[Terrapreta] First Hello & General Background

[Richard Haard]

If you are planning to follow crop performance and soil fertility for  
long periods then I see no reason to start any time. In addition,  
using charcoal applications as a side dressing may well be the best  
method to apply. Perhaps you can show us. : > )

Summer cover cropping with buckwheat might be an option to work in  
charcoal. For a crop already emerging say with seedlings in 2 or 3  
leaf stage, I did try applying compost and charcoal mixed as a side  
dressing in 2004 and 2005. I then worked in the mixture with a scuffle  
hoe. This puts the charcoal right in the root zone of the growing  
seedlings and may be an efficient way of extending a limited supply of  
charcoal. The 2005 application shown in this picture was a disaster  
because I mixed an excessive dose of fertilizer with the charcoal and  
the controls did better than the treated. Currently I am following  
Folks' advice and composting my charcoal with alfalfa and small amount  
of urea then planning to use in my winter vegetable garden.

In this photo taken June 2004 here was my first experiment with  
charcoal after the UGA conference. The crop was red alder, a tree  
species that  has root nodules with the beneficial organism, Frankia  
that fixes  nitrogen. As a normal practice when growing this species I  
inoculate with collected , mashed root nodules after the seedings  
emerge. This time I tried with and without charcoal mixed in with the  
compost carrier. The purpose was to see if charcoal gave me better  
rate of nodulation. I did have indications that it was improving root  
nodulation and I am now using charcoal powder for this purpose.

In a few weeks as my cattail seedlings are emerging, we grow them on  
methyl bromide sterilized soil, I will be using the same technique to  
reapply natural beneficial microbes with collected muck and mashed  
roots, in charcoal and compost sprinkled on the surface of the soil.

Using collected inoculum is an established forest nursery practice but  
adding charcoal to the mix was inspiration from Dr. Makoto Ogawa who  
showed me this method in his presentation at UGA where in a Sumatra  
forest container nursery and after the roots had grown out of the  
containers he got mycorrhizal infection that traveled up these roots,  
somehow, from a charcoal/inoculum mix sprinkled on the ground cloth.

Rich
On Jun 15, 2008, at 9:28 AM, Lloyd Helferty wrote:

> Thank you Richard.  We have not yet started trials, but I do see great
> potential in starting trials by next year at the latest.
> Do you believe there is some validity for beginning to apply char to  
> soils
> at this point in the season, even though most planting/seeding  
> activities
> have already been completed for the season?

comments above
>
> Perhaps starting char application in the fall on fallow land might  
> be an
> option?  Do you know of any trials that have been undertaken on no- 
> till
> farms?

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /attachments/20080615/52eb9eb7/attachment.html