Terra Preta de Indio sounds better, but biochar works

 

Yo, Billy.
New Biochar Test Shows up to 17% Crop Yield Increase, Lower Soil
Nutrient Depletion
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/05/biochar-test-shows-17-percent-crop-yield-increase.php

 

In article

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/05/biochar-test-shows-17-percent-cro
p-yield-increase.php

"The nearly year-long test, done in collaboration with BlueLeaf Inc.,
found that plots where Dynamotive's CQuest Biochar was applied had 6-17%
increases in crop yields, compared to control plots. Additionally, the
biochar plots showed high plant density and greater root depth (68%
increase). Lower rates of nutrient depletion during the growing season
were also observed in the biochar plots, phosphorus depletion was down
44%.
The test plots were located in the Eastern Townships of Quebec and had
some 3,500 lbs/acre of biochar applied."

-------
That's the first year. See the results for three years below, noted in
the book "1491", pg. 346.
"In a preliminary test run at creating terra preta, Steiner, Wenceslau
Teixeira of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Enterprise, and Wol-fang
Zech of the University of Bayreuth applied a variety of treatments
involving charcoal and fertilizers for three years to rice and sorghum
plots outside Manaus. In the first year, there was little difference
among the treatments (except for the control plots, in which almost
nothing grew). By the second year, Steiner said, "the charcoal was
really making a difference." Plots with charcoal alone grew little, but
those treated with a combination of charcoal and fertilizer yielded as
much as 880 percent more than plots with fertilizer alone. His "terra
preta" was this productive, Steiner told me, despite making no attempt
to re-create the ancient microbial balance."
---

Nearly nine times more crop, than with fertilizer alone.

3,500 lbs/acre, works out to be about 8 lbs/ 100 sq. ft. The smaller the
pieces of charcoal, the better.

Thanks, Steve.
--

- Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being
is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the
moment of conception until death."  - Rachel Carson



http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050688.html

 



Yeah thanks for the shout out to *Billy*!

Thanks for the link and the test results.  FUnny thing ain't it, that
GM crops are showing an overall  "reduction" in yield and that the
morons are screaming that organic and alternative methods cannot feed
the world.

sigh.....and we are called kooks by the great unwashed.

Charlie, chopped liver apparently (which by the way, is very very good
stuff)

 

On Wed, 13 May 2009 23:04:09 -0500, Charlie wrote:


FUnny indeed. Ah well, the flat earth gene pool had to surface
somewhere.
It's genetic whack-a-mole.