[Terrapreta] manure biochar N-P-K question

[Gerald Van Koeverden]

My guess would be that though N would be less available on the  
'charred' soils in the short run, just because the char serves as a  
sponge to suck it up.  But in the long run, it would mean, that less  
nitrogen would be leached out or volatized, and thus a higher  
percentage of the applied nitrogen would be returned to crops.

Gerrit

On 11-Sep-07, at 3:19 PM, Jon C. Frank wrote:

> One additional point.  We have a customer who has access to large  
> quantities of charcoal powder that was used by industry as a  
> filtration product for syrup.  This product has pyrogenic  
> characteristics so is difficult to market.
>
> To prove a point at how effective it is in soil restoration he  
> bought an extremely sandy field on the river bottom of the  
> Mississippi River.  He applied 15-20 tons of this product per acre  
> and plowed it into the soil.  He saw tremendous visual difference  
> in the plants and in the root growth as compared to his neighbor  
> with whom he shared part of the pivot for irrigation.  When looking  
> at roots that encountered chunks of this charcoal powder the roots  
> would explode with massive growth inside the chunk of charcoal powder.
>
> The conclusion of this farmer was that adding large quantities of  
> charcoal powder increased the need for nitrogen on corn.  I suspect  
> this might also be the case with biochar, at least in the first  
> year after application.  I wonder if biochar made from manure would  
> significantly slow the release of NPK as compared to using the  
> manure fresh.  I believe so but have no data to back up my  
> beliefs.  Kind of hard to get bio charred manure around our area. :)
>
> Jon C. Frank
> www.aglabs.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org [mailto:terrapreta- 
> bounces at bioenergylists.org]On Behalf Of Adriana Downie
> Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 5:55 PM
> To: 'James Oliver'; terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] manure biochar N-P-K question
>
> Hi James,
>
>
>
> It very much depends on the temperature and processing conditions.  
> Generally the P and K will stay with the char, you will loose some  
> nitrogen but if you keep the temperature below 400C you will keep a  
> significant amount of it. The availability of the NPK in the char  
> also changes significantly with process conditions.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
>
>
> Adriana Downie
>
> BEST Energies Australia
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Oliver [mailto:jwogdn at yahoo.com]
> Sent: Monday, 10 September 2007 11:16 PM
> To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
> Subject: [Terrapreta] manure biochar N-P-K question
>
>
>
> I have seen discussion of turning manure into biochar.  Is the N-P- 
> K retained in the biochar if manure is used as feed stock?
>
>
>
> JW
>
>
>
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