paleorthid's Feed

New Gardening with Biochar FAQ

paleorthid — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:59:00 -0400

The argument for encouraging biochar use as a ubiquitous household practice is compelling: Improved garden soil will increase food production where it has the most impact on energy demand. Implementing charcoal manufacture at a household level draws in a supply of yard prunings and workbench scraps that otherwise would be lost to non-charcoal alternatives. Unfortunately, finding even the most basic information on how to implement biochar use as a personal sustainability practice is discouragingly time consuming. In response I have started up a FAQ Tagged by paleorthid under blogs, carbon, environment, agrichar, bio-char, garden, terra_preta,

No Miracles

paleorthid — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:56:00 -0400

Charcoal cannot replace the need for adding mineral nutrients. Tagged by paleorthid under agrichar, bio-char, carbon, environment, farm, fertility, nutrition, phosphorus, science, soil, carbon_credits,

The Charcoal Vision

paleorthid — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:11:00 -0400

Application of the charcoal to soils may be key to sustainability. Application of charcoal to soils is hypothesized to increase bioavailable water, build soil organic matter, enhance nutrient cycling, lower bulk density, act as a liming agent, and reduce leaching of pesticides and nutrients to surface and ground water. The half-life of C in soil charcoal is in excess of 1000 yr. Hence, soil-applied charcoal will make both a lasting contribution to soil quality and C in the charcoal will be removed from the atmosphere and sequestered for millennia. Tagged by paleorthid under agrichar, bio-char, carbon, innovation, biofuels, soil_science, terra_preta,

Opinion: How biofuels could cut carbon emissions, produce energy and restore dead land « Not exactly rocket science

paleorthid — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 01:25:00 -0500

plant diversity and low input biomass for biofuel Tagged by paleorthid under soil, environment, co2, biofuel, research, opinion, science, carbon_sequestration, conservation,

Soil - Our Financial Institution » Celsias

paleorthid — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 05:56:00 -0500

Long blog post about soil and the collapse of civilization if we don't get it together. Tagged by paleorthid under soil, environment, carbon, sequestration,

transect points: Carbon Credit Payments for US Forest, No-till Crop, Manure, or Grassland

paleorthid — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 11:29:00 -0500

The North Dakota Farmers Union has successfully started a national Carbon Credit Program. It allows ag producers and landowners to earn income by storing carbon in their soil through no-till crop production and longterm grass seeding practices. There are also forestry (tree planting) and methane offset (manure digester) contracts. Forestry and methane contracts are available nationwide and have no enrollment date. Soil offset contracts are limited to established enrollment areas. (article includes map). Soil carbon characterization studies are needed to expand the enrollment areas. Tagged by paleorthid under agricultural, carbon_sequestration, co2, environment, carbon_credits,

http://transectpoints.blogspot.com/2006/12/invasive-earthworms.html

paleorthid — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 04:30:00 -0500

Research shows that invasive earthworms are damaging forest soils and are a menace to species diversity. The problem is most often associated with formerly glaciated regions, where native populations of earthworms are not present. Comparing soil in front of the invaders to post invasion conditions demonstrates that these worms cause soil compaction, reduced soil fertility, and increased erosion. It appears that these invaders are capable of alterations deep enough into the soil profile to result in a change in soil taxonomic classification at the order level. Other concerns are damage to rhizosphere functions, impairing soil carbon sequestration capacity. Tagged by paleorthid under ecology, edaphology, fertility, forest, fungi, habitat, health, microbiology, pedology, research, soil,

Carbon sequestration in tallgrass prairie soil

paleorthid — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 01:11:00 -0500

Over the course of an eight-year open-top-chamber CO2-enrichment (to twice ambient concentrations) study of a pristine (annually burned) tallgrass prairie north of Manhattan, Kansas, USA, which was composed of a mixture of C3 and C4 species, Williams et al. measured changes in the active, slow and passive pools of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N), with the goal of determining how they were impacted by the doubled atmospheric CO2 concentration of their reasonably long-term experiment. Tagged by paleorthid under CO2, soil, science, climate_change,

Amazing Carbon

paleorthid — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 07:11:00 -0500

Web site discusses science in support of using grassland to sequester atmospheric carbon. Tagged by paleorthid under climate_change, carbon, CO2, soil, farm, innovation,

New Scientist Increased CO2 may cause plant life to raise rivers - Breaking News

paleorthid — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 09:06:00 -0500

Plants around the world are using water much more efficiently, thanks to increased amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The effect is so pronounced, says a new study, that it is massively increasing river flows and raising the risks of flooding. Tagged by paleorthid under water,

CiteULike: Ameliorating physical and chemical properties of highly weathered soils in the tropics with charcoal â€“ a review

paleorthid — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 02:55:00 -0500

Rapid turnover of organic matter leads to a low efficiency of organic fertilizers applied to increase and sequester C in soils of the humid tropics. Charcoal was reported to be responsible for high soil organic matter contents and soil fertility of anthropogenic soils (Terra Preta) found in central Amazonia. Therefore, we reviewed the available information about the physical and chemical properties of charcoal as affected by different combustion procedures, and the effects of its application in agricultural fields on nutrient retention and crop production. Higher nutrient retention and nutrient availability were found after charcoal additions to soil, related to higher exchange capacity, surface area and direct nutrient additions. Higher charring temperatures generally improved exchange properties and surface area of the charcoal. Additionally, charcoal is relatively recalcitrant and can therefore be used as a long-term sink for atmospheric CO2. Several aspects of a charcoal management system remain unclear, such as the role of microorganisms in oxidizing charcoal surfaces and releasing nutrients and the possibilities to improve charcoal properties during production under field conditions. Several research needs were identified, such as field testing of charcoal production in tropical agroecosystems, the investigation of surface properties of the carbonized materials in the soil environment, and the evaluation of the agronomic and economic effectiveness of soil management with charcoal. Tagged by paleorthid under terra_preta, bio-char, carbon_sequestration, charcoal_addition_to_soil, edaphology, pedology, nutrient_leaching, soil_amelioration, soil_microbiology, sustainable_landuse,

transect points: Toronto Star reports on terra preta and terra mulata

paleorthid — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 02:18:00 -0500

The article highlights some important nuances. Terra mulata, the lighter type of terra preta, covers much more area than the celebrated black type central to the concept of terra preta. Tagged by paleorthid under terra_preta, bio-char, carbon, sequestration, soil, science, innovation, global_warming, climate, agriculture,

TheStar.com - Amazon's mysterious black earth

paleorthid — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 01:02:00 -0500

Why people living on hills overlooking many rivers in Brazil two millennia ago devised this approach is still a subject of debate, as is how they added all the extra organic content and ensured the soil was teeming with beneficial bugs and other micro-organisms. A modern technology called low-temperature pyrolysis can produce bio-char on an industrial scale. Using wood or agricultural wastes for fuel, pyrolysis would generate heat for electricity while also actually reducing net emissions of carbon dioxide since the organic matter would otherwise decompose. "This might be the beginning of a bio-char revolution," Lehmann says. Tagged by paleorthid under terra_preta, bio-char,

Reproducing Amazon black soil could bolster fertility and remove carbon from atmosphere

paleorthid — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 12:57:00 -0500

Applying the knowledge of terra preta to contemporary soil management can decrease the amount of fertilizer needed, because bio-char helps retain nitrogen in the soil as well as higher levels of plant-available phosphorus, calcium, sulfur and organic matter. The black soil also does not get depleted, as do other soils, after repeated use. Producing and applying bio-char to soil would not only dramatically improve soil and increase crop production, but also could provide a novel approach to establishing a significant, long-term sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide. Tagged by paleorthid under bio-char, terra_preta,

transect points: Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming

paleorthid — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 02:40:00 -0500

comment: heartburn over an expectation that the scientific community has promoted that leads us to believe that we can create a significant, persistent sink of carbon by using established farming and forestry approaches. Tagged by paleorthid under soil, science, biology, carbon, sequestration, climate_change, global_warming,

Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming

paleorthid — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 01:43:00 -0500

The Carbon Coalition started out among growers in the Central West Catchment Management Authority's Farm Systems training program in New South Wales and is expanding to cover Australia and other parts of the globe. The Coalition is a not-for-profit organisation that runs like a business, with the express aim of securing a central role for soil carbon in the credit trading schemes emerging around Greenhouse Gas Emissions abatement. Co-convenors are the Kiely family, woolgrowers from Goolma, NSW. Tagged by paleorthid under agricultural, soil, carbon, CO2, climate_change, global_warming, farm,

LiveScience.com - Scientists Promote Benefits of Black Magic Soil

paleorthid — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 09:39:00 -0500

To curb the archaeological destruction in Brazil and improve agriculture production worldwide, researchers have come up with a modern method of creating this black magic earth. Take some normal soil, add a handful of charcoal, a bunch of leaves and a dollop of cow poop. You've got modern-day terra preta, called bio-char. "Bio-char has these very efficient properties of retaining nutrients. It will retain more carbon in the soil better than any uncharred organic matter," Lehmann said. Tagged by paleorthid under terra_preta,

Amazonian terra preta can transform poor soil into fertile

paleorthid — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 09:35:00 -0500

The search for El Dorado in the Amazonian rainforest might not have yielded pots of gold, but it has led to unearthing a different type of gold mine: some of the globe's richest soil that can transform poor soil into highly fertile ground. That's not all. Scientists have a method to reproduce this soil -- known as terra preta, or Amazonian dark earths -- and say it can pull substantial amounts of carbon out of the increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere, helping to prevent global warming. Tagged by paleorthid under terra_preta,