[Stoves] Biochar Projects for Science Students

[Anand Karve]

Dear Jeff,
even soil scientists often do not know what they are talking about, but
because they are trained in soil science, and we are not, we often tend to
believe in what they say. I give here an example of a soil scientist in a
local university, who was an advocate of organic farming. He told us
once that under the German system of biodynamic agriculture, the soil
micro-organisms could change the elements in the soil. He gave the example
of an experiment in which the soil analysis showed the soil to have no
magnesium in it, but a crop grown on the same soil following the methodology
of biodynamic agriculture, had magnesium in it. He therefore claimed that
the calcium in the soil was transmutated into magnesium by the soil
micro-organisms. I was not interested in soil in those days and just filed
the information away in my mind, but now that I have been thinking about
these things, I can give an explanation to this phenomenon. When you analyse
the soil for agricultural purposes, you analyse only the water soluble
compounds in it and not the insoluble minerals. The water soluble components
of the soil get leached away by rain, and therefore, an analysis of the
water soluble components of the soil may show the soil to be deficient in
some mineral element or other. But one often forgets the fact that the
micro-organisms in the soil can take up elements from the insoluble minerals
in the soil and make them available to plants. The presence of magnesium in
the crop can be explained by this phenomenon. I always give the example of
silica in cereal crops. If you analysed the capillary water in the soil, it
would show silica in the concentration of 5 to 10 p.p.m. And yet, if you
analysed the wheat or rice growing in such a soil, the biomass would show
about 2% silica in it. Most cereal crops extract annually about 250 kg
silica per hectare from the soil. The minerals containing silica are quartz,
opal and the Feldspars, which are all considered to be insoluble in water.
Yours
A.D.Karve
Yours
A.D.Karve

On Fri, Nov 26, 2010 at 10:56 AM, Jeff Davis <jeff0124 at velocity.net> wrote:

> Dear Kevin  and Crispin,
>
>
> I doubt that all the damage done to the soil from forest fires can be
> blamed on charred tree roots, maybe some, maybe not. In regards to grass
> fires how much of the charcoal gets washed away, how much is ash and how
> much grass char works into the soil. In the long run would the grass
> land been better off without the grass fire? Does the grassland fires do
> as much damage to the soil as forest fires do to the forest soil? Do
> these two items accurately represent biochar? If we look hard enough we
> can find just about anything in the soil from lost pocket change to beer
> cans... Sloppy science? People, we're talking about thousands of years
> here....
>
> This is the time for a group of real soil scientists, that are not
> bought and paid for by a concern, to determine whether there could be
> any long term problems down the road. Lets not find out 75 years from
> now. Frankly I'm not qualified, the engineers are not qualified, the
> chemists are not qualified, the hobbyists are not qualified and to say
> that charcoal is inert so therefore no problem is reckless and
> irresponsible. We are on the verge of making policies on a global scale
> and someone has to be the bad guy and ask "if biochar persists in the
> soil for thousands of years and it has not been added to the soil on a
> global level in any meaningful way will there be any long term problems
> down the road?"
>
> The benefits of biochar are meaningless at this point. We need to make
> sure that there will not be any problems down the road. Personally I
> hope it works out OK. BUT shame on me if I don't speak up!
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
> --
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-- 
***
Dr. A.D. Karve
President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)

*Please change my email address in your records to: adkarve at gmail.com *
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