Terra preta

Terra preta (literally “black earth” in Portuguese) refers to expanses of very dark, fertile anthropogenic soils found in the Amazon Basin. Terra preta owes its name to its very high charcoal content, and was indeed made by adding a mixture of charcoal, bone, and manure to the otherwise relatively infertile Amazonian soil over many years.[1] It is also known as “Amazonian dark earth” or “Indian black earth”. In Portuguese its full name is “Terra preta do índio” or “Terra preta de índio”. Terra mulata is lighter or brownish in color.[2]
Terra preta is characterized by the presence of low-temperature charcoal in high concentrations; of high quantities of pottery sherds; of organic matter such as plant residues, animal feces, fish and animal bones and other material; and of nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn).[3] It also shows high levels of microorganic activities and other specific characteristics within its particular ecosystem. It is less prone to nutrient leaching, which is a major problem in most rainforest soils. Terra preta zones are generally surrounded by terra comum, or "common soil"; these are infertile soils, mainly acrisols,[3] but also ferralsols and arenosols.[4]
Terra preta soils are of pre-Columbian nature and were created by humans between 450 BC and AD 950.[5][6] The soil's depth can reach 2 metres (6 feet). Thousands of years after its creation it has been reported to regenerate itself at the rate of 1 centimetre per year[7] by the local farmers and caboclos in Brazil's Amazonian basin, and they seek it out for use and for sale as valuable compost.

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-from ==> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta


i'm very intrigued by this and there seems to be a good amount of growing literature/awareness out there on the subject, but i have as yet to see/find anything directly related to mj growth and the use of charcoal as a soil amendment...
'anybody have any experience with this? benefits? detriments? advice?
i'm going to be giving it a go in my next grow, substituting the charcoal in for a portion of my regular amount of perlite, giving a final perlite-charcoal ratio of 3:1 (this gives me a total of c16% charcoal in my soil mix)...
this seems to be in line (on the low side) with the normative range apparently found in terra preta:

2,000,000pounds / 43,560square feet = 45.9137pounds per square foot to a 6" depth
46 lbs. x 10% = 4.6 lbs.
46 lbs. x 20% = 9.2 lbs.
46 lbs. x 30% = 13.8 lbs.
A Terra Preta soil that had charcoal / bio-char to a depth of 2' at a 10% concentration would have 18.4 pounds of biologically active carbon under each square foot of surface area. That would be 36.8 lbs. and 55.2 lbs. at 20% and 30% concentrations respectively

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(see here for source and further non-mj specific discussion ==> http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/soil/msg070428251066.html )


your thoughts, all?


cheers
-g

keep us up to date and lets see how that works for ya
good luck

colonies of mychorizal fungi are an important component of terra pretta,

you can get such a product from general hydroponics.

Treeth said:

colonies of mychorizal fungi are an important component of terra pretta,

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indeed! (as they are of any grow medium...)

i think that the idea here (or at least one of them) with terra preta is that mychorrizal development is significantly enhanced by anthropogenic soil composition...

"Amending the soil with low temperature charcoal produced from a mix of wood and leafy biomass (termed biochar) has been observed to increase the activity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi"
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta ]

&

"To maintain the mycorrhizal fungal structures, around 20 % of the assimilated carbon from the plant is translocated to the fungal symbiont in both arbuscular- and ectomycorrhizal associations."
[ http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/buckingresearch ]

BMO's SPT (potent stuff!) gives a great rhizospheric boost, and blackstrap of course works wonderfully to feed those little microbeasties, so i readily anticipate the C from the charcoal, aside from its "sweetening" effect, being a real manna from heaven for the microbes.

'also picked up some anasazi pottery shards to incorporate into the soil mixtures for the paramagnetism effect ( http://www.amazon.com/Paramagnetism-Rediscovering-Natures-Secret-Growth/dp/0911311491 & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramagnetism )... 'apparently a contentious aspect to actual in situ terra preta sites, but i'd hate to think i was omitting anything... voodoo? perhaps. though i've seen some conjecture that the shards provide a sort of 'housing' that promotes mychorrizal "colonies"/development, as well as being a porous soil buffer, etc...
[edit: also "the pottery is helping to regulate phosphorous, since P doesn't seem to be bound by the microbial community, and because analysis of fragments in ancient ADE seem to show high levels of it" ==> http://hypography.com/forums/terra-preta/3451-terra-preta-parent-thread-started-all-8.html#post105478 ; see also ==> http://hypography.com/forums/terra-preta/3451-terra-preta-parent-thread-started-all-8.html#post105728]

anyhoo, 'waiting to harvest my present grow (arjan's ultra haze #1... bloody long flowering sativa), but then it will be an AUH1 clone, a bluecheese clone, and a couple of subcool's 'the void' beans going into some 'terra preta' in me veg chamber.

so, any thoughts anyone on the proportions of charcoal i mentioned in the first post? 'suppose if i were really being scientific i'd do this with the same strain in varying proportions of charcoal to soil mix, but alas i'm a stealth grower and space is at a premium [!]. maybe in the subsequent run (though it'd mean losing my mothers for whatever strains i'd opt not to grow)...

'would love to hear of others experience though!
(and in the meantime will report back, when all's up and runnning, on my own... 'hell, maybe i'll even get off my lazy ass and do a grow journal for it.)

cheers
-g


[edit: abstract of study on ABE pottery shard usage

Several archaeological black earth (ABE) sites occur in the Amazon region. They contain fragments of ceramic artifacts, which are very important for the archaeological purpose.
In order to improve the archaeological study in the region we carried out a detailed mineralogical and chemical study of the fragments of ceramic artifacts found in the two ABE sites of Cachoeira-Porteira, in the Lower Amazon Region.
Their ceramics comprise the following tempers: cauixi, cariapé, sand, sand +feldspars, crushed ceramic and so on and are composed of quartz, clay equivalent material (mainly burned kaolinite), feldspars, hematite, goethite, maghemite, phosphates, anatase, and minerals of Mn and Ba. Cauixi and cariapé, siliceous organic compounds, were found too.
The mineralogical composition and the morphology of their grains indicate a saprolite (clayey material rich on quartz) derived from fine-grained felsic igneous rocks or sedimentary rocks as source material for ceramic artifacts, where silica-rich components such cauixi, cariapé and/or sand (feldspar and rock fragments) were intentionally added to them.
The high content of (Al,Fe)-phosphates, amorphous to low crystalline, must be product of the contact between the clayey matrix of pottery wall and the hot aqueous solution formed during the daily cooking of animal foods (main source of phosphor).
The phosphate crystallization took place during the discharge of the potteries put together with waste of organic material from animal and vegetal origin, and leaving to the formation of the ABE-soil profile.

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[ http://hypography.com/forums/terra-preta/3451-terra-preta-parent-thread-started-all-8.html#post107009 ] ]

here are some further links

(forum devoted to terra preta) ==> http://hypography.com/forums/terra-preta/

(IC terra preta grow thread... 'lots of good info here. 'still need to wade through it all) ==> http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=73866&page=3

cheers
-g

i found this statement on terra preta to be quite inspirational:

The ancient Amazonians developed a method of organic agriculture that sustained them for at least two thousand years, possibly much longer, and is so stable that their fields, covering an area at least the size of France, are still viable today. We have so much yet to learn.

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[ http://hypography.com/forums/terra-preta/3451-terra-preta-parent-thread-started-all-8.html#post105730 ]

so here's the soil mix ratio set i'm coming around to for my initial "terra preta" grow experiment... 'comments/observations welcome!:

8 perlite : 4 biochar : 8 OceanForest : 4 HappyFrog : .125 dolomite : .5 wormcastings for veg, or .5 bonemeal for flwr : +pottery shards : +2-3 live worms per pot

this all gets a pre-flush/soak solution of (per gal H2O) 2TBL SPT + 1TBL blackstrap + 2TBL Olivia'sCloningSolution + 1TBL Mg (pH corrected with CA(OH)2 / apple cider vinegar, and bubble-aerated for 24hrs)

'still figuring out additional (if any) microbial inoculants to employ (aside from the SPT)... GeneralHydroponics' Subculture M&B (thanks Treeth for the pointer!) are a definite possibility, though i'm researching ('budding amateur microbiology-enthusiast here... 'have microscope, will study!) the cultivation of my own colonies and serums rather than going with a commercial product... 'might just be easier (though less fun) to go with a pre-made inoculant though.
as well, might it be overkill to use SPT in addition to other rhizospheric inoculants? can one have too many microbeasties??

cheers
-g

edit: here's a good article on "Mycorrhizal responses to biochar in soil" ==> http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/publ/PlantSoil 300, 9-20, 2007, Warnock.pdf

my beans (subcool's the void, barney's farm blue cheese, and arjan's ultra haze #1) went into germ yesterday (11/1), so the ball is rolling here...

'will be making use of some biodynamic compost in the regime as well, so i'm eagerly looking forward to observing the microherd at work and the productive fruits of its labors!

cheers
-g

I want updates god damnit!

DaveCoulier said:

I want updates god damnit!

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not too much to report...

the seedlings were successfully transplanted from their germination peat-pots to 1gals with the terra preta proper this morning (following Maria Thun's sidereal BD calendar); so now the waiting begins and we'll see how they take to the soil...

the final soil mixture i prepared last week (for four 1gals) was:

16 cups perlite
8 cups charcoal (biochar)
16 cups FF Ocean Forest
8 cups FF Happy Frog
4 TBL dolomite
4 TBL paramagnetic igneous rock dust
1 cup worm castings
1 cup BD compost
c2 cups pottery shards (varying sizes, but none 'too' big)

this all then received an inoculant solution (24hrs vortex aerated) of:

1 gal H2O
2 TBL BMO SPT
1 TBL lacto bacillus
1 tsp GH subcultureB
1 tsp GH subcultureM
1 TBL blackstrap
1 TBL Mg (epsom salts)

and that's the latest.

the next 'major' operation will be the first topping at the 4th node (this is a height restricted 'stealth' grow; first node development had already got off to a good start while still in the germination peat-pots), that and the beginning of feeding ('using BMO's tea preps in coordination with BD compost tea) beginning circa week 3.

'will get some photos up when there's something worth looking at...



cheers
-g

What brand of Bio-Char are you using? Ive seen its available on ebay from Vee-Go, but it has an NPK of 7-3-7, so its really not something I would want in a seedling mix. I found another brand thats available, but I dont feel like shelling out $60 for a 50 lb bag.

I think you're probably overdoing it on the microbial additives. Microbes in compost and microbes/myco fungi from additives really dont get along. It'll be damn near impossible for them to form colonies with an already exisiting one there from the compost. Of course you're only using one cup of compost, so I dont know how much that will affect it. I would either add more compost and ditch the additives, or ditch the compost and use the additives. If I had to choose though, I would go with more compost as the colonies are already there from the get-go.

BioChar has potential that goes far beyond soil amendment. What's exciting about this stuff is what it can do for our environment. The links below explain what it is and what it does. There is also a link for those of you who would like to make your own BioChar at home. I believe this ancient technology needs to be embraced by all.



http://www.nature.com/climate/2009/0906/full/climate.2009.53.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/03/30/biochar.warming.energy/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzmpWR6JUZQ
Make your own BioChar vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEGmP6dhW5c

DaveCoulier said:

What brand of Bio-Char are you using?

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'made my own via drum-kiln and hardwoods...
(see here for good infos ==> http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/Making_BioChar )

Ive seen its available on ebay from Vee-Go, but it has an NPK of 7-3-7, so its really not something I would want in a seedling mix.

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those certainly are high npk values, but then it's not really a soluble [?], so i wonder how much effect it'd have on actual nutrient uptake?

for a possible (and much more affordable) alternative (in the event you're unable to make your own), i've seen schulz "agricultural charcoal" at my local supply store and so i wonder if something like that might be serviceable? (or if it's sort of the "miraclegro of biochar"? biochar for terra preta requires low temp pyrolysis, and i'm not sure/convinced that schulz would be using a low temp process?)

I think you're probably overdoing it on the microbial additives

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i think you're probably right!


one of the fun side-tracks of this little experiment for me though will be observing the microherd under the scope, so i'll be very curious to see which set(s) of microbes come to predominate in the soil mixture...
that all is still very much w.i.p. right now though ('still trying to setup lab space at home despite wifey complaint), but i'll happily post my observations as they come in.

when this batch of soil gets recycled after transplant to their flowering pots then i think i'll certainly take your advice (barring scope observations to the contrary) and stick with just the BD compost as inoculant for both the flowering pots' soil and the recycle soil.

cheers & thanks for the input (+rep)
-g

XcannablissX said:

BioChar has potential that goes far beyond soil amendment. What's exciting about this stuff is what it can do for our environment. The links below explain what it is and what it does. There is also a link for those of you who would like to make your own BioChar at home. I believe this ancient technology needs to be embraced by all.



http://www.nature.com/climate/2009/0906/full/climate.2009.53.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/03/30/biochar.warming.energy/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzmpWR6JUZQ
Make your own BioChar vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEGmP6dhW5c

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hear him, hear him!

& thanks for the great links!

cheers
-g

here's the grow at 3 weeks in the terra preta. in the front row are two of subcool's 'the void' beans ('looking mighty happy... good genetics!), in the back right is an AUH#1 (fem., from seed), and the back left is a BlueCheese (Barney's Farm, fem., also from seed):







these are one gallons... 'will be potting up to smartpots 2gals at flowering (week 8 ). they get their first feeding (along with a light BDCompost topdress) tomorrow at the full moon (following Thun's calendar).

cheers,
-g

Do you have any experience with using the smart pots before? I thought about trying them, but I read they tend to rip roots and tear up the medium when translanting.

DaveCoulier said:

Do you have any experience with using the smart pots before? I thought about trying them, but I read they tend to rip roots and tear up the medium when translanting.

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i haven't used them before but have been reading only good things about 'em over on the IC forums...

as for 'root ripping', i've learned to trim back the rootball anyway (up to 1/3 of total mass) at transplant, so if a few root hairs are torn in the process of transplanting it's not such a big deal...? and i'm afraid i don't understand what you mean by "tear up the medium" with smartpots...

but the superior aeration and air-pruning of the root structure with smartpots have me sold enough to try 'em.

we'll see how it goes in a few weeks!

cheers
-g

Well from what I read it went hand in hand with the root ripping. Roots get ripped away resulting in some of the medium going with it and whatnot. I think Ill pick up some for my next grow and see how they go anyways. Thanks for the link.

This is great Georgi!

I think,
I would love to try this outside...

-With my jungle woman of course.

Treeth said:

This is great Georgi!

I think,
I would love to try this outside...

-With my jungle woman of course.

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thanks Treeth.
outside would indeed be the shit!

here's a pic from this morning... they seem to have enjoyed the full moon feeding. 'slightly different arrangement here (playing with the magnetite rock i'm using as a sort of 'paramagnetic resonator' [lower center]): back right is the stretchy sativa auh1, front right is the bfbc, and the left two are subcool's 'the void'.




next up will be topping down at around the 10th (moon in virgo)...
'might take the auh1 sativa down to node 2...
'waiting and seeing on how the rest come in between now and the 10th.

will then later be fiming the two tops to four.

cheers
-g


ps this is a very nice talk michael pollan gave at ted ==> http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/michael_pollan_gives_a_plant_s_eye_view.html