[Terrapreta] eprida char - organic?

[Robert Klein]

Hi all

the real miracle of biochar for me was that it had already gone through a thousand year field test, and thus eliminated the need for a huge exercise in futility trying to persuade the powers that be.  I had already guessed that charcoal was a prospective option a decade earlier because of unrelated research, but had wrote it off as mission impossible because of governmental lethargy.

The difficulty with blends is that you run the risk of been recaptured by the bureaucracy  Not a good idea.

On the other hand, a corn or bagasse biochar blended before production with a hefty shot of sea weed may be very beneficial and easy to make in the right circumstances.  Such a blend could be packaged and sold commercially to growers for direct incorporation into their soils.  I am envisaging industrial grade equipment to do the blending and chopping before the kiln.

The normal blending process was originally with the local soils and surface plant waste.


arclein

.

----- Original Message ----
From: Tom Miles <tmiles at trmiles.com>
To: Allan Balliett <aballiett at frontiernet.net>; terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 4:28:02 PM
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] eprida char - organic?


Allan,

I can understand and appreciate your perspective. Biochar as a basic
material makes sense. I can also appreciate that it makes it simpler
 for the
grower to think about even though it may be more difficult to apply
 than a
mixture with compost. Using char in a premix is like formulating feeds.
   

Realistically I think we see and will see a range of products from
 charcoal
to fertilizer, (E.g. ECOSS by EPRIDA) all referred to as biochar.

Promoting biochar seems to make it difficult to convey that it is the
combination of char with other components that makes the terra preta
 system
work. So for the general public you will probably see blended products.
 

I'll have to dig for the OMRI approved product. To complicate things it
 is
not listed by OMRI list as a charcoal product.

There's nothing wrong with basic. There is a lot of basic work that
 needs to
be done. 

Tom
  


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