[Terrapreta] Terra Preta and the Global Carbon Cycle

[code suidae]

On 6/1/07, Duane Pendergast <still.thinking at computare.org> wrote:
>
>  This site is really intended for people getting their hands dirty –
> probably literally very dirty in some cases - learning how to make charcoal
> in an environmentally friendly manner and to test their ideas on how it
> might play a role in building and enriching soil.
>

Since this has come up, I have a couple of questions on that subject. First
though, I'll introduce myself, since this is my first post to this list.

I'm a computer programmer in Omaha Nebraska and have been following the
environmental concerns for many years. I've been trying to keep my impact
low but without a lot of conviction. Over the past year or so I've realized
how bad the problem is and so am making more concerted efforts to do
something. This spring I've started my first garden, very small this year,
60 square feet, with the intent to expand it as I learn to not kill all the
poor plants. The soil here looks pretty poor for gardening to me (though the
cornfield next door seems to do ok). It's mostly clay, which is good for
experimenting with cob construction, but no so good for growing potatoes. I
refuse to use a commercial fossil fuel based improvement method, so I'm
looking into sustainable ways to do the job. I intend to start composting
and worm bins for soil amendments for next season, but recent articles about
bio-char in the news lead me to read about Amazonian terra preta (truly, a
remarkable story) and, eventually, this list. I'd like to experiment with
charcoal amendments, both because I'm simply curious about it, and also
because I want to make my garden as productive as I can without dumping
fossil fuel derived products into it.

So, I wonder if someone could direct me to the newbie page that explains why
the obvious things don't work and maybe some of the basic techniques?

I'm assuming that while directly adding charcoal to the soil helps, it does
not reach the full potential of biologically active TP-like soil. I suspect
that it is necessary to add the charcoal to pre-composted material so that
it can integrate properly with the biologicals in the soil, and I suppose
that there is a post-compost process of some sort as well. Does anyone have
any pet theories about getting a better-than-just-charcoal-and-dirt soil
going, or if that is documented somewhere, a reference to such?

Thanks!
Dave
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