[Terrapreta] Trench Method?

[Richard Haard]

here is our buried pile from last spring. Best burn was toplit/bottom  
draft. Here is a file showing how the raised pit was made

It made the best barbecue charcoal I ever had as well as several year  
supply of research material

Not sure if the cooked soil will be any better than composted soil.  
The temperature of the soil on the heap top was 160 to 180 deg f. I  
would look into getting soil microflora to shift by composting or by  
crop rotations or fallow.

Rich
On Jan 29, 2008, at 5:24 AM, William Carr wrote:

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>
>
> Hi !
>
> I was reading up on the various charcoal making methods, and I
> recalled something I'd read recently.
>
> I began putting two and two together and then added some guesswork.
>
> Please let me know if this makes any sense.
>
>
>
> Apparently the original Terra Preta may have been made in pits, or
> maybe trenches.
>
> Fill the pit with wood, and get it  burning well.
>
> Smother with wet vegetation -- I suppose los indios used banana  
> leaves.
>
>
> I'm not sure what I'd use yet.
>
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>
> Ahhh... green wood chips?     Leftover straw bales, soaked in water
> for a week ?
>
>
>
> Then start shoveling in dirt on top.   Keep doing so until the fire
> smolders for X amount of time, then cover completely.
>
>
> The objective is usually to come back later and recover the charcoal,
> then break it up into pieces.
>
>
> Possibly los indios used the big pieces for cooking and just left the
> little bits behind.
>
>
> The reason this idea suddenly interests me is that my tomato garden
> has a soil infection called Clavibacter Michiganensis spp.
> Michiganensis.
>
>
> The safest option to kill this stuff off is to solarize the soil.
> Cover with clear plastic in May and June, the months in the Northern
> Hemisphere where the Sunlight is most intense.
>
>
> Wait two months.   The sunlight gradually heats the soil and dries it
> until temps over 140 degrees are achieved.   That's hot enough to kill
> most bacteria.
>
> I've done this and it works.   You add healthy bacteria back to the
> soil, with horse manure, for example.
>
> Plant late-season stuff in that patch, and next year you'll have
> disease free tomatoes.
>
>
> Ah .... Unfortunately the infectious bacteria get blown back onto the
> soil when the neighbor plows his fields and it re-establishes itself.
>
>
> So I need a faster way of heating the soil.   Something that can speed
> up the process to two weeks and can be done in March.
>
> And that's when I thought of doing Terra Preta in a trench.    Use
> some low-value wood, in a deep trench, and repeat firings until the
> trench is full again.
>
> Then... don't dig it up.   Leave in place.
>
> Re-inoculate the soil with healthy bacteria and add symbiotic fungi
> from FungiPerfecti.
>
>
>
> The only thing left to work out, is how to buffer the shock the soil
> will experience with the addition of the wood ash.
>
> I always forget this one... I think you add lime to counteract ash
> until you reach neutral pH.
>
> Some organic nitrogen may be necessary if a sample shows the green
> wood chips didn't all burn.   When wood chips decay they suck up
> nitrogen.
>
>
> If this idea works, it could be repeated whenever necessary.    The
> trench would eventually become a raised bed, higher than the
> surrounding dirt, and a lot richer.
>
>
> So, any thoughts?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
> William  Carr
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