Pot test

Miscanthus and Willow Charcoal Trials

Robert Flanagan, May 22, 2008
Attached are some photos of my latest trial with char (biochar/agrichar ). I achieved the above results with charcoal made
from willow and miscanthus at over 550C.
In the attached photos I just added the
char to local soil with no other additions.

1g Charcoal per seed1g Charcoal per seed

50g Miscanthus Charcoal per pot50g Miscanthus Charcoal per pot

50g Willow Charcoal per pot50g Willow Charcoal per pot

Charcoal is only one part of terra preta
farming as balance in the key and nutrient and carbon cycling. Pyrolysis only produces combustible gas when all the moisture has been driven off so it's not correct to say you get syngas from low temp pyrolysis unless you pre-dry your
feedstock and then clean up the tars before going into a genset and making electric power.

Effects of Varied Soil Composition (Char, Sand, Potting Mix) on the Growth of Radish Starts

Bear Kaufmann, April 7, 2008

IMG_0872IMG_0878IMG_0884IMG_0930IMG_0934IMG_0935
(Select image to enlarge in Gallery.)

Radish germination was ~one week ago.

Char was mesquite BBQ char (due to availability), crushed and screened to 1/8". Presumably high temp. No nutrients were added to the char itself. No mycorhizal fungi. Mixtures range from 0-100% sand, soil, and char in ~16% increments by volume. 90 pots total. 28 combinations with 3 pots each + 6 additional pots at 33%/33%/33%. Pots are placed randomly in the grid. Radish appears to do much better on pure sand then pure char (which is extreme anyway, the middle range will be more interesting). Plants will be thinned to the two best (of four) per pot this weekend.

Bear Kaufmann

bear@ursine-design.com


Effects of mycorrhizal fungi and biochar 90 Days

Effects of mycorrhizal fungi and biochar 90 Days

Robert Flanagan, Hangzhou Sustainable Agricultural Food & Fuel Enterprise Co., Ltd. (SAFFE), February 15, 2008

Day 90Day 90

Hey Guys, Just got to 90days of my latest biochar trial and wanted some feedback on what data you think I should be taking from this trial? We can clean off the roots and photo as much as possible and do clearly marked side by side photos.

I don't have any funding for this trials so there is a limit on the depth I can go regarding data collection so I'm really looking for a base list. The medium was sterilized subsoil and we used 2Kg soil per tray with three reps of each treatment (I just took the average of each treatment for the attached photo).

Kind Regards, Rob.

Robert Flanagan
Chairman & President Hangzhou Sustainable Agricultural Food & Fuel Enterprise Co., Ltd.

saffechina@gmail.com

Skype "saffechina"

Tel: 86-571-881-850-67 Cell: 86-130-189-959-57

ControlControl
BiocharBiochar

Modified BiocharModified Biochar


Effects of mycorrhizal fungi and biochar 75 Days

Effects of mycorrhizal fungi and biochar 75 Days
Robert Flanagan, Hangzhou Sustainable Agricultural Food & Fuel Enterprise Co., Ltd.
(SAFFE), February 5, 2008

I just got to visit my biochar trial at BIOTROP today so I took a few photos to give all you some idea of the profound difference biochar makes to subsoil
ControlControl

Rice Husk CharcoalRice Husk Charcoal

Rice Husk Charcoal + VAMRice Husk Charcoal + VAM

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvo1w8gFSts

What we're seeing is the plants treated with VAM fungi + biochar are a lot darker green and show more plant growth at the 75day mark so I'll push on up to day90 and see what happens.

Robert Flanagan
Chairman & President
Hangzhou Sustainable Agricultural Food & Fuel Enterprise Co., Ltd.

Skype "saffechina"
Tel: 86-571-881-850-67
Cell: 86-130-189-959-57


CharDB 1.0 released!

CharDB 1.0 released!
Cristelle Braun, January 19, 2008

Hello dear biochar testers!

The first release 1.0 of CharDB is now available at:
http://bionecho.org/terrapreta/chardb/index.php

You will now be able to register your biochar soil amendment trials in a uniform format "CharML" that should facilitate comparisons between the different entries. This will hopefully lead to interesting new conclusions and a better knowledge on the fascinating world of biochar!

Please send any comment, critic, suggestion...to:
chardb@bionecho.org

Your feedback and comments will guide further development of CharDB and CharML!

Sincerely yours,
Chris
brauncch@gmail.com


Potato & Terra Preta - 2007

PotatoPotato
This is Puffergas' first test of growing potatoes in switchgrass compost. The potatoes were grown in containers and charcoal was added to the compost.
See link below:
Potato 2007 by Puffergas


The Charcoalab Project: Charcoalab Pot Trials

The Charcoalab Projecti: Charcoalab Pot Trials

Robert Flanagani, SAFFE, China, Christelle Brauni, Naomi, September 4, 2007

Charcoalab Pot Trials
The Charcoalab Project
September 2007

Select image to access album of photos.


Richard Haard: Affinity of fungi and crop plant roots to charcoal

Richard Haard: Affinity of fungi and crop plant roots to charcoal
Richard Haard, February 12, 2007

The image below illustrates the affinity of fungi and crop plant roots to charcoal.

Charcoal placed in a fertile garden for a few months showing how crop roots (Swiss chard) and fungi are attached to this medium as habitatCharcoal placed in a fertile garden for a few months showing how crop roots (Swiss chard) and fungi are attached to this medium as habitat

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