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Post by davidintx on Aug 4, 2009 11:09:16 GMT -5
Hey Silverseeds. Sorry I don't member your name. I'm sure I've seen it on some of these threads but I haven't gotten to cross-reference the real names with the online tag yet well enough. If you go to page 4 of this forum on terra preta, Grunt on March 12 posted a comment and imbedded in it is a link that has pictures of a guy in Denmark or some place making charcoal with 2 buckets made of steel, one bigger than the other which seems to get pretty hot and burns off the compounds within the wood fairly quickly and produces some nice looking charcoal. It seems pretty low-tech and simple. I was curious if you had tried one of those methods or simply did a campfire. I have not done it yet, and was considering what I had available to do it. Money is in short supply so I wasn't wanting to do any method that required much $ imput. The campfire method like you did is right now all I have available, but it shouldn't be too much to acquire a couple of metal buckets to try this other method. I intend to try both. Yeah, as far as excess potassium, I think you're right on that, only if you use excessive asheds directly in the garden soil. It might be good to use the ashes in your compost pile if you have one. I constantly keep a compost pile with horse manure going, and that would probably be a good place for ashes so the microbes can go to work converting the ashes along with everything else. I'm also making Bokashi to try and incorporate that method into my composting, vermi-composting, and directly into garden areas. I figure the more the better, plus just experimenting. Hey, sometime if you have pics of your place I'd be interested in seeing it. I love the whole New Mexico, Colorado, Utah landscape, but alas, live about 30 miles east of the DFW metroplex. It's country still, for awhile, till "progress" catches up out here, which it almost has. No mountains, streams, just fairly flat land, but it's home. But, mountains are in my blood. I love them. Anyway, enjoy your comments. They are helpful as well as a lot of others'. You seem to be fairly experienced in plant breeding, seed propragating. That is something I have zero experience or knowledge in. I hope to read and learn from you guys and start down the road in that direction to. Cheers.
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Post by silverseeds on Aug 4, 2009 13:03:23 GMT -5
lol well it might sound like im knowledgeable, and I haav gathered some obscure tidbits of things farmers across the ages used. The likes of which I have never seen in one source. but really Im kinda bnew to this myself.
I did work on a farm for 7 years, and have gardened for three. but breeding I havent actually done yet. although I will be this season. for fall starting with peas.
If breeding interests you I suggest a book by carol deppe, breeding your own vegetable varieties...
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Post by nuts on Oct 20, 2009 14:56:58 GMT -5
I went trough this old thread about terra preta.Just had the feeling my version of producing terra preta was not yet mentioned. A few years ago I 'burned' a big pile of what I considered 'waste' constituted of gras with their roots and a lot of earth mixed,half dried but not really dry.In fact it didn't burn,but smoked for days. What was left looked like very good black earth.At the time I was somewhat stupid and not so conscious of my gardening ambitons so I used the two buckeds of earth to fill a hole ine my hangar.  The fact that the soil is mixed up with the organic matter make me think that this way you get some kind of charcoal-clay complex.That makes me think of the 'potery' aspect of terra preta. Maybe someday I renew the experiment and take photos but it's not often I have such a pile of 'waste' available. So far. cheers |
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Post by bunkie on Dec 20, 2009 14:39:18 GMT -5
that's interesting nuts. sounds like when i piled a bunch of big weeds, that i was pulling out from around the greenhouse, near the back of the building. a couple days later hubby was moving the pile, and it was smoldering where it sat on the ground!
here's a recent article with lots of hyper-links if you click on the link below...
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Post by nuts on Dec 22, 2009 14:32:05 GMT -5
Thanks,Bunkie,
for the comment and the link.
Next year I'm going for a try again,I think I'm foing to incorporate sawdust,it's easy to find for free
A problem can be the relative big amount of smoke it will produce.For simplicity I don't bother about that,the neighbours are not very close,but in urban areas this will likely cause some problems,specially if everybody will start making biochar.
And even if you don't have neighbours,you'll have to cross your fingers that the wind won't turn to your house.
So,if my experiments are succesfull,the next step will be to proceed in closed recipient(big barrel or so) and even capture the exhaustgases as combustible.
The guys from the link are doing it on an industrial level,probably a good idea in the context of global warming and decreasing soil quality.
Succes is not sure as long as society is more interested in burning organic matter in cars than invest it in soil fertility
But the technology involved is simple and small scale decentralised production of biochar is possible and probably in the reach of a devoted do it yout selver( women included ;D)
my next google search will be 'biochar'
cheers,
nuts
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Post by bunkie on Dec 23, 2009 15:24:06 GMT -5
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Post by silverseeds on Dec 23, 2009 16:51:14 GMT -5
I havent had the time, to go full blown into tera pretta, but its a subject I am very interested in. I have however, made a good amount of charcoal, charged it with urine and a "organic" fertilizer I bought, and water from soaking dried cow chips.....
I can say with my soil structure, even a little bit of the stuff seems to help greatly. I didnt even include all the components yet either....cant wait to see it in its full glory..... The soil absorbs, and holds water much better then other beds with the same amendments, minus the charcoal.
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Post by maricybele on Feb 15, 2010 16:59:29 GMT -5
What about for the Urban gardener who cant burn? How about crushing Cowboy or wood charcoal.
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Post by johno on Feb 15, 2010 17:14:33 GMT -5
Don't use the pressed briquettes. But if you find charcoal that looks like pieces of charred wood, that's exactly what it is, and you can use that. Breaking it down to smaller pieces may be difficult...
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Post by maricybele on Feb 15, 2010 19:55:34 GMT -5
Yes cowboy is wood it looks like wood. Wow, I just jumped right on it. I wet the carcoal started crushing it in 2~ 5 gallon buckets and had an extra bucket for extra black water water. It crushed ok with a shovel. The flat edge shovel crushed it ok with a little water (not to much to make it sloshy. The charcoal is not fine dust, but it should do, I am not buying a chipper this year. I saved the black water from soaking and I will add worm castings, compost and then add to my finishing compost pile and see how does this spring. This site gave me inspiration, I have had the charcoal for this project for a few months now sitting on the side of my house.
Oh Silver seeds, I am so glad it helped your soil structure and kept moisture in, this is why I am so interested in this method .The micro climate on the south side of the house is much hotter than anywhere else in the yard due to shelter of fencing and the side of the house. I have to water all the time, sometimes 2 times a day because the plants start to wilt in the heat. The soil in those beds appears to be pretty spent. I didn't see worms in the beds so I double dug there, turned up the clay from below, removed about a wheel barrel full of the soil and put worm castings and compost on top of the soil. I hope adding adding the charcoal will help the soil on that side. The videos say it helps the barren land... I hope so...The soil is clay here you can throw, so I don't think I need pots. Perhaps having the charcoal not crushed to dust will add enough air pockets. Will keep you posted on the urban grocery store bought wood charcoal without chemicals method.
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Post by Alan on Feb 15, 2010 20:08:22 GMT -5
Excellent, glad to see you finding inspiration here my friend!
Take some worm castings and add to a partial bucket of that crushed charcoal, add to that some water, and a small aerator/fishtank pump to "charge" the carcoal with the worm castings. You can also use urine which I use quite commonly here.
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Post by maricybele on Feb 15, 2010 21:59:17 GMT -5
Thanks for the advice Alan...
Worm castings mixed. Would How many days to charge? I have been meaning to get a pump. Would you add molases to the mix? If not too late I did already. I love the smell of molases in my compost teas.
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Post by canadamike on Feb 16, 2010 0:57:04 GMT -5
Food for bacterias....
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Post by grunt on Feb 16, 2010 3:33:57 GMT -5
maricybele : From your description of how often you have to water, I would bet you don't use mulch around your plants. Almost any organic material spread several inches deep around your plants can save 2/3 of your watering requirements, and also helps build your soil. If you have lawn to mow, you have mulch available.
Cheers
Dan
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Post by silverseeds on Feb 16, 2010 3:57:13 GMT -5
mericybele hello welcome to HG
I would certainly do everything you mentioned for the water retention, but I would also include a layer of compost 2-3 inches and mulch on top of that......
I did a bunch of little experiments ast year. I kinda forgot of them, but checked them out recently. areas I heavily amended did better during the season of course but were spent by the end. Barely could tell I did anything. the place I had the charcoal is a good amount better, and still retains water better, soil structure improved, somewhat. but a place I didnt actually amend but put a layer of compost 2-3 inches thick, altered the structure of the soil more then anything. In full sun and wind.
So I think it is worth the time, to amend the soil, add the charged charcoal, put a layer of compost type soils, then a layer of mulch. All these things seperately gave me better soils, and water retention. More life into the soil. I think doing them all together, will most likely be much better.
all the things I listed offer a wide range of benefits, and seems the fastest way to improve the soil. I am not sure why a few inches of compost on top helped the soil more then even moree material mixed into the soil, but it did. I guess the acids and other chemicals in the compost from it breaking down in various ways? I am not sure. but it did. Ive heard of using various acids for soil improvement, and I imagine it has something to do with that.
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