[Terrapreta] Abstract on Charcoal in soil

[Saibhaskar Nakka]

Dear Dr. Sean, Dr. Karve and all,

Thank you very much for your concern and bringing clarity on so many issues.
My belief on Terra Preta, is becoming stronger. The alkaline soils are
almost dead soils with very little microbial activity, probably we could
recreate living space for the microbes by using, Charcoal (washed and
excluded the ash completely), burnt earth (a porous media), green mulch,
cows urine, and some pure sand, etc. Yes this process requires time may be
few years and it is a continuous effort.

Presently I am getting the soils tested, once the results are there I will
share, then probably we could think about a better solution.

Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy

On 5/23/07, adkarve <adkarve at pn2.vsnl.net.in> wrote:
>
>
>  Dear Sean and Sai Bhaskar,
> I remember reading that village Kothur, where Sai Bhaskar is working, has
> a lot of Prosopis juliflora, which the villagers turn into charcoal. This
> plant tolerates soil salinity much better than many other plants. In fact I
> was successful in growing P.juliflora with sea water irrigation. We have
> on the West coast of India an area called the Rann of Kutchch. This area in
> inundated by sea water for almost 4 months of the year, when the western
> winds drive water from the Arabian sea on this piece of land. This region
> too has a lot of Prosopis juliflora trees. I travelled in this area a few
> years ago and taught the locals the technology of making charcoal from
> Prosopis wood, by using my oven and retort method. It is therefore likely
> that the soil in Kothur is suffering from salinity.
> Yours
> A.D.Karve
>
>
>
>
>
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