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Joliet, IL

i have been doing some interesting reading on the subject mater and thought i would share this webpage:

http://www.egenindustries.com/eprida_technology.php

wondering if anyone has used a biochar or agrichar in their patches. the only product i found that is available to the market is "charcoal green" sold at this website.

http://www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com/product/GREEN

read about the terra preta on that page for more information.

anyone usiong agrichar or biochar of any form? there is info on how to make your own and which works best on line if you google agrichar or biochar.

12/13/2008 10:35:00 PM

Ohio

Just read the site Shazzy, im not sure how this would react to Mycorrhizal, have you heard anything about that yet?

12/14/2008 5:14:34 AM

Ontario, Canada.

Jeff, this topic came up about a month ago on the GVGO message boards. I researched it and found it to be very intriguing stuff.

"Yes Dean, Terra Preta Nova is a fascinating topic. Biochar & Amazonian Dark Earth Soils are highly fertile. It is a very valid topic on the cutting edge of the science we are all seeking."

http://gvgo.ca/mb/index.php?topic=853.0

I thought I read that any uncompressed charcoal product would be OK to use as long as it was well crushed...I could be mistaken though.

Russ

12/14/2008 7:11:59 AM

Joliet, IL

"Scientists and researchers are just now starting to unlock the mysteries of terra preta. The key ingredient, it seems, is charcoal - or more specifically, activated carbon. Activated carbon has a such complex, spongelike molecular structure that a single gram can have a surface area of 500 to 1,500 square meters (or about the equivalent of one to three basketball courts)4. This char material in the soil has several beneficial effects, including about a 20% increase in water retention, increased mineral retention, increased mineral availability to plant roots, and increased microbial activity. It has been shown to be particularly beneficial to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, which form a symbiotic relationship with plant root fibers, allowing for greater nutrient uptake by plants. There is speculation that the mycorrhizal fungi may play a part in terra preta’s ability to seemingly regenerate itself."

here is another site with good info:
http://biochar.pbwiki.com/

12/14/2008 9:17:40 AM

Joliet, IL

after more googling this morning, what i have found is that the agrichar basically acts like a sponge and has many pores. water, microbes and nutrients are absorbed into these cracks and crevices in the agrichar. mychorrizal fungi send hyphae tubes into and around the agrichar particles to reap the benefits of the stored goodies in them. glomalin is produced in the process and eventually coats the partcles which helps loosen the soil and allowing better moisture movement in the soil.

there is a lot more to it when you keep reading, but the more i read, the more intrigued i got.

for our purposes, the only danger i have read is to watch out how it affects your ph as it should raise it. by how much, who knows. it is still in the research stage here in america, but australia seems to be running with it as a savior for their agriculture due to the ability of the agrichar to store more nutrients in a sandy soil situation where everything gets leached out so fast naturally.

12/14/2008 9:32:44 AM

Joliet, IL

http://hypography.com/forums/terra-preta/14348-my-aricle-on-terra-preta.html

great article

12/14/2008 11:20:13 AM