[Terrapreta] Charcoalab Kit ordering process updated

[Robert Flanagan]

Allan and Sean,

I'll go through this so you both get a better understanding why we've taken
on this project and why the kids kits are so important.

First off, the largest questions regarding how do we reproduce "Terra Preta"
revolve around the effects of charcoal produced from different biomass and
maybe the production temperature? So to stick to one variable at a time
we've decided we'd start off with the same charcoal that I used in my field
trials this year in China "Rice hull" in the first twenty schools. Now when
the results come back from all the schools Christoph, Naomi, Christelle and
myself we review the findings and decide if we expand the next round of
trails with the same biochar or if we'll introduce other biochar's most
lightly made from local resources and potential biochar feedstocks. The goal
of this project is No.1 to provide an educational tool as described by Naomi
and Christelle but No.2 is to get a better idea of the effects of any given
type of biochar on different types of soil to hopefully inspire both
research and industry to accelerate their efforts on implementing biochar as
a soil amendment practice and a stable beneficial from of carbon storage.

Now Alan regarding your statement "Maybe this is because I'm a careless
impatient reader, but I'd like to ask the The Charcoalab Team why they
appear to have skipped the biological inoculation step of nova terra preta
creation and why they do not have a consistent nutrient input.
Our team is very much aware of the added benefits of adding nutrients and
biochar, I'm not sure how much you know about Christoph's work but he was
directly involved in the "Terra Preta Recreation Project" in Brazil several
years ago where they found that biochar (Local forest charcoal probably
Eucalyptus) + chicken litter and fish bone came the closest ON THAT SOIL
TYPE. Myself I've had successful trials this year in China using rice hull
char + modified seaweed extract and sound. The point is, in both cases there
was no soil microbe inoculation and we still had success. Later we will use
some modified seaweed extract to do nutrient retention trails but one step
at a time.

Now with your next statement "I personally feel that terra preta will be more
successfully studied as part of the earth rather than in soil separated into
containers." All I have to say is "EASY TIGER!!!" please remember we're
volunteering our time and efforts towards this project and apart from a very
kind donation by Steven Joseph we're also self funded. I guess that if we
can prove charcoal works in pots this year maybe next year we can convince
the schools to try and reproduce terra preta in their gardens next year.
Another reason for pots is we can control the exact amount of biochar that
go's into each pot and if we want to do follow up nutrient retention trials
it makes it much easier to present our findings.

We've retracted the option to order kits at this point as we're just doing
the first round as market research but we'll keep the contact us if you've
any interest in doing the same trials with your local schools in the future.

Regarding the recreation of terra preta here is my two cents worth:
Feed animals with beneficial bacteria to aid in their digestion of feed and
to add to the animals general health. Then take the biologically active
animal waste and mix it with other organic matter (rice straw, mushroom
compost or food waste), rock dust (Dolomite, Serpentine etc.) and biochar
then ferment the mixture with more beneficial bacteria (Effective Microbes)
for at least three weeks. At the end of this period you should have an
extremely biological active, nutrient rich carbon based substrate that
should add to soil fertility for some time as well as take care of
potentially hazardous materials that would typically end up in land fills
where they would rot and emit GHG's. Taken an approach like this would also
extend the use of biochar as you can typically mix 1T biochar with 9T of
animal waste/organic matter mix. Using the process of fermentation also
repels vermin, another side benefit.

Hope that helps,
Rob.



On 10/28/07, Sean K. Barry <sean.barry at juno.com> wrote:
>
>  Hi Allan,
>
> You are fantastically blunt, on point, and I like it!  I agree that
> biological inoculation and the continuous concentration of nutrient inputs
> make total sense.  There is ample evidence that they are both crucial to TP
> formations and you are absolutely right that they should be included in the
> research.  Your point about putting charcoal into the real Earth is also
> obvious.  We're never going to harvest from the atmosphere and bury billions
> of tons of carbon into green house pots.
>
> I don't know what "Hit me with the firehose of the spoon." means, but it
> speaks to me.  I believe aggressive and liberal actions are best.
>
> Regards,
>
> SKB
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Allan Balliett <aballiett at frontiernet.net>
> *To:* ch braun <brauncch at gmail.com> ; 'Tom Miles' <tmiles at trmiles.com> ;
> 'terrapreta' <terrapreta at bioenergylists.org>
> *Sent:* Saturday, October 27, 2007 8:26 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Terrapreta] Charcoalab Kit ordering process updated
>
> >Maybe this is because I'm a careless impatient reader, but I'd like
> >to ask the The Charcoalab Team why they appear to have skipped the
> >biological inoculation step of nova terra preta creation and why
> >they do not have a consistent nutrient input.
>
> On top of all of this, I personally feel that terra preta will be
> more successfully studied as part of the earth rather than in soil
> separated into containers.
>
> Hit me with the firehose of the spoon. Impatient or not, I'm an easy
> target and a good listener.
>
> -Allan Balliett
>
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