[Terrapreta] Rice husk + fungi trial

[Robert Flanagan]

Hi All,

Thank you for you positive comments on my current trial.

When I finish up I'll take as much photos as possible to try and see whats
really going on in the roots but I'm not sure I'll have access to a
microscope with a camera to take complex photos of the roots to assess the
impact of the fungi?

After going through your comments and an email from Nikolaus I have to agree
that we need more structure in our trials in order to accelerate our
knowledge and determine the real effect of biochar and ultimately do an
economic evaluation to see if biochar has any future with out financially
assistance for it's carbon content.

Nikolaus mentioned to me an idea to try and get farmers to commit to do
structured trials on even 100m2 and Christelle is flat out working on the
terra preta data base to assist in registration and data storage of such
trials. Do we need to work on a one pager to give an over view and push this
concept forward? We started something similar last year but on a much
smaller scale through our charcoalab project www.charcoalab.org . What we
found was very mixed results so on the next round I'm going to add a further
three biochar pots, but here I'm going to modify the biochar in the hope to
enhance its effect. If I had a clear list of variables to amend the biochar
with we could do these trails in blocks of ten or more and quickly get some
direction of what works best on different soils.

I'm still going through the learning curve but I've seen that charcoal from
agri waste like peanut husk and rice husk showed an improvement in plant
growth right from the word go, but I think this is 100% to do with the
nutrients as Nikolaus mentioned and not the carbon at such an early stage. I
still feel that we need to view biochar as a catalyst and not the whole
solution. What I would like to see is a list of further variables that could
enhance this catalyst (even better if they are not bioligical). We know
biochar has high nutrient retention so why not load it with a good balance
of nutrients?

Regards,
Rob.

Nikolaus


On Feb 6, 2008 8:31 AM, Duane Pendergast <still.thinking at computare.org>
wrote:

>              Gerrit,
>
>
>
> Some evidence for the  spin you mentioned. Alberta has a brand new Climate
> Change Plan which proposes pumping 138 million tonnes of CO2 underground
> annually by 2050.
>
>
>
> http://environment.alberta.ca/2431.html
>
>
>
> Public funding is recommended to get some facilities built in a joint
> Alberta/Canada report.
>
>
>
> http://www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/media/newsreleases/2008/200808_e.htm
>
>
>
> Alberta announced an election yesterday. There is a strong possibility of
> a federal election most any time.
>
>
>
> It seems government spin doctors are working overtime to milk the climate
> change cow.
>
>
>
> Duane
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> *From:* terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org [mailto:
> terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] *On Behalf Of *Gerald Van Koeverden
> *Sent:* February 5, 2008 2:49 PM
> *To:* Sean K. Barry
> *Cc:* terrapreta
> *Subject:* Re: [Terrapreta] Rice husk + fungi trial
>
>
>
> I know what you are saying.  But who is going to subsidize it, especially
> before there is a body of  scientific experimentation that backs up our
> hopes/claims?  Besides, the competition for selling carbon credits will get
> fierce what with the oil companies (the rhinoceros!) claiming that they have
> the cheapest method of doing it, by pumping it underground.  Their 'spin'
> machine is already working full-time to convince the governments of their
> ability to do it most effectively.
>
>
>
> But if you know of anybody who has a bad conscience about their carbon
> footprint, I can send them an address in Thailand of agricultural workers -
> who are working in sustainable agriculture - to whom they can send some
> money to buy, pulverize and incorporate into soil charcoal for trial plots.
>
>
>
> Here in Canada, I focus on exploring market opportunities for
> biochar/charcoal that have a chance of proving cost-effective, just as John
> Flotvik is trying to develop his special fertilizer for the marketplace.
>
>
>
> Gerrit
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Terrapreta mailing list
> Terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biochar/
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>



-- 
Robert Flanagan
Chairman & President
Hangzhou Sustainable Agricultural Food & Fuel Enterprise Co., Ltd.

Skype "saffechina"
Tel:   86-571-881-850-67
Cell:  86-130-189-959-57
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