A very interesting Biochar project underway. <br><div class="gmail_quote"><br><div style="word-wrap:break-word">The first test plot of the KAW Valley Biochar project funded by a SARE grant will be ready to plant with onions on Tuesday evening, April 24. Last Sunday, research field agent Devin Gerling visited Hoyland Farm, and with farmer Bob Lominska, marked out a block of six test beds, photographed them and took soil samples.<div style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:37px;font:normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica">
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This Sunday, Devin and I returned to prepare the materials to be spread on each test plot. This first time to setup a test plot was a challenge to our creativity and improvisation. We are testing two types of char.</div>
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The first is a special cedar tree biochar that I made in a TLUD with KU Industrial Design student Taylor Stetler. Cedar trees are an unwanted invasive species in pastures and prairies, so we want to investigate if this weed tree can be converted to biochar for soil improvement. Bob Lominska cut and chipped several cedar trees in January. Almost every Sunday, Taylor and I did a TLUD burn and produced over 80 gallons of biochar. We crushed this through 1/4-inch hardware screen for a small particle size. Our homemade biochar is assorted size particles, from fine dust and powder up to rice grain size.</div>
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The other char is horticultural charcoal which Bob Lominska purchased at a farm supply store in 50 lb. bags. This char is a by-product of charcoal for fuel production, and thus likely cooked at over 1000 degrees C -- twice the recommended temperature for biochar. It is screened to uniform 1/16th-inch particle size, and contains very little dust or finer char. When we opened the second bag, we discovered this was larger 1/2-inch chunks. Checking labels, we discovered a "P6" stamp on the large size, and "P3" on the small size. Oops! Fortunately, we were able to locate another "P3" bag and proceed.</div>
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We decided to arrange test beds to compare biochar only next to biochar plus enhancements:</div><div style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica">
compost, sea minerals and a microbial inoculant. This gives us four test plots, plus two untreated control plots. After consulting Bob Lominska, we may revise this to have one control plot treated with compost only. Or, first week of May, we anticipate delivery of a cubic yard of Biochar'ge, an oak charcoal produced by Phil Blom in Columbia, MO, which we may add belatedly to the 5th test bed.</div>
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KAW Valley Biochar board decided to use a microbial inoculant produced by SCD Probiotics in Kansas City, MO (<a href="http://www.scdprobiotics.com/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(20,79,174)">www.scdprobiotics.com</span></a>). SCD recommends their BioAg solution as a biochar inoculant, and gave us a simple recipe to inoculate a 30 gallon batch of biochar. BioAg is a culture of lactobacillus, phototrophic bacteria and yeast in a stabilized solution, and provides a foundation colony of microbes that create a stable environment for other microbes to flourish (<a href="http://www.scdprobiotics.com/SCD_Probiotics_Inside_s/9.htm" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(20,79,174)">www.scdprobiotics.com/SCD_Probiotics_Inside_s/9.htm</span></a>). In separate plastic barrels, we planned to combine 35 gallons of each char with cistern (rain) water, then add 3/4 gallon of BioAg solution and stir the mixtures thoroughly.</div>
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The cedar biochar mixture blended together nicely, but we had two problems with the horticultural charcoal. First, we discovered our plastic trash barrel had a small leak in the bottom. We had to dump the half-made blend in our wheelbarrow, dry out the barrel bottom, and try to patch the leak with plastic tape. Arrgh!! Our patch was only partly successful, and we still had a slow leak. Second, the horticultural charcoal was very dry, more hydrophobic, contained more air, and thus floated much more than the cedar biochar. The consequence was we could only get 30 gallons of charcoal in the barrel.</div>
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My assessment is that even 30 gallons of char per test bed is generous, and more than adequate for this first round of trials.</div><div style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;min-height:14px">
<br></div><div style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica">These two mixtures must sit for 48 hours to allow the microbes to fully colonize the char before being spread on their test beds.</div>
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<div style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica">To complete the test bed preparation, we set out 30 gallons of City of Lawrence municipal compost on each biochar+ test bed. Last, as a full spectrum trace element booster, we scattered just over 2 cups of SEA90 sea minerals from SeaAgri (<a href="http://www.seaagri.com/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(20,79,174)">www.seaagri.com</span></a>) on each biochar+ test bed.</div>
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Tuesday evening Devin will return to Hoyland Farm and assist Bob Lominska to evenly spread the compost and char over each test plot. Bob will till this mixture into the upper six inches of soil and begin planting onions.</div>
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Devin will continue to regularly visit test beds to take photos of onion growth. As the crop matures, she will take measurements of plant height, Brix (sap sugar), plant sap pH, soil conductivity, soil pH, and soil moisture. This data will allow us to track and compare the growth of these test beds, and evaluate effects of biochar and enhancements on soil and crop. At harvest, Devin will measure yield of each test bed. Devin will also take another set of soil samples in late summer, and again in the fall.</div>
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so, the SARE grant biochar project is now underway. One test plot done, seven more to go.</div><div style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica;min-height:14px">
<br></div><div style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial">for a green & peaceful planet,</div><div style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial">
David Yarrow</div><div style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial;color:rgb(20,79,174)"><span style="text-decoration:underline"><a href="mailto:dyarrow5@gmail.com" target="_blank">dyarrow5@gmail.com</a></span></div>
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<p style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-autospace:ideograph-numeric ideograph-other"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Tahoma">Marguerite
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Herbal Educational Services</span><br>Weeds, Leaves, Seeds & Shoots :
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