[Terrapreta] growth

[Sean K. Barry]

Hi Robert,

You said this again, (and I questioned before whether you meant what you had posted before) ...

"As I posted a while back, the only practical way that
the soils in the Amazon could have been created would
have been in conjunction with the bio charring of corn
stover."

Why do you think the Ancient Amazon rainforest had corn, circa 2500 B.C. or since?  I think, like now, that there is far more "rainforest" fauna in that biome (i.e. big trees, in a jungle, like American Mahogany trees, etc.), rather than corn, or maze.  Don't you?  There surely is now.  Is there any evidence that the charcoal in the Amazon is from corn stover?  The native soils (without charcoal amendments) in the Amazon rain basin are Antisol and Oxisol soils.  These are high in Aluminum Silicates (clays), low in carbon, and very low in organic material (humus) or plant nutrients.  Corn will hardly grow in this kind of soil.  It's kind of a chicken or the egg thing.  Corn can't grow well until you plant it in "Terra Preta" soil - "Terra Preta" soil is made by amending soil with charcoal made from lots of corn?!

Do you have any evidence for your conjecture?  Or, are you supposing that corn stover must be the only or main source of biomass used to make the charcoal in the original "Terra Preta" soils of the Ancient Amazon?  Why do you suppose this?

Regards,

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Robert Klein<mailto:arclein at yahoo.com> 
  To: Richard Haard<mailto:richrd at nas.com> 
  Cc: terra preta<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org> 
  Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 1:00 PM
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] growth


  Hi Richard

  One of the great delights of doing science, is that
  every experiment introduces new areas of study.

  As I posted a while back, the only practical way that
  the soils in the Amazon could have been created would
  have been in conjunction with the bio charring of corn
  stover.

  Running test plots with such a biochar perhaps
  produced at several temperatures in conjunction with
  wood charcoal comparibles would be very informative.

  The question, of course, is there any obvious
  difference?

  Certainly wood charcoal needs to be taken to a high
  temperatue to provide crushable charcoal, whereas
  stover is far less fussy and much more forgiving

  Bob Klein

  http://globalwarming-arclein.blogspot.com<http://globalwarming-arclein.blogspot.com/>


  --- Richard Haard <richrd at nas.com<mailto:richrd at nas.com>> wrote:

  > Some results from the 28 - 17 foot planting block
  > experiment with  
  > charcoal, compost, fertilizer and permutations. at
  > Fourth Corner  
  > Nurseries with swiss chard, a native aster and a
  > woody shrub,  
  > Lonicera involucrata.
  > 
  > Spent a few hours at the research plots today.
  > Picked swiss chard and  
  > squash for dinner and farm crew.
  > 
  > Above ground results so far (July 29) are as
  > expected. Best is  
  > compost plus fertilizer with or without charcoal,
  > next fertilizer  
  > with or without charcoal, next compost with or
  > without charcoal and  
  > last control with or without charcoal. The only
  > measurable  
  > differences in these sets is with the swiss chard.
  > 
  > I decided to omit the urea treatment as soil
  > analysis showed adequate  
  > nitrogen levels in both compost and  fertilizer
  > treatment sets.  
  > Growth is very rapid now and I plan next week to
  > harvest and blanch  
  > November.
  > 
  > A first look at the soil analysis on samples
  > collected end of June .  
  > Next samples will be taken for soil testing in
  > November just before  
  > harvest. This set of samples is essentially at the
  > beginning of the  
  > experiment about 6 weeks after plots were set up. 23
  > months to go  
  > before the experiment is finished.
  > 
  > Total = 24 plots All OM= 5.04 (.72)  All N=14.7
  > (9.4)
  > 
  > Total =  2 plots control OM = 4.6 (1.7)  N= 2.5
  > (.71)
  > Total =  6 plots charcoal and control OM = 4.73
  > (.79)  N=5 (5.1)
  > Total =  4 plots charcoal  OM = 4.8 (.27)  N= 6.25
  > (6.1)
  > 
  > 
  > Total =   2 plots compost OM=5  (.57) N=10 (2.8)
  > Total =   4 plots compost and charcoal OM=5.78 
  > (.60) N=12.75 (3.4)
  > Total =   4 plots compost and fertilizer and
  > charcoal OM=5.5 (.34)  
  > N=19.25 (7.3)
  > Total =   2 plots compost and fertilizer OM=5  (.42)
  > N=34 (2.8)
  > 
  > Total =  2 plots fertilizer OM= 4.65 (.77) N=20
  > (11.3)
  > Total =  4 plots fertilizer and charcoal OM= 4.53
  > (.64)  N=16.75 (2.6)
  > 
  > Key
  >          OM= organic matter %
  >          N= nitrate ppm
  >          bracketed (__) = standard deviation (a
  > statistical measure  
  > of variation between the set of samples)
  > 
  > Considerable variation is noted in soil analysis
  > numbers at either  
  > ends of test row hence an explanation of large
  > variability seen in  
  > some sets.
  > 
  > It is interesting to see the effect of compost
  > ,fertilizer and  
  > charcoal additions on soil om and nitrate. Have not
  > looked at this  
  > set of data yet on some of the other items of
  > interest as CEC, and %  
  > base saturation.  There is essentially no difference
  > between the  
  > treatments  in pH and buffer pH.
  > 
  > 
  > 
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