[Terrapreta] Rice husk + fungi trial

[chris braun]

Hello,

Yes, "structured", organized trials are definitely needed to make
consistent comparisons between terrapreta experiments performed in
different parts of the world and with different inputs. This may be
the key to draw conclusions that assess the power of terrapreta...

As kindly mentioned by Rob, this is the goal of the database CharDB I
am currently developing and which you can find here:
http://bionecho.org/terrapreta/chardb/index.php

Your participation is highly desirable !
You can already register new trials using the online form, and browse
and modify the trials you submitted beforehand. I am working on a
tutorial but the documentation and example already provided on the
website should allow you to start. And of course I am available
(chardb at bionecho.org or brauncch at gmail.com) for any comment  or
question.

Note that before submitting trials you first need to be registered
(see http://bionecho.org/terrapreta/chardb/registration.php) but this
is really easy and doesn't take long, so don't wait any longer !

As I said it is in development, so your feedback is very precious and
will determine further orientations of the project.

Sincerely yours,
Chris

On Feb 6, 2008 5:54 AM, Robert Flanagan <saffechina at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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/
> > http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org
> > http://info.bioenergylists.org
> >
>
>
>
>
> --
> 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
> _______________________________________________
> Terrapreta mailing list
> Terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biochar/
> http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org
> http://info.bioenergylists.org
>