[Terrapreta] Charcoal properties

[Sean K. Barry]

Hi Peter,

I saw this at the end of the VoleBloc introduction paragraph ...

... expanded slate particles capacity to store air, moisture and water-soluble nutrients. It is a permanent and environmentally safe application.

This reminded me about a theory for something I read about pottery chards being incorporated into the Terra Preta by the ancient people who made it.  It's believed that this helped hold ... "moisture and water soluble nutrients".  Sound familiar?  They also composted their TP with crop wastes (the stems and leaves people don't eat) and fish bones (phosphorus).

So, I think your composting idea is a good one.  I also think that you would consider putting all the fertility treatments and "VoleBloc" stuff into a TP mixture just like you were planting in regular DC area soil.  The charcoal is an amendment that does NOT specifically add nutrients into the soil.  There is NO carbon uptake by the roots into the plants.  The charcoal stays in the soil (for thousands of years apparently).  Plants get the carbon they need from the CO2 in the air.  But you likely know all this stuff, so I won't belabor the point.  As I understand the theory about TP soil, it holds moisture and provides a matrix or a medium which promotes the growth of soil micro-organisms, which then together with the charcoal begin to hold nutrients.  This is how the fertility is enhanced.

There is a specific type of soil micro-organism called Vesicular-arbuscular microrrhizal (VAM) fungi.  It has a symbiotic relationship with the root systems of plants growing on terrestrial soils.  It grows around the roots of land plants, sending out tentacles , called hyphae I think, which pump soil nutrients to the roots in exchange for a little sugar from the plants.  It's believed the without VAM the existence of plants on land may never have occurred.  There are also some other beneficial bacteria types, which break down insoluble nutrient bearing compounds in the soil and make the nutrients more available to the roots systems of above ground plants.  There is good reason to believe, then, I think, that charcoal alone in soil will not help plants grow.  Charcoal acts like an apartment building for VAM, like a coral reef does for organisms on a sea floor.  It is going to need to be incorporated with these kinds of "wee beasties", moisture holding enhancements like broken pottery (or expanded slate), NPK fertilizer, and the like. Do you think?

Maybe you could find something out?  There are some particular types of plants which the VAM grow profoundly with.  I think we might want to try to inoculate TP soil with VAM, so I am wondering if we can find a plant that when planted in the TP soil will bloom this fungi.  There also are apparently some people who have found ways to reproduce the VAM in a lab ... 


http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/patents/patents.htm?serialnum=09737975<http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/patents/patents.htm?serialnum=09737975>

 

What I am expecting is that TP soil shows its benefits later, mostly in reducing the amount of fertilizer required in the out years.  It improves the soil's ability to hold nutrients and provide a better growing medium, but not right off the bat, rather over time, like stew, or wine, or compost.  When you are living in a jungle, running around in your panties, eating mangos, fish, and papayas, you can take some time to learn how to make cropland.  Nowadays, when we are running around trying to save the planet from burning up, and feed six going to ten billion people, we are losing patience.  We need to slow cook this TP, I think.  I'm going to guess too, that the ancient Brazilians didn't do "proximate analysis" on all the charcoal they were making in order to get the job done.  Of course, they may have taken hundreds of years to perfect the art.

 

NOTE the broadcast (Cc:)

 

 

Regards,

 

Sean K. Barry
Principal Engineer/Owner
Troposphere Energy, LLC
11170 142nd St. N.
Stillwater, MN 55082
(651) 351-0711 (Home/Fax)
(651) 285-0904 (Cell)
sean.barry at juno.com<mailto:sean.barry at juno.com>
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