A garden is only as good as the ground that it's planted in. Discussion forum for the many ways to improve the soil where we plant our gardens.
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April 8, 2013 | #31 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2012
Location: NW Indiana
Posts: 355
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I suspect the Amazonians didn't set out to make bio-char on purpose. They found bio-char with broken clay pottery. This leads me to believe that the production of pottery was the main reason for the massive amounts of wood burnt in concentrated areas.
Charcoal is what you want to turn into bio-char. Ashes is what you don't want. Wood goes through stages while being burned. Ash is the final stage and has little surface area for any microbial habitat. |
April 8, 2013 | #32 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Montrose
Posts: 52
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From www.MicrobeOrganics.com <- This guy is ahead of the field in his research.
"First of all I’d like to make it clear that most aquarium air pumps don’t produce enough air to use in a container larger than 1 gallon when considering making an aerated brewer. So don’t even try the 5 gallon pail with the aquarium pump idea everybody is passing around. You need a minimum 0.05 CFM (cubic feet per minute), open flow of air and an optimum 0.08 CFM per gallon (US) or higher to make aerated compost tea (ACT). ACT should have the DO2 sustained at or above 6 PPM. Generally, aquarium pumps produce around 0.02 to 0.16 CFM. Another generality is that 25 watts of power usually produces 0.75 to 1.0 CFM in diaphragm air pumps. The wattage is usually marked on the pump which will help you figure out the approximate output. I’ll cover more on air pumps later." "If you are going to buy a pump to run your aerated CT brewer, I can recommend the Eco Plus Commercial 5 (4 CFM max.) for up to 50 gallons and the Eco Plus Commercial 1 (1.75 CFM max.) for up to 10 gallons. I’m sorry but I cannot recommend a retailer for these pumps. I buy them wholesale and perhaps if you contact them, they can refer you to a retailer. http://www.nationalgardenwholesale.com I can also recommend Hailea 9730 pumps (2 CFM max.) which you can purchase from www.aquaticeco.com and other places. These are solid, long lasting pumps and I know other commercial brewers use them for 50 gallons but I just can’t recommend them for more than 30 gallons. If you use one for a 5 gallon unit it will last virtually forever. All of these pumps come with a little threaded brass fitting for screwing into the air output. DO NOT USE THESE! Put them in your parts drawer. These constrict the air and reduce your CFM by at least 20%. Rather, find tubing which slides over the nipple into which the threads are tapped. In the case of the Eco Plus 5 and the Hailea, 5/8ths inside diameter works. Slide the air tubing over and secure with a gear clamp. The Eco Plus has a very short nipple so I score the metal with a couple of swipes with a hacksaw to create barbs for the tubing to grip. You can find tubing at a building supply like Home Depot or Rona in Canada. I use the braided reinforced stuff which does not kink. Always try to keep your pump at or above the surface of the water so it does not siphon back if the power fails." |
March 18, 2014 | #33 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 4,488
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Here is a good vid on biochar easy to understand for anyone.
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Scott AKA The Redbaron "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; & of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system." Bill Mollison co-founder of permaculture |
March 19, 2014 | #34 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Desert CA
Posts: 400
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Has anyone tried using hardwood lump charcoal yet? I like the idea of biochar. But I find there's a lot of marketing jargon being attached to it and I have a feeling that one could probably make their own and have just as good results.
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March 19, 2014 | #35 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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My wife and myself were about to pull our hair out listening to these two guys.
Scott thanks for the video it is good for people that dont know anything about it. Worth |
March 19, 2014 | #36 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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Quote:
Yes I have some that I made myself. Did it work? I cant say, I wouldn't go on line and say it did without a full blown scientific experiment. I mixed it with compost and existing clay soil and the tomatoes did as well as the rest of the garden. Too bad that people are hyping it up just to sell a product and get rich. The amazon where it was discovered has very poor old soil. The trees get their nutrients from the surface from rotting organic material not from deep in the soil. It has basically no top soil. The people that live there. We cant judge the people that lived there 600 years ago by the people that live there today. They were wiped out by epidemics brought by the Spaniards after 1492. These epidemics spread through the Americas like a wild fire. We may never know what these people were capable of. Worth |
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March 19, 2014 | #37 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 692
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Quote:
Suggest you do a 'google', lots of information available, many different ways of making it. |
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March 19, 2014 | #38 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 4,488
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Exactly Worth, like I said before, results depend on the soil you have already. I have used it and gotten awesome results and I have used it and saw little difference. Basically, the more poor the soil was to start, the more advantage to using biochar. Soil in say a sand dunes area, like my Uncle, Brother, and Parents in Florida...That will have great results adding biochar. It even helped here some since I had depleted sandy loam over hard red acidic clay. It really is astonishing how the soil I have here can be soooo bad when it is bad...yet sooooo good when you simply add carbon.
I have stopped using biochar in my garden though. I have managed to use enough to get done what I wanted done, and now just add mulches compost and manures. (and dark roast coffee ) But I will be using compost mixed with some biochar in my "special dirt" I use at transplant time for the project I am running. PS. Yes I have used lump charcoal, ground and added it to my compost. Seemed ok.
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Scott AKA The Redbaron "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; & of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system." Bill Mollison co-founder of permaculture Last edited by Redbaron; March 19, 2014 at 06:51 PM. |
March 19, 2014 | #39 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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Quote:
Many feet blew away leaving sand a clay. I know you know that and looking out at the waste of something that took 1000s of years to form would break any ones heart. I know it did mine the first time I was in western Oklahoma and saw the devastation. Worth |
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March 20, 2014 | #40 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 4,488
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Quote:
__________________
Scott AKA The Redbaron "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; & of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system." Bill Mollison co-founder of permaculture Last edited by Redbaron; March 20, 2014 at 02:53 AM. |
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March 20, 2014 | #41 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: northern new jersey
Posts: 683
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I extended a bed and tillered the lawn to about 12 inches deep ..it is jersey soil and looks good not too sandy or too much clay.. it will get hard during the summer .. should i tiller in a 3 cubic of peat (6x20=120sq ft) earth looks nice enough but I think the peat will fluff it up more and condition the ph reading is around 6.5 to 7 wondering is a bucket of wood ash would benefit too.. was even thinking of shoveling in mg garden soil when it is time to dig in the plants. also have 10-10-10 but not sure if I should use that ..any suggestions appreciate?
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john |
March 20, 2014 | #42 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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No wood ash it will raise your PH again.
Unless your PH is low. Worth |
March 20, 2014 | #43 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: northern new jersey
Posts: 683
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right, i almost forgot ..no lime or wood ash with ph around 7.. i was researching after it was mentioned here too about adding a spoon of epson salt under some earth below the plants roots.. .. if i remember , i always had some kind of deficiency ( leaves turning yellow too early in a couple my beds.. is there any way of knowing if in fact I should use Epson salt?
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john |
March 22, 2014 | #44 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Desert CA
Posts: 400
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Worth
I was dragging the back logs of T-ville for more biochar info. I came across a thread dated 2009. At that point you were contemplating incorporating biochar into your soil. How did that turn out? Gaston |
March 22, 2014 | #45 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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Quote:
Worth |
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