Terra Preta - The parent thread which started it all

[Philip Small]

Originally Posted by Philip Small

... could TP be an other-than-fungi/glomalin phenomenon? If so, we may be looking for a new recalcitrant organic carbon based substance in TP and an undiscovered pathway for its formation.

I think TP formation is driven by plant root exudates being delivered to grow microbial biomass, sequestering carbon pulled from the air. The fungi-like bacteria, actinomycetes, seems a candidate. ...

Just thought I'd give my own horn a toot, considering the piece E forwarded which mentions actinomycetes as of interest to TP formation and function. Of course, even a stopped clock (analog) is right twice a day, so I remain ever humble...

[RBlack]

I came across an interesting article "New direction in black carbon organic geochemistry" by C.A. Masiello.



It gets pretty technical in parts but what I liked best is that it talks about a "combustion continuum" from Slightly Charred Biomass - Char - Charcoal - Soot - Graphitic Black Carbon, the differences between them, and the problems inherent in using any one measurement means to asses the types of black carbon. Masiello also talks about standardizing the study of black carbon so we can have results that are meaningful across that combustion continuum.

All the variables of that "combustion continuum" are also expressed in Michaelangelica post:

We also need to know how to use different types of charcoal. Chicken shit charcoal has a pH of 9 but has lots of available calcium and fertilizer. How do you use that differently from paper-mill-slurry char? or rice hull char?(lots of silicon) or sea weed char (lots of trace elements?) or wood char??

and the above post from Janice Thies (all of it good reading!)

Lastly, from my personal gardening experiences, I use spent charcoal from the filters of the 14 aquaria I maintain for my viewing pleasure. I combine it as about 5% of my mix with 65% peat moss, 10% vermicompost (from my worm bin in my basement where I compost all my household kitchen waste - aged and stabilized, not fresh!), 5-10% leaf mulch (composted on my leafy property in NY), 5-7% perlite to increase drainage, decrease bulk density and improve water retention and percolation, and some bone meal and blood meal (to taste :-) ). This makes an excellent potting mix for my indoor 'forest'. I am very much still playing around with this.

Both which bring to the front the uncertainties in making charcoal and using it in Terra Preta. In particular I like Thies designer mix of charcoal and other ingredients and Michaelangelicas idea of getting as many people as we can using Terra Preta and sharing ideas.

A good example of sharing ideas was malcolmf's post:

Suggest you read this post in another forum from a guy who unknowingly created something that behaves like TP by a combination of keeping chickens and periodic burning.

I can imagine an early Amerindian discussing something similar with his mates. "All I did was burn our smelly stuff there for a few months, and now look at it ..."

I'm beginning to wonder if terra preta implies a total rethink of household waste separation and collection as it is done today in so-called developed countries. Even recycling seems too stupid now, and household chemicals more of a problem than I thought.

Two things I took out of that is if you can link to his post from an Australian guy is in using partially burnt sticks as a base for his paths. I thought what about using that material as a base for raised garden patches? Help with drainage and aeration? And provide charcoal?

The second part about rethinking our household waste is excellent. I am partially charring all of my kitchen scraps (low end of the above "combustion continuum") and have a perfectly whole charred tomato and I think if you can char a tomato you can char just about anything. This spring my designer mix for an almost 100% clay soil with no SOM will be a mixture of pine charcoal, charred pine needles, partially charred kitchen waste, green manure, charred manure, and some fresh uncharred kitchen waste. Compost this for month than till it in and from here on use no till methods. Will it work? I don't know but it sure is fun playing mad soil scientist!

I am sure you all got the post on making Terra Preta its own sub-forum and maybe we can have a section where we compare "recipes" and our successes, failures and ideas.

“Making Terra Preta is not science. It is Art.”

RB

[malcolmf]

James, a blogger in Ireland has recently posted

an instructive video on YouTube

of his gasifier. If "a picture says a thousand words", this says a million.

The device will produce charcoal if you can find a safe method of stopping it when it switches from wood gas burning to charcoal burning, e.g. a cover to shut off all air supply.

For another design see Philip Small's photos on Flickr. Come on Philip, get your mpegs out

Does anyone know how far this would scale up, e.g. oil drum size?

M

[InfiniteNow]

Attention:

Due to the wonderful posts and great contributions in the Terra Preta thread, the staff at Hypography have decided to create a sub-forum specific to TP in the Earth Sciences primary forum. Our hope is that users will benefit from the data contained in this thread by splitting some of the topics into their own threads.

Please help us to fertilize this new seed with your ideas, allowing Terra Preta to branch into the beautiful tree it deserves to be! The ground's the limit! (A little TP humor there ).

To do this correctly, we must close this, the parent thread. All of the data will still be available, and any links that have been shared outside of Hypography will automatically redirect to the new subforum. We hope that, as you create new subtopics (such as making charcoal, the chemistry of TP, personal experiences, and the like) you will include direct links to posts in the existing thread for reference, and even quote them.

We want this rich field of data available and accessible to all who may have even the slightest interest, and appreciate your efforts in helping with this. It's your efforts that have motivated us to make this decision.

Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and ideas with those around you. We are proud that you've done so on Hypography.


THREAD CLOSED:
Redirect all posts to the following forum: http://hypography.com/forums/terra-preta/