[Terrapreta] To compost or not; and some other points

[Frank Teuton]

Michael, 

I'm a big fan of free flowing information, so yes, feel free to re-post.

I recall having read somewhere in the literature that lower temperature char preserves more of the original structure of the materials being charred, and that this created better habitat for critters (crispy carbon critter condos! ;-) and for holding water...but I can't remember exactly where, will get back to you if I find the exact quote.

Did the 600 C chicken litter char have reduced volume compared to the 400 C char? The higher P and K values and the lower N for the high temp char makes me think so...

Ultimately plant growth response is the final word on what's good, from a plant's eye view, but it takes a while to build up a good database on that. (if anyone wants to chime in with 'plants got no eyes', I just want to say, Mr Potato Head is watching you! ;-)

Charring manures surely solves all pathogen and weed seed issues....but I wonder how much N gets turned into NOx compounds in the bargain.

All the best, 

Frank Teuton
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Michael Bailes 
  To: Frank Teuton ; terrapreta at bioenergylists.org 
  Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2007 12:46 AM
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] To compost or not; and some other points


  Thanks Frank
   What a great post on compost
  Can it be re-posted say to the Permaculture and hypography forums?

  re high temp/low temp char
  There is some suggestion that higher temperatures and/or activation increase char's water holding capacity. I can't find any research to back this up however. Any help would be appreciated! 
   Water is a BIG issue in Australia at the moment. Recent research by the OZ Horticulture industry has shown that water holding granules/polimers work well in the lab but not at all well under field conditions. It would be nice if Charcoal could help out here. 

  Depends too, on what you mean by "high", temp.
  BEST Energies have made Chicken Manure char at 400 and 600C (Pure, activated charcoal is,  I believe,  made at much higher temps) 
  With these results. (Thanks to Dr Stephen Joseph of BEST Australia.)

  NPK Analysis of Charred chicken litter produced at 400oC and 600oC 

        Temperature of Reactor
       400ºC
       600ºC
       
        Nitrogen (wt%, db)
       4.00
       3.74
       
        Phosphorus (wt%, db)
       3.217
       4.402
       
        Potassium (wt%, db)
       2.945
       3.803
       

  Michael Bailes
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