[Terrapreta] New biochar trial in Indonesia

[Robert Flanagan]

Hi All,

I've just taken some photos and clips from my latest trial where we wanted
to see the effects of sterilized subsoil with different treatments;
biochar/organic nutrient/microbes & fungi with and without sound. Now what
we found was quite interesting as I'm sure you can clearly see from this
clip I posted  and explained in more detail on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6WTZr-dMk8 . On seed germination as seen in
the graph on one of the attached photos you can see that there was no major
change (Unlike my bamboo seed trials in China this year) but you can see a
little difference with and without sound on all treatments compared with
control. Now on plant growth we did see some correlation with early plant
development and sound with all treatments apart from the biochar+VAM fungi
(Who knew sound effected fungi???). From a quick scan from a non scientist I
would say the control (No Sound) was the lowest and Biochar+VAM fungi (No
Sound) was the highest growth. Dr Supriyannto is keen to take this trial to
the next stage and transplant several plants into polybag's and monitor for
at least another 60days.

My big Q. is how does this translate to what we think we know about both
plants/microbes and fungi in agriculture? Have any of you guys done any work
on the effects of sound? I know the Chinese have proved the the effect is on
the resonating vibration on the plant cell wall (Findings from a 10M RMB Key
Lab setup in Beijing) and they are pushing hard to get this technology into
biofuels. In 2008 Dr Zhong should have a lot more precise information on the
effects of different dB "V" frequency as he's buying a chamber to measure
photosynthesis, respiration and angel of stomata.

I'd love to hear your thoughts (Please keep open minded in all aspects of
Agri Engineering, remember the Amazon is far from quiet!).

Regards,
Rob.

-- 
Robert Flanagan
Chairman & President
Hangzhou Sustainable Agricultural Food & Fuel Enterprise Co., Ltd.

Skype "saffechina"
Tel:   86-571-881-850-67
Cell:  86-130-189-959-57
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