[Terrapreta] The Science of Terra Preta Formation

[Robert Klein]

Hi Jim

The real problem is going to be that at some point we will need hand labor. The first step is to simply lay in a crop of sweet corn which I suspect should be hand picked anyway.   We still need an acre or so.

The basic idea is to allow the stalks, once the ears are removed, to dry out for a week or so.  Then the hard part begins.  The stalks have to be pulled and I sure hope the soil is not high in clay.  The idea is to create bundles of stalks with the root ball attached.

These are then used to create an earthen kiln with the root balls acting as the outer wall, while the stalks are tight packed in the interior.  You can see that this is likely a couple of days hard work at least and I cannot think up any obvious way of getting a power assist just yet beyond using a cart or stone boat.

Where do you live?

arclein

----- Original Message ----
From: Jim Joyner <jimstoy at dtccom.net>
To: Robert Klein <arclein at yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 7:37:36 AM
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] The Science of Terra Preta Formation

  I've not done row crops in a long time. Mostly, I grow perennials(blueberries, raspberries, blackberries). I do have a field that hasbeen fallow for quite some time -- several acres. What do you have inmind?

Jim

Robert Klein wrote:      HiJim
  
Always good to hear from an old dirt farmer.  You don't happen to havea handy corn field going in this year by any chance.  We need anenthusiastic volunteer to test fire a couple of hand built earthenkilns using my corn fabrication methodology. 
  
arclein
  
  -----Original Message ----
From: Jim Joyner <jimstoy at dtccom.net>
To: Terra Preta <terrapreta at bioenergylists.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 7:55:18 AM
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] The Science of Terra Preta Formation
  
  Gordon,
  
Keep in mind, I am just a dirt farmer and, by and large, what I repeathere is what I have been taught, in some cases by soil scientists,sometimes other farmers. I am particularly indebted to the bio-dynamicsfolks.
  
gordon eliott wrote:      dear jim,
    so is humus the same as OM?
  Typically OM is practically anything that is organic and dead, but invariousstages of decomposition. Humus, at least what is called stable humus,is a sort of final product of the biological process on OM. In thenorthernclimes it can actually accumulate YOY as it doesn't get severe exposureto the elements in time amount or intensity. 
  
As its name implies, it is the stable, or at least the most stable, ofOM that hasn't been turned to crude oil or coal by some extraordinaryprocess. 
  
I don't know but I doubt termites would be interested in humus.
      and if cellulosic OM (which acts as a hiding place for
nutrients
as well as water and microbes) gets eaten by termites then will there
not will be less of it?.
  I don't think so. Termites are just one of the steps of decomposition.Termites have waste products and those are in turn processed by soilmicrobes -- towards stable humus.
      just as there will be much less of it if it is also "oxidized"
(do you mean fungal decay? in hot and humid conditions.
  The enemy of stable humus is the elements, particularly,heat and humidity. I think one often facilitates the other. The endresult is the burning away of humus. I've seen time lapse photographyof the process and it looks as if one has set a match to it. It simplyoxidizes and turns mostly to CO2.      am i right in thinking that the best soil is what nurserymen
use
- peat?
  I don't think so. Peat is an OM whose biological process is incomplete,arrested at some stage by the lack oxygen -- operated on byanaerobic microbes. It still has to broken down by aerobic processes.It can or may not have much in the way of nutrient. I think it ismostly used for its moisture holding ability.
      and that plants have adapted to do their best in all sorts of
inferior soils?
  When I was in the tropics I remember someone showing me the Pandanasplantand noting that is would grow on solid, bare coral rock. But I broughta small plant home and planted in corner of my yard. It grew into ahuge plant, the likes of which I had never seen in the jungle. So yes,plants do adapt to some pretty bizarre environments, but as far as Iknow they all like good soil.
  
Jim
   
    On 06/04/2008, Jim Joyner <jimstoy at dtccom.net> wrote:          Gordon,
      
I'm not familiar with termites that eat humus but even if they do, such"eating" is not likely to be significant compared to humus simply"burning off" under hot and humid conditions. Humus oxidizes andliterally burns (that can be easily demonstrated). That is a reasonthat plowing and tilling in such climes can do as much or more damagethan it provides benefit. And, one doesn't need to travel to thetropics to see this. The US south has the same problem, just not to thesame extent. 
      
Actually, I've never seen stable humus form in the tropics. Notsure it really exists there, even in TP. Dead tissue goes to OM, Thenutrients are taken up directly by plants and the carbonaceous materialevaporates or burns off as CO2. Much of the CO2 is directly absorbedback into plant growth. That's a little rough but it close to whathappens in the tropics.
      
I've spent time on southwestern Pacific islands where termites don'texist. Folks still have the same problem with humus and organic matteroxidizing.  My limited experience with termites in Guam was that they contributedto the quality of OM in the soil by breaking down woody material andleaving behind a much more tilthy soil. Once the woody material wasgone, the termites when away. Admittedly, this latter experience is abit artificial as the termites in Guam where all imported.
      
Jim
      
gordon eliott wrote:               why are tropical soils poor? no humus - which gets eaten
by
humus eating termites
        why are temperate soils often so rich? termites do not
survive in the cold.
         
        i suggest http://charles_w.tripod.com/laterite.html forsome deep soil philosophy with an informed evolutionary perspective.
        it seems to me that terra preta is an inadvertantdiscoveryof providing a place where microbes and nutrients can reside (like thehumus of temperate soils). termites can digest the long chain cellulosemolecules - but not carbon.
best wishes
        gordon eliott
 
            
      
      
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