tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post7850807998084120930..comments2024-03-27T16:08:30.313-05:00Comments on The Great Change: Mount PleasantAlbert Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627996921976501534noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-70849391171011430552017-03-23T21:59:47.003-05:002017-03-23T21:59:47.003-05:00Hello, first time commenting here, but I was wonde...Hello, first time commenting here, but I was wondering if the numbers have been worked out in terms of net carbon with respect to biochar. I have been making very small batches on my farm, basically whenever I burn twigs and other wood waste, I pack as much wood and bones in a big vented metal container as I can and set it in the fire, which is contained in an old cement culvert. Makes a good amendment to my beds, from all I can tell, and good charcoal for my use also.<br /><br />But if I were to do this on a large scale, wouldn't I be also adding carbon to the atmosphere at a much higher rate than would be the case if the debris were allowed to decompose at its normal rate? There are a number of complications to sort out: Maybe the rate of carbon generation is not that different for where I am. Here in the Mississippi Delta, soil carbon disappears amazingly fast under agricultural and I have recently learned, also under natural conditions. That may, in fact, compare well to the Amazon basin. But in drier places, I have read that some forms of wood carbon, e.g., lignin, suberin, humic acids, can remain in the soil for quite long periods. Would it perhaps be better to leave it as is in those places? Of course, there is also the normal regional fire cycles to consider.<br /><br />Oh, I was especially skeptical of the Badger proposal, because they planned on using fossil fuels to produce the char. My thought was, "How can this possibly be a net benefit?"<br /><br />I did have one thought on how it might be done in a low-carbon manner. I have been known to burn food to a pretty pure carbon state in a conventional oven at 350 degrees F by leaving it in too long. I also know that a good solar oven can hit that temperature. What if someone designed a solar heat concentrator to maximize a volume of wood or other material which could be brought up to the temperature at which it would begin to generate gas, and then the gas either collected or used to maintain the temperature in case the duration of peak solar heating is not long enough to complete the charring? I have been pretty consistently unsuccessful with my solar projects this far, but someone else might have better luck.HalFiorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18432415155069446325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-60234470929585424412017-02-22T19:16:55.381-06:002017-02-22T19:16:55.381-06:00@kensasucke
I'm not Albert, but here is my 2 c...@kensasucke<br />I'm not Albert, but here is my 2 cents worth. Biochar is not mostly about increasing yields in temperate soils. That job is performed by the soil food web, with particular attention to fungi. So long as biochar doesn't interfere with the soil food web, and sequesters carbon for centuries, then it is part of the solution. But it is not the whole solution.<br />Don Stewart<br />PS 'increasing yields' in terms of comparing a healthy soil food web against a soil without a healthy soil food web and little or no imported fertilityDon Stewarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05449201744675390686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-41765375444656457532017-02-21T20:24:34.976-06:002017-02-21T20:24:34.976-06:00will you address a report from UC Davis ASI blog b...will you address a report from UC Davis ASI blog by Dierdre Griffin that comes down to biochar ain't worth it/ ken sasuckehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05450278552215402124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-12327697535350419982017-02-20T20:59:43.942-06:002017-02-20T20:59:43.942-06:00Albert: Not sure where you are heading with this s...<br />Albert: Not sure where you are heading with this series, but thought this was a good time to show this link for a kickstarter project that didn't make its goal. The concept looks sound, quick to roll out, appropriate scale, thought it needs some refinement, which the kickstarter project presumably would have done.<br /><br />https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/80297702/badgerchar-mobile-a-farmer-friendly-mobile-biochar?ref=nav_search<br /><br />These guys are researchers and farmers, not salesmen, so their offering didn't catch the imagination and go viral, just wondered what you thought of it.Steve Carrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11706114439618856525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-40891264554150353052017-02-19T18:34:33.430-06:002017-02-19T18:34:33.430-06:00And we come to the tale of our times.....do we lau...And we come to the tale of our times.....do we launch innumerous studies, hold endless conferences, judge which approach is better or more effective in the near or long term. Everyone who espouses one technique (holistic management for example) over another may have their own set of experiences and documentation that "proves" its efficacy. And looking at that data may indicate so. I say, let's do it all, whatever we can since time's awastin".Danny Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08239701610522812113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-12853909487165722832017-02-19T17:54:59.324-06:002017-02-19T17:54:59.324-06:00Albert
I realize that you are early in your series...Albert<br />I realize that you are early in your series of prescriptions for what to do. I don't disagree that biochar is an essential component for getting carbon out of the air and into the soil. But I think there is another concern also: food. In order to grow food we need to adopt different gardening and agricultural methods...which I boil down to 'fungi friendly'. We also need to make non-food landscaping 'fungi friendly':<br />https://www.bu.edu/news/2016/02/23/urban-soils-release-surprising-amounts-of-carbon-dioxide/<br /><br />I believe that fungi are the key to raising the carbon level in the soil, in addition to whatever may be added by bio-char. And the fungi are also the key to unlocking soil nutrients in a way that bio-char does not do (to my knowledge).<br /><br />Don StewartDon Stewarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05449201744675390686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-46035438995490042772017-02-19T11:46:07.000-06:002017-02-19T11:46:07.000-06:00thanks Albert will readthanks Albert will readwesleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05251937183373648054noreply@blogger.com