[Terrapreta] Learning to use wood charcoal in farming

[Richard Haard]

Hello list

Learning to use wood charcoal in farming at a Northwestern Washington  
native plant nursery.

My motivation for preparing this post is to be able to use this  
motivate discussion of charcoal as a soil additive. Trying to do this  
work at a very busy nursery that is perhaps pushing their production  
factor too high (over 80%) is rather frustrating as experiments have  
gotten over ruled by planning changes, wiped out by harvest before I  
can read the data and the conditions set up for the experiment just  
do not work. However, I have been encouraged however and I am now  
using hardwood charcoal as a carrier for natural inocculum as a  
matter of routine.
Fourth Corner Nurseries is a wholesale supplier of native plant  
species, located on 77 acres in the coastal lowlands of northwestern  
Washington, USA.  With approximately 40 acres under cultivation, we  
produce two/three million direct-seeded, field-grown, bare-root  
native plants annually.  Our principal crop is individually seed- 
sourced, bare-root deciduous trees and shrubs, herbaceous perennials,  
grasses and emergent species such as sedges, cattails and rushes for  
environmental restoration purposes. Our mission is to sustainably  
grow plants while supporting workers and their families who depend on  
the farm for their economic subsistence. Use of surplus biomass from  
our willow coppice field and other materials is our alternative  
energy vision.

aerial view of our farm http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchaard/ 
396844423/in/set-72157594444994347/

our web site http://www.fourthcornernurseries.com/index.asp

And incidentally we are looking to hire a seed technician for summer  
and  with career potential. Any young biology/plant physiologists  
with interest in charcoal as extracurricular activity and hands on  
farm work ?

  http://www.fourthcornernurseries.com/employment.asp

Here are charcoal research topics that interest me:

Rehabilitation of depleted soil:

We cover crop with buckwheat and or oats every 2-3 years. Our farming  
method is really hard on the soil as the bare-root production takes  
everything.  Of the more than 500 species we grow all do not equally  
deplete. When we cover crop it is like a blanket over the field that  
shows where the soils are most depleted. I obtained a tote of conifer  
char mixed 50/50 with commercial compost and spread with a manure  
spreader over a field showing signs of the worst depletion. The  plan  
was to wait until the next cover crop cycle , 2 years, and compare  
photographs.

What happened was we needed the field for production and lost the  
next cover crop opportunity. Maybe next year we will have this  
opportunity.

Frankia sp. and improving nodule formation on Alnus rubra roots:

Usually we inoculate our seedlings with macerated roots and are  
moderately successful. Wanted to see if using hardwood charcoal would  
help. First year results were encouraging, second year not  
conclusive. Here we tried 2 methods - work into soil with scuffle hoe  
as seedlings emerge and also place in a band with seed during  
planting. Latter worked well for both treatments in second year -  
with and without charcoal.

Natural inoculation of bromide sterilized soil:

Using a combination of charcoal, fertilizer and natural inoculum  
attempt to reverse the stunting (patchy growth) that occurs in  
Lonicera involucrata, Cornus servicea,  Mahonia aquifolium and other  
native shrubs.

  Burned the roots with too much fertilizer first year (control was  
better) and second season the effect did not show (poor fumigation).  
In these experiments both working in between rill and seed band were  
tried.

We would like to use willow coppice as our alternate energy strategy  
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchaard/396838826/in/set-72157594444994347/

pretreatment cover crop -  http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchaard/ 
396844423/in/set-72157594444994347/
we used a tote of conifer char donated by John flottvik and combined  
with commercial compost

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchaard/396838820/in/set-72157594444994347/

spreading conifer char/compost on field 3 http://www.flickr.com/ 
photos/rchaard/396838824/in/set-72157594444994347/

Lump charcoal before grinding, this batch from k-mart Brazil origin

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchaard/396830225/in/set-72157594444994347/

After grinding we mix with perlite and natural innoculum

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchaard/396830227/in/set-72157594444994347/

alder seedlings tilling in charcoal and compost (right) and compost  
only, both with mascerated alder roots

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchaard/396830230/in/set-72157594444994347/

spreading charcoal near Lonicera involucrata seedlings prior to  
working in with scuffle hoe

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchaard/396830221/in/set-72157594444994347/
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