Quote:
Originally Posted by RBlack
I am trying to char up my kitchen wates and am going to char (if possible), cow and horse manure, and pine needles both dried and fresh.
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RB. I'd stick to dried as much as possible. Simple physics. Energy is required to drive off moisture. This is the first stage of the process, during which the temperature stays at just above 100 degC and no carbonisation can occur. The amount of energy can be precisely calculated from the specific heat of water and the latent heat of vapourisation for that quantity of water. In a traditional method like yours, the energy must come from the combustion of some of the feedstock. You could easily waste a third of your feedstock if it is not dried.
So I suggest that you separate harder feedstock (including pine needles) and let it dry, preferably under cover. Maybe if you manage to organise a group from your audience you could even use the heat or emissions from one burn to help dry the next (e.g.
Making charcoal and preserving wood). Compost softer stuff or just chop it up raw as the Amerindians would, and mulch it on top of the char. Let the worms take it down for you and the fungi that will colonise the charcoal turn it rapidly into available nutrients.
One experiment is to compare mulch without char and mulch with char in adjacent patches. I've read somewhere (I forget where) that char speeds decomposition.
Sounds like there could be some really choice smells coming from your burn
M
