[Terrapreta] do it yourself terra preta kit?

[Shengar at aol.com]

Hi Kelpie,
 
I feel Danny said it best in this prescription:
 
 from Dr. Danny Day at GIT, for what we can do to promote Terra Preta  Soil 
Technology:

" A global Manhattan project of
climate change.  


What can you do? Read up on terra preta (some of the published  works
made a part of the above patent application), look at references  in
the Eprida website or convince yourself by testing. Grow your  favorite
plant in two pots, one with 1/3 wood charcoal (soak this in  fertilizer
for several days), 1/3 sand and 1/3 available soil. Plant the  other
with your normal method for potting plants. Fertilize and watch  them
grow. Watch it for three seasons and note the differences. (Many  have
noted their best results in the second year as microbial  populations
increase) Alternately, use a microbe/fungi inoculation to speed  the
response.

Then tell everyone you know.Even if we can't stop avoid  the climate
shift we will begun to build an awareness of a solution. If we  broaden
the understanding that we can produce carbon negative fuels,  scrub
fossil fuel exhaust of pollutants and C02, reverse the effect of  
mining our soil, depleting soil carbon, trace minerals and  losing
agricultural productivity then we will effect many generations  to
come. In our lifetime, a 2000-year-old secret is being reborn and  its
timeliness could never have been more appropriate. It now up to  this
generation to embrace a plan to work with nature to restore lost  soil
carbon and rebuild the incredible life at work in our soils.  Working
together, we can achieve the possible. "



Here is a reply from Danny Day of _http://www.eprida.com/hydro/_ 
(http://www.eprida.com/hydro/)  to an enquiry I sent  in july when I first read about 
Day's Eprida work, that they are a  social purpose firm, designing equipment and a 
business model that will not cost  the farmer anything out of pocket. 


"Dear Erich:
We are in the early stages of marketing equipment  to produce fuel and char 
for 1-8ton/hr dry biomass conversion systems. The  initial beta units are being 
designed/deployed at 1tph. Our field trials with  the university look 
promising. Thanks for your support. If you are in the Athens  area, give us a call 
for a tour. 
Danny"


I have not seen a  "kit", but it's just another soil amendment,  needing to 
be incorperated in amounts that seem to be as forgiving as good  compost. 
To me the strongest attribute is the cation exchange increases with the  
massive surface areas of 400 m2/g in charcoal cooked to 650 C.
 
Buying non-closed-loop produced charcoal is not the solution we are looking  
for, but it can get folks excited about part of the full potential.
 
Look at my post in the soil section on the TP site, Hunting for  AgChar
 A.M. Leonard, an east coast horticulture supply house, amleo.com ,  has Ag 
Charcoal, special order, product # 691450 , 40 Lbs , $70 
After a brief search of Charcoal Wholesalers, The best price so far, for  
Ag-Grade Charcoal is, trucked from Missouri, $225/ton delivered 900 miles to  
Virginia, $125/ton at the Charcoal yard, 



This is what I plan for my own Kit:
 
Amendments Per Square foot
 
1-3lbs Agricultural Charcoal, (dust to 1/2 inch,high lignin feed stock, 4%-  
7% moisture, low  cook temperature).

1-4 inches Local Compost from poultry/cattle farmers $25/cu yd  
 
One of the low cost Time Release fertilizer
 
 
 
Experiments I would like to run:
 
Addition of :
 
Mycorisal fungus inoculation: The sleep then creep then leap phenomena of  
new plantings is over come by the acceleration of the reestablishment of the  
symbiotic fungal / root relationship. M-Roots is the best , 25 billion per 40 lb 
 bag @ $13, both indo and exo species
Here's the M-Roots site: _http://www.rootsinc.com/_ 
(http://www.rootsinc.com/) 

Water holding polymers , like "SoilMoist", to maintain a higher  moisture 
level until the biological mass is there to hold moisture
 
 
 
 
TP goes way beyond the old saw of "Feed the Soil, Not the plants" to "Feed,  
House, and provide water& waste infrastructure to the Soil! "


We need a grand convergence:
In academia; Engineering, agronomist, soil  geologist,anthropologist, 
bio-chemist, mycologist, zoologist  ..............................

In the Public sector; waste managers,  Extension agents, Environmental 
engineers, Energy Policy  makers,........................................

In the private Sector;  corporate farms, fossil fuel generators, small 
farmers, Horticulturist &  Gardners, and the few charcoal makers left (seems mostly 
in Missouri  )
 
Cheers,
Erich

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