BIOCHAR~what is it....??

[Hattie the Hen]

The more I research the less I know, it seems......

I had never heard of this term before but I could roughly guess at what it might be from the title.
Now I am hooked on researching it......!! Perhaps you would like to share my journey?

It starts here.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7924373.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochar

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/24/george-monbiot-climate-change-biochar

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/13/charcoal-carbon

OK. So! these are just some divergent opinions for now.


*****I will add to this later........!! [I can almost hear the sighs of a lot of
you thinking she is at it AGAIN...... Hmmm!]


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[RDRANCH]

Hi Hattie I just read about this last week. They article was about a chicken operation and they burn the chicken manure with low heat and low oxygen. The end product is the BIOCHAR.

The heat produced was used to heat a brooder building and the BIOCHAR is used as a soil supplement. Based on the links you posted the science is still very young but the concept is very interesting.

In most poor countries people don't use manure as compost material or fertilizer they use it for fuel to burn. The leftover ash is then used as a soil supplement. All very interesting!

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi there RDRANCH

Did you read it on the internet ? If so do you have a link to it ?

I'm fascinated as it seems to be getting a lot of people very riled up (on both sides......!?).
I had been researching Rock dust when suddenly this popped up & I was off on another sleuthing adventure through the ether.......

I love a bit of research!


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[boggybranch]

Good morning Hattie,

I remember, a while back, watching a documentary (I dare say that it was a BBC presentation) in which the strata that has inspired this industrial rush to replicate, was shown and discussed.....said to be the most fertile spot in the world. It was made by a primitive people, by methods not understood by "modern" man and scientists. How 'bout that....college trained researchers, developers, and scientists "trumped" by a people who used stone tools.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

G'Morning boggy b

I bet it was South America that they found this strata.....???

I gotta find it.......



:rose Hattie :rose

 

[digitS']

Maybe this is what you are looking for, Hattie:

Science Daily

The image used in the article is a little clearer - here -

digitS'

edited to say, Making charcoal by burying the wood in the ground and then setting it on fire, results in this "char" in the soil. That wasn't an intention of the charcoal makers, however.

 

[boggybranch]

G'Morning boggy b

I bet it was South America that they found this strata.....???

I gotta find it.......



:rose Hattie :rose

Do believe it was in the Amazon jungle.

 

[vfem]

Now isn't this similar (but man made) to potash? Same idea as nature, just taken a step further? I would assume...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potash

 

[boggybranch]

Now isn't this similar (but man made) to potash? Same idea as nature, just taken a step further? I would assume...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potash

The strata, in the doc, was said to be more complex and "rich", in structure and content, than any soil on earth.

 

[vfem]

I figured it would be too complex for me to understand! LOL

I was just trying to take a stab at it. It took awhile to learn about potash. Which I think is an amazing natural find in itself. How long until we deplete that!?

Anyways, I hope to see more research on BioChar.