[Terrapreta] cover cropping as a charcoal in soil evaluation.

[Philip Small]

Richard: Your comparative cover crop (control vs treatment plots) looks like
a truly effective way to evaluate long term potential for charcoal. Your
results show tremendous differences in dry matter production, the basic unit
used to compare biomass production in my world.  Your work demonstrates
(better than any others I am aware) of that TP benefits can be achieved
outside the classic oxisol/ultisol.  Congratulations!

You have soil testing results too, if I recall.  Those would be of interest
to me.  Tissue analysis would be cool also. Beyond the tissue sap brix,
which is of interest to many others on the TL list, I would love to see
comparative clip-and-weigh data and comparative forage mineral nutrient
data.  This lab work is less money than you might think, I know of a very
cost effective forage lab <http://www.dairyone.com/Forage/default.asp> which
uses near-infrared spectometry. NIR applicability is limited to certain feed
types but oats is on their
list<http://www.dairyone.com/Forage/services/Forage/forage_NIR_applicability.htm>which
means you can get N, Ca,
P, Mg, K, S, Cl for $16 plus $4 using their pre paid shipping.

Not necessary, your work in pictures stands on its own without those add ons
- congrats, again! -philip

On Sun, Jun 15, 2008 at 8:48 AM, Richard Haard <richrd at nas.com> wrote:

>   Terrapreta reading listers
>
>
>
> My introduction to using charcoal in soil for agricultural purposes came in2004 at the conference held at University of Georgia<http://www.georgiaitp.org/carbon/carbonconf.htm>. Returning and
> very enthused to give it a try I set up some experiments using purchased
> lump charcoal and inoculation of red alder with Frankia, a root nodule,
> nitrogen fixing organism.
>
>
>
> That winter, 2004-5 I met by way of conversations on line with the
> gasification list, John Flottvik and learned about his work with a pilot
> plant pyrolyser. At the time he was working less than an hour drive from our
> farm just across the border in British  Columbia. John graciously offered to
> donate a tote of charcoal powder for my research program.
>
>
>
> Finally, John here are some results from that work. !!
>
>
>
> At the time three of our adjacent fields were fallow and we were cover
> cropping with gray oats beginning in early fall. We grow in these fields
> native plants in small blocks. Sometimes as many as 100 species of plants.
> It was interesting to note that mineral uptake by the different crops showed
> in the cover crop then uniformly planted on the field. Here is an image of
> that gray oats cover crop<http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchaard/396830233/sizes/o/in/set-72157594444994347/> taken
> fall 2004. Note that on the far left the cover crop had already been worked
> down and on the right the field had heeled in stock. In the foreground a
> general mottled growth in the gray oats can be seen from differing
> fertility.
>
>
>
> Wouldn't it be interesting then to treat several bands of these fields with
> this charcoal powder, crop the field for 2 years and then use a later cover
> crop planting to determine if the charcoal was having an effect on the soil
> fertility. We then worked in the gray oats and treated two bands of 6
> seedbeds (each seedbed is 50 inches by 500 feet.) with aisles for tractor
> wheels, making 8 feet. The charcoal powder was mixed with commercial compost
> and applied to each seed bed strip with a manure spreader. We never did have
> a weight of the charcoal in the tote but I estimate we put 100 lbs of
> charcoal on each strip. Quite a bit of it as you can see in these images
> went airborne but the soil surface wound up black in the right places.
> Here<http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchaard/396838824/in/set-72157594444994347/>,
>  here<http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchaard/396838820/in/set-72157594444994347/>
>  and here<http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchaard/336687415/in/set-72157594444994347/> are
> several images to show what we did at that time is our charcoal application
>
>
>
> The untreated beds were given compost without charcoal powder and the
> entire field received a single treatment of  commercial fertilizer, a 5 - 10
> -10 with micronutrients , a formulation we are no longer using.  After
> planting, a light application of urea was used in late June when the
> seedlings were well established. Typically on our farm, a bare root nursery,
> we harvest parts of each field and leave the rest for harvest in second
> year. The blank spots in the field are usually filled in with transplants
> and our normal cycle of cropping any field is then completed in 2 growing
> seasons. Worst case happened though for this charcoal experiment as we were
> not able to clear the entire 3 fields and reestablish cover crop because we
> needed the production space and replanted without fallowing.
>
>
>
> We were able to cover crop one side of field 3 that had 2 rows treated with
> charcoal powder and the remainder untreated. My cover crop this spring was
> an early planting of mustard (Brassica). We planted the mustard in March and
> have just worked it in on June 12. The results are most encouraging to me
> but because we were not able to treat the entire 3 fields in this way will
> have to wait for more conclusive observations and soil testing.  These
> pictures show very distinct differences<http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchaard/2579959420/?addedcomment=1#comment72157605621598529> in
> growth of the mustard cover crop that received charcoal powder versus
> untreated. As we are replanting the entire set of fields spring 2009 then
> the next opportunity to view this cover crop effect will be 2011 or 12.
>
>
>
> My conclusion is that we need to be conducting long term evaluation of
> charcoal effects in soil. This cover crop method may be the best way to show
> beneficial effects. Our soil management methods are pretty much mainstream
> in that we use commercial fertilizer and urea. Here is an indication that
> the use of charcoal has a positive effect on soil fertility and that the use
> of charcoal may reduce the need for fertilizer applications at our present
> usage rates.
>
>
>
> Rich Haard, Fourth Corner Nurseries, Bellingham, Washington
>
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>



-- 
Philip Small, RPSS
Land Profile, Inc. * PO Box 2175 * Spokane, WA 99210
509-844-2944 cell * 509-838-4996 fax * 509-838-9860 office
Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/philipsmall
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