[Terrapreta] some thoughts on charcoal production and transportation

[Richard Haard]

Hi Sean

Might as well forward this to the list


On Mar 9, 2007, at 10:20 AM, Sean K. Barry wrote:

> Hi Richard,
>
> "This looking for differences in growth and size of leaves and root  
> nodulation has not worked for me."  Maybe the charcoal used in that  
> test does not have the properties to make it useful as AgChar?   
> You'll more tests of charcoal produced under different conditions.   
> You will need controls in un-amended soil that a right next to the  
> test plots, just like Steiner did.

My latest round of experiments last summer and the previous season  
were well controlled. Between circumstances that happened  and most  
likely poor design i did not get the effect I was looking for.

Steiner and Lehmann are my present model for experimental method.  
This will involve close monitoring of the soil organic matter and  
soil chemistry as well as foliage analysis. I am putting my plan  
together now  and am today talking with a lab to see if i can get  
analysis I need without breaking the bank.

Steiners  randomized field study involved a very large tract of land  
that I do not have at our little farm. However a paper published by  
Dr Lehmann - Lehmann, J, et al Nutrient availability and leaching in  
an archaeological Anthrosol and a Ferralsol of the Central Amazon  
basin: fertilizer, manure and charcoal amendments, Plant and soil  
249:343-357, 2003

This paper seems to be  a precursor of the field study done by  
Steiner. It may give some ideas on how to set up our own controlled  
study using containers as a method to study.

If I can get through this next summer to develop an  experimental  
test to evaluate our farming practices this will be a big step for  
us. I would like to use about 225 large containers and a drip system  
with timer. I'm mycologist for sure but not expert in mycorrhizial  
fungi as I am 40 years out of graduate school. We have purchased  
stains and fixatives to do root examination and we will be learning  
this as we go along. Our crop is around 500 species of native plants  
and we are thinking about doing a set of experiments with a native  
aster and a  local shrub known as thimbleberry. Both make prolific  
growth in one season and we have lots of small starts from our seedbeds.

It's a pretty big project and until now I have been fiddling around  
with charcoal as supplement myself. Now there are 3 of us to work on  
this during the season and am excited to be doing this. I am thinking  
about 10 treatments with permutations and controls on two species.  
Hope to launch about mid May and I will keep the list informed about  
my planning.

Best Rich Haard

>
> So you are a mycologist?  Well, maybe you could do some tests on  
> reproduction of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi in  
> soil containing charcoal?  As I understand the function of VAM in  
> soil, it has a symbiotic  relationship with plants growing in the  
> soil.  It delivers soluble minerals to the roots of plants, through  
> its "vascular" system of hyphae, which it grows into the soil, in  
> exchange for sugar from the plants.  Some theorize that charcoal's  
> porous nature provides a habitat for the growth of VAM in soil  
> amended with it.  I hope you have some insights about VAM which you  
> might share with our group.
>
> 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
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Richard Haard
> To: Sean K. Barry
> Sent: Friday, March 09, 2007 1:35 AM
> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] some thoughts on charcoal production and  
> transportation
>
> Sean
>
> Thank you very much for this feed back. This is a topic I have  
> wondered much about as you can probably tell. I enjoy trying to  
> grasp the big picture on this and am personal friend of a pyrolyser  
> developer just north of here (John Flottvik). This aspect of  
> charcoal is a topic of conversation with him to explore just how  
> decentralized biochar production might help to mitigate global  
> warming.

> This Terrapreta reading list has been very helpful to me so far. I  
> really have nothing personal invested in this other than  
> intellectual pursuit and getting comments such as yours are just  
> great. I got a special kick out of the willy-nilly comment that  
> came out after I described my multi-sourcing of char in my farmer  
> testing. Soon after Michael sent me a pdf of his char  
> characterization paper.
>
> John will be supplying my charcoal for my next round of research  
> from both conifer and hardwood sources. i am excited now that i  
> will have it characterized and will have good information on  
> pyrolysing conditions. All of the papers i have poured over the  
> last month offer very little information about conditions of its  
> creation, I do understand though that this is good information to  
> have.
>
> I really did enjoy meeting Dr. Ogawa at the UGA conference in 2004.  
> He is a fellow mycologist and I appreciate his view of charcoal as  
> habitat, a point that has directed my research efforts. My last  
> round of field research at our production intensive nursery has  
> convinced me i need to develop a more analytical approach as  
> expressed by Steiner and Lehmann. This looking for differences in  
> growth and size of leaves and root nodulation has not worked for me.
>
> Best Wishes
>
> Rich Haard
>
>
>

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