A conversation with Richard.
From: Richard
>Date: 2007/09/07 Fri PM 02:41:13 CDT
>To: Greenjack <pjelmore@verizon.net>
>Subject: Re: The solution to the ethanol problem
>This year is my first attempt at a tightly controlled experiment. In
>fertile sandy loam with 4% OM no above ground differences in growth.
>
>Waiting to do followup soil analysis this fall and run another
>season. Best I might expect is improved fertility management in our
>climate and soils. Peanut hull research on utube is very dubious as
>Rob admitted to me. My findings are confirmed with Australia research
>with are in process of publication.
>
>Are you getting improvement over control in a single season in your
>Oregon location. What is soil fertility like. Where was arid site
>research. did you do soil testing ?
>
>Best Rich H
Richard,
My approach to the subject is a bit unorthodox, because, I am using a more intuitive approach to discovery. I am trying to reproduce what the native amazonians did. Although I have read Dark Earths, Amazonian Dark Earths, and Mycorrhizal Symbiosis, and I understand the science. I am a historian by training, and my goal is to be able develop an overall system that regular people can use. This is the only way to get people to start practicing this form of agriculture. Thats why I act like an educated bumpkin. Well I guess the other reason I act that way is because I am one.
My goal is to translate the science into regulareeze. The test plots in Utah are near Park City the soil is a sandy loam, and my sister has been able to grow those huge tomatoes, this is her first garden, she knows absolutly nothing about it, and she says her kids, who hate vegtables, regularly graze in the garden. Have you tasted biochar tomatoes? They are unbelivably good. I have grown tomatoes in the garden, and gotten better tomatoes than the crap you get at the store, but these are hands down the best.
I am going to run a few tests, however, I am going to run a ph test on the biochar tomatoes vs. store bought (chemicaly grown) tomatoes to see if there is a ph difference. I know the ph of chemical soil is around 5.5 and organic is 6.5, but I wondered how this would affect the fruit. I have heard that having an acidic system may lead to an increased risk of cancer. If there is a difference between the tomatoes, one might conclude chemical agriculture may be part of the problem. Here is something I noticed about blueberries grown in biochar, because it is an acid loving plant, they (5) plants died. They lived long enough to produce some berries, which were sour and acidic. So, I belive much depends on the plant.
I agree with rob the peanut thing seems odd. My theory is that the biochar is better with complexity of material, range of temperature, and different sizes of charcoal bits. I have found that christmas trees work the best because they are sappy, have small pine needles, small to large branches, and a trunk. Throw some blackberry bushes in for good measure and pow! You got something that turns out great everytime. It has a magnetic quality the ash sticks to it. The product turns out to have anywhere from small fines to large chunks, which gives it longevity, if you can imagine the smaller bits may disintegrate, but the larger finger sized chunks would not go away for sometime. I don't think Eprida product was very thought out. I know Leyman wrote that 5mm bits were the best, but I think it is short term. I know thats like Jar Jar Binks disagreeing with Yoda, but thats what I think.
My Oregon location is on a bluff, the soil is washed out, and its red oxysoil. My tomatoes are under a Huge Cedar tree, and the soil was burned out. I plan on excavation that site to see first hand what it looks like, I will do my tests then. I have noticed the beds I prepared in the spring are better than the ones I prepared later in the summer. I don't know if it just hasn't settled in yet, or the quality of the biochar. The best biochar is made after a few days of rain and the pile is wet. The smoke is whiter, as it takes longer to get rid of the moisture in the plant, so there is less yellow smoke.
>>Greenjack
