Plot test

Field Trials;
 I am field testing for the 09 corn season with JMU and consultation  Dr. Hepperly at Rodale Institute.

Ten research priorities were identified at the IBI conference, The following priorities I hope to address:
• 1- Economy research/market research
• 2- plant+soil research depending on biochar
• 5- field trials
• 8- application to soil (depending on agricultural or other
systems/remediation`)

Planting date: June 24th.
Two split plots , which each are split into a 20% (27 tons/Ac) & 5% (7 tons/Ac) application rates,
All chars soaked in tarps for 1 month, all chars were mixed 1:2 by volume with finished poultry litter compost and roto-tilled to 5 inch depth.

3 treatment groups with 3 replications
Char+ Compost
Char+ Compost + soluble NPK (soaked in char)
MYC+Char+Compost ("Dr. Mike's" Mycorrhiza corn inoculent)
Charcoal #1: Alterna Energy Biocarbon
Charcoal #2: Cowboy Hardwood Lump Charcoal

Soil Testing:
Dr. Mike Amaranthus of Mycorrhiza Applications ( http://www.mycorrhiza.com/ ) has  supplied his granular corn MYC , applied at planting, and lab support for harvest root analysis.
Dr. Kristine Nicoles of ARS, their head glomalin researcher, will also run soil test at Harvest
Lynn Rogers of Microbial Matrix will be testing for functional microbe groups

Total wet weight of corn biomass will be collected for each treatment group.

Much Thanks to:

 James Madison University / I.S.A.T., Dr. Wayne Teal - for providing a student for work and help in publication.

Local farmers Keith Sheetz and Andy & Jack Dixon

Dr. Paul Hepperly of Rodale Institude in PA. for consultations and his sister study in cow-peas.

Special thanks to Ecotechnologies Group for funding both of our studies.  http://www.ecotechnologies.com/index.html

The soil carbon bond can lead to an integration of organic and commercial agriculture practices. Biochar is a tool for both, for organic to increase its already-sustainable credentials, for chemical agriculture to at least halt soil carbon mining and seriously reduce nutrient runoff. The carbon sequestration bond can lead to a marriage of the best practices from both systems of agriculture to build soil into a biologically vital synergistic organism.

I hope to demonstrate this in my field trials with Roundup-ready corn, with the consultation of the Rodale Institute. Soil test for the full spectrum of food web organisms should ferret out the affinity of BioChar with these organisms in the context of standard chemical agricultural practices, and at Rodale with organic practice.

Erich J. Knight
Eco Technologies Group Technical Adviser
University of California Riverside advisory board member
Shenandoah Gardens (Owner)
1047 Dave Barry Rd.
McGaheysville, VA. 22840
540 289 9750

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

Biochar Trials in Hangzhou, China (pdf)
Robert Flanagan, Saffe China, July 10, 2007

Select image below to see in Gallery
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This is a small trial I'm doing for some farmers just outside Hangzhou to show them the benefits of Biochar. I've 48 plots in all so 24 with rice husk charcoal addition at 20Kg per plot. This trial is not for scientific data collection we have that in another trial a little further outside town.

Charcoal Experimental Plots
Rich Haard and Larry Williams at Fourth Corner Nurseries, Bellingham, Washington, May 6, 2007
[G2:366]

Examples of Soil Improvement at EPRIDA
Doug Clayton, April 2007

IMG_7237

Click on photo for full view

I took the pictures when I visited Danny Day at Eprida last month.

The first shot is of the red Georgia clay before and after charcoal had been tilled in two years prior. The second shows some "structure" as a result of the charcoal treatment. The untreated had become very hard (compacted).

Three and four illustrate how tilth was improved. In both shots Danny
is pushing the device (penetrometer??) with a force of 300#/ sq. in.
and it is obvious how much looser the soil in the fourth image is!

Douglas Clayton
50 Bullard Rd
Jaffrey, NH 03452
work: 603-532-1120
home: 603-532-7321
fax: 603-532-4581

Note: Root penetration decreases linearly with penetration resistance, until almost no roots penetrate into soil with a penetration resistance of 300 psi. See: Measuring Soil Using a Penetrometer Pennsylvania State University