying
>> some pit-kiln variation shortly, and in the longer run I may
>> build something like the adam retort.
>>
>> :j
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biochar/
> 
> 
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