[Terrapreta] manure biochar N-P-K question

[Gerald Van Koeverden]

Just a note on calculating how much nitrogen to add to prevent the  
bacteria from tying up all the nitrogen in the soil for corn.

For composting, a C:N ratio of 30:1 is recommended.  But when the  
calculations are done for  sweetened charcoal, one should be careful  
to separate out between the carbohydrate and charcoal carbon, since  
we are assuming that the latter will not be decomposed....??

Gerrit

On 11-Sep-07, at 4:58 PM, Jon C. Frank wrote:

> Hi Gerrit,
>
> I don't think the government was involved at all.  The only thing  
> he spread was charcoal that had syrup filtered through it.  It was  
> spread with a regular manure spreader.
>
> I agree with your thoughts on nitrogen.  Additionally the carbon  
> could provide room and board to N-fixing bacteria and could  
> possibly reduce the need even further.  But on corn I would be very  
> careful reducing the N too far or it could lead to poor yield.
>
> Jon
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gerald Van Koeverden [mailto:vnkvrdn at yahoo.ca]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 3:00 PM
> To: Jon C. Frank
> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] manure biochar N-P-K question
>
> Jon,
>
> I'm curious how your client was able to spread this industrial  
> waste on his soil.  Did he have to get some kind of governmental  
> clearance first?  Or has this material been classified as safe for  
> farmland?  I want to know just in case I can find similar waste  
> here.  I would love to spread it on my land.
>
> 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
>>
>>
>> Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your  
>> story.
>> Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games.
>>
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