[Terrapreta] Fwd: compost and charcoal

[Tom Miles]

I have always felt that compost and prepared soils are the logical vehicles
to market and deliver TP to housing in North America. TP should be marketed
to new housing construction and urban landscaping. In many areas a new
property must be landscaped within a year of completing the dwelling.
Charcoal can be added to the topsoil delivered to the site or to compost
used in landscaping. The charcoal would be a marginal cost in the total
landscape project.  It could be sold as a “green” package complete with
carbon credits. It should have the added benefit of using less fertilizer
and water. Use it on high profile “street of dreams” sites to create
awareness. In the second and third year when the homeowner steers his/her
attention to the garden they will find they have a very productive soil to
work with. They should not be fighting the watering and drainage problems
associated with homes carved out of clay, or landscaping built into berms. I
know many people who have fought that battle.

 

The soil and compost TP products can be blended on demand by the recycling
and soil companies that now supply truckloads to homeowners at $200-$240/200
ft3 unit. 

 

Once the urban homeowners and landscapers start buying charcoal enhanced
soil and compost it will get the attention of the farmers, nursery owners as
they attend annual ag shows and as word gets around.   

 

For an appreciation of how urbanization displaces agricultural land see:
“Assessing the Impact of Land Conversion to Urban Use on Soils with
Different Productivity Levels in the USA” Soil Science Society of America
Journal 65:391-402 (2001),
<http://soil.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/65/2/391>
http://soil.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/65/2/391

 

Some conclusions:

 

“As expected, the Midwest, Northern Plains states, and river valleys and
deltas in other states have highly productive soils. Urbanization occupies
about 3% of the U.S. land area and makes up 6, 48, 35, and 11%,
respectively, of the land in the high, moderately high, moderate, and low
soil productivity categories. The land with highly productive soils in the
USA, that is that in the high soil productivity class, represents 3% of the
total land area. Unfortunately, this land also has the highest level of
urbanization (5%). In general, the level of urbanization increases with
increasing soil productivity for the USA and for several states. Although
the land with the most productive soils represents a small fraction of the
total land area in several states, it also experiences the highest level of
urbanization. “

 

Or Pamela J. Waisanen and Norman B. Bliss, “Changes in population and
agricultural land in conterminous United States counties, 1790 to 1997”,
U.S. Geological Survey EROS Data Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2002/2001GB001843.shtml

 

 

Tom

 

 

From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org
[mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of PurNrg at aol.com
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 1:52 PM
To: vnkvrdn at yahoo.ca; terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Fwd:  compost and charcoal

 


In a message dated 11/26/07 2:22:32 PM, vnkvrdn at yahoo.ca writes:




i can't find a single site that recommends using charcoal in the composting
process.



I don't find that at all difficult to believe. The classic concept of
compost is that it is made up primarily of organics which will cook down to
'black gold' which you can use to feed the soil. We, who are interested in
seeing charcoal incorporated deeply into the soil, are the ones who are
trying to sell the idea to composters at large. So I guess we have to work
on our sales pitch :-)>.

Peter :-)>


**************************************
Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products.
(http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001)

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/terrapreta_bioenergylists.org/attachments/20071126/9f7767a2/attachment.html