[Terrapreta] Happy holidays to one and all! Fingers crossed for all things that are biochar for the year to come

[Robert Flanagan]

Hi All,

I just wanted to wish you all the best for the holidays and new year. I'm
just finishing up here in Indonesia and all going well I'll be heading back
to NZ for some R&R before heading back next year to have another go!

This is where I got to with my biochar producing stove
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PreU2vX7hRE and this is the latest trial I
did with biochar, seaweed extract, microbes and fungi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6WTZr-dMk8 .

We've also just finished the first round of our children's education program
www.charcoalab.org and I'll ship enough charcoal over to NZ to get another
30 schools up and going first thing next year.

The closest product I've seen to "Terra Preta" is a product that mixes
animal waste with mushroom compost, dolomite, rice hull charcoal and
ferments the mixture with effective microbes (EM) for 3-4 weeks before
bagging and selling (Maybe fish bones could also be included?). I've seen a
lot of Q's coming back and forth over the year regarding different char's
and application rates so we've still got lot's to learn. The only feedback I
can offer is from this years field trials in China using rice husk char at
40T/ha application rate, is that agri residue like rice husk works really
well even at high application rates on neutral soil (pH 7.2). I know the
application rate is extreme but I wanted to show the massive potential for
carbon storage. A more realistic approach might be to use the charcoal to
produce a product like "Black Gold" and apply it directly around the seeding
area or rows?

Now  if we took the working model from China
http://www.ashdenawards.org/wmv_2007_daxu where the Daxu company takes agri
waste and turns it into briquettes for domestic cooking fuel but modified
the stove so that it kept the char we'd have large scale charcoal production
all over the world. Now if we took that char and made black gold or even
just used the char in potting mix to grow seedlings for reforestation
projects then we'd have a real winner (We could further enhance the char
with pelleted microbes and fungi at low cost). This way we would be
providing a solution for agri residue burn off, cooking fuel and creating a
tool for revenue generation giving an over all boost to sustainable rural
development!

Anyway enough for now,

Happy holidays and the very best of luck for the coming year!

Rob.

On Dec 22, 2007 8:39 AM, Woods, William <wwoods at ku.edu> wrote:

> All the very best, Stephen. I hope that the coming year will be a most
> agreeable one for all of us; the world deserves this.  Bill
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Stephen Joseph [mailto:joey.stephen at gmail.com]
> Sent: Fri 12/21/2007 6:37 PM
> To: Johannes Lehmann; Dr.Len Humphreys; Bob Davidson; Blackwell, Paul;
> Annette Cowie; Bhupinderpal Singh; bpittock at bigpond.com; Amonette, James
> E; John Gulbis; Russell J Meier; Dr James M. Hook; Jon Miller; Jeff Kenna;
> alfred&annette; Andrew Farlow; joshua.rust at dpi.nsw.gov.au;
> tomc at bigpond.net.au; Ellen Baum; Brown, Robert C [M E]; Michael
> Borowitzka; James Barbato; Bill Holmberg; Cory Wendt;
> yin.chan at dpi.nsw.gov.au; Peter Cameron; elisa Lopez-capel; Christoph
> Steiner; Adrienneand3 at aol.com; Debbie Reed; Drummond Hislop; David
> Manning; Thomas Maschmeyer, Prof. Dr.; Tom DeLuca; Peter Edwards; Nikolaus
> Foidl; Robert Flanagan; Dr.F.C. Christo (Adelaide University); Rad
> Flossman; foley5 at optusnet.com.au; thefays at fuse.net; geoff moxham; Jean and
> Garry Kimble; Paul Greenfield; Gautam Chattopadhyay; Mark Glover; Kelly,
> Heath; Wayne Davies; Steve Holtom; Robert Hill; Mark Hoffman; Ian McChesney;
> Ingrid Arnott; Neufeld, Aaron K; Karen Privat; Karina Sendt; Peter Klatt;
> Katie Levick; Kim Holburn; Jim Kostas; Trish Koh; kdas at engr.uga.edu; Lloyd
> Porter; a d; Louisa Kiely; Paul Munroe; MacBride, Paul; naomi luckett;
> helen.scott-orr at dpi.nsw.gov.au; Navid Moheimani; Phil O'Sullivan; Peter
> Tuft; Cordner Peacocke; paul.howlett at wrightstrategy.com; Robyn Smith;
> Reicosky, Don; Robin Branson; Zakaria Solaiman; Thayer Tomlinson; Robyn
> Tuft; Tamara Joseph; Paul Whitehead; Susie Wood; Walter Pahor;
> warren at bestenergies.com.au; Woods, William; yoshizaw at es.meisei-u.ac.jp
> Subject: Fwd: Xmas comes but once a year - esp for snow men!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> To all climate change workers ...Happy holidays!
>
> May our influence have an impact next year
>
>
>
> Regards
>
> Stephen Joseph
>
>
>
>
>
>
>


-- 
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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