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Biochar and natural farming
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Say my name wrote: »There's two pages in this week's Irish Country Living section of the Farmers Journal devoted to two Limerick farmers, Kevin Wallace and Thomas Stack who use Korean Natural Farming methods for anyone interested.
Must see if i can borrow it from someone elses copy
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Say my name wrote: »There was a talk by biochar supremo Albert Bates in this country a few years ago. That's where you should have been.
Just think of it as sponge of nutrients and accommodation for a wider variety of life and a highway for movement of ions and electricity.
To spread out your viewing.
I'm watching this atm.
Soil evolution and climate change by Dr.Charlie Clutterbuck. Very critical of soil management in the UK.
https://youtu.be/UoRtOW7Tl3s
I don't know enough to throw an awkward comment so I won't
Obviously I'm not travelling in the right circles to know about these events :pac:
Studying aerobic compost at the moment.0 -
[Deleted User] wrote: »I must watch it when I get a chance, have to admit I'm not yet convinced by it.
You're used to looking at black peaty soil over in that part of the country.
Over here we've gley grey soil in rushy or former rushy ground.
Brown soil that'd be mineral soil under pasture.
Yellow soil that'd be mineral soil under continuous tillage.
But we don't have black soil. Bar you go to the carlow side of the blackstairs where there's some relationship with the granite there.
Anyway, I've always known I've had two black soil patches on farm. So went out with the spade a few days ago to look properly at one of them.
These would be patches that the grass would just grow that bit better than the rest of the field.
So looked better and there's little bits of charcoal in the soil.
Now both these patches are beside water sources. Boggy ground. Surmising just surmising and what irish history says about charcoal patches in damp boggy ground has me going to them being fulacht fias.
(There used to be a rath close to each one of these patches too).
So if that's the case they possibly could be 1500 years there.
Anyway I'll go on a bit. They say biochar carbon primes the soil. In that it increases carbon around it in the soil. It increases the life which increases the carbon, which darkens the soil. And going by my spade dig looks to borne out. The same as biochar in the Amazon in their weathered mineral soil. The same as the Dutch anthrosols.1 -
[Deleted User] wrote: »I don't know enough to throw an awkward comment so I won't
Obviously I'm not travelling in the right circles to know about these events :pac:
Studying aerobic compost at the moment.
What’s the plan for the aerobic compost Herd?0 -
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Say my name wrote: »You're used to looking at black peaty soil over in that part of the country.
Over here we've gley grey soil in rushy or former rushy ground.
Brown soil that'd be mineral soil under pasture.
Yellow soil that'd be mineral soil under continuous tillage.
But we don't have black soil. Bar you go to the carlow side of the blackstairs where there's some relationship with the granite there.
Anyway, I've always known I've had two black soil patches on farm. So went out with the spade a few days ago to look properly at one of them.
These would be patches that the grass would just grow that bit better than the rest of the field.
So looked better and there's little bits of charcoal in the soil.
Now both these patches are beside water sources. Boggy ground. Surmising just surmising and what irish history says about charcoal patches in damp boggy ground has me going to them being fulacht fias.
(There used to be a rath close to each one of these patches too).
So if that's the case they possibly could be 1500 years there.
Anyway I'll go on a bit. They say biochar carbon primes the soil. In that it increases carbon around it in the soil. It increases the life which increases the carbon, which darkens the soil. And going by my spade dig looks to borne out. The same as biochar in the Amazon in their weathered mineral soil. The same as the Dutch anthrosols.
I've actually been to 9 stones on the Carlow side. Do you know any local archaeologists? Never know what interesting things might be found.0 -
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Say my name wrote: »Pasture for Life shared this webinar on YouTube in the last few days on Bokashi making and usage, with three international speakers relating their experiences.
There's a lot in this.
https://youtu.be/q0KfmE4vBsA
Working my way through this - I can sleep after I die
Mambud puts up a chart, I'd question some of the information on it. The first thing I would question is the definition of "compost". Regulations in a lot of countries allow putrified reduced waste to be sold as compost, also the process used to make compost and the starting recipe can massively affect outcomes. Also that compost has "few microorganisms", again that depends on what one defines as compost. If it's the putrified reduced waste that is a byproduct of landfill then sure that's possible. If it's compost made by someone who know's what they;re doing then that's an entirely different beast.
Also, the timeline for making compost (and I do realise it's "as made in Japan" ???) is way out. Great compost can be made in 21-24 days for finished product - which increases in diversity as it gets from finished to 6 months whether it's spread or stored correctly.
Comparisons and methodologies are minefields. Maybe the above points will be addressed later in the video.0 -
[Deleted User] wrote: »Working my way through this - I can sleep after I die
Mambud puts up a chart, I'd question some of the information on it. The first thing I would question is the definition of "compost". Regulations in a lot of countries allow putrified reduced waste to be sold as compost, also the process used to make compost and the starting recipe can massively affect outcomes. Also that compost has "few microorganisms", again that depends on what one defines as compost. If it's the putrified reduced waste that is a byproduct of landfill then sure that's possible. If it's compost made by someone who know's what they;re doing then that's an entirely different beast.
Comparisons and methodologies are minefields. Maybe the above points will be addressed later in the video.
Keep going..
Ah he's not really doing anaerobic bokashi. More aerobic compost.
Jeez, it's only an hour long.
It's not Kate Winslet and Leonardo in a movie.
There can be too much complications put on all this. Time cures all. Time was when fym would only be used if it was over a year old. That "putrified" run off makes an excellent soil solution when sprayed on. But like all good things is detrimental at high rates.0 -
Say my name wrote: »Keep going..
Ah he's not really doing anaerobic bokashi. More aerobic compost.
Jeez, it's only an hour long.
It's not Kate Winslet and Leonardo in a movie.
I'm a busy guy :cool:
Trust me this isn't aerobic compost :pac: If he used the starter ingredients at that ratio trying to make aerobic compost he'd end up with a self combusting alcohol fire. If he tried to control the temp by turning, he'd have to turn too fast and too often resulting in sub optimal something as the end result.0 -
He's running a farm and getting results.[Deleted User] wrote: »I'm a busy guy :cool:
Trust me this isn't aerobic compost :pac: If he used the starter ingredients at that ratio trying to make aerobic compost he'd end up with a self combusting alcohol fire
Alcohol is also used in Korean natural farming.
Keep watching. Keep your mind open.
There's no dead ends on that road you're travelling there's turn arounds and junctions and roundabouts.
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Say my name wrote: »He's running a farm and getting results.
Alcohol is also used in Korean natural farming.
Keep watching. Keep your mind open.
There's no dead ends on that road you're travelling there's turn arounds and junctions and roundabouts.
I don't have a closed mind at all, I was commenting on aerobic compost which I know a lot about.
On bokashi, I don't know a lot about it, which is why I'm watching the video in the first place :pac:
What I do want to know is, it's well & good collecting IMO's, but organisms can be bad also, and organisms created due to anaerobic conditions can be significantly nasty.
Which, is precisely why I'm watching the video!
I'm making observations.
On results, they can be got in many ways. John Kempf talks about pumping CO2 into glasshouses as it's often the limiting factor to growth. Might not be the best idea to do the same outdoors, so how results are achieved is as important as how damage is done.0 -
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Say my name wrote: »They go into silage production later and why aren't silage innoculants used for bokashi making.
I'd say that should answer your question.
If another soil organism can eat it. It's good.
Bokashi if it takes off here. Is a lot simpler than aerobic turning, machinery wise, time wise, carbon wise, nitrogen wise.
Think of the two approaches, compost and bokashi.
One is hay making. The other is silage making.
There are a lot of quite interesting parts in the video, there are still some confusing and contradictory statements made for me as well before I get to convinced-land. As I say (mostly so I won't get hopped on ), this is part of my learning about bokashi.
I'd like to see it sampled under a microscope, some parts of the puzzle missing for me are how they deal with human & plant pathogens, the whole anaerobic conditions thing which at least in soil will breed bad stuff.
I guess parts of the puzzle are what do you want to achieve and how can you achieve it, which looks different from any point in the world.0 -
If you were into knf you'd say there's no such thing as bad stuff bad life. All you need is abundance of everything.[Deleted User] wrote: »There are a lot of quite interesting parts in the video, there are still some confusing and contradictory statements made for me as well before I get to convinced-land. As I say (mostly so I won't get hopped on ), this is part of my learning about bokashi.
I'd like to see it sampled under a microscope, some parts of the puzzle missing for me are how they deal with human & plant pathogens, the whole anaerobic conditions thing which at least in soil will breed bad stuff.
I guess parts of the puzzle are what do you want to achieve and how can you achieve it, which looks different from any point in the world.
Biochar addition brings in additional life diversity.
Added biochar to the dairy washing slatted tank here. With no additional microbes. Added seaweed water alright.
Tank bubbles now through crust. Just the addition of char increases the life diversity.0 -
Say my name wrote: »If you were into knf you'd say there's no such thing as bad stuff bad life. All you need is abundance of everything.
Biochar addition brings in additional life diversity.
Added biochar to the dairy washing slatted tank here. With no additional microbes. Added seaweed water alright.
Tank bubbles now through crust. Just the addition of char increases the life diversity.
I would say that anaerobic organisms producing alcohols which can liquidise plant roots or make fuel for landfill fires, or which change nutrients into GHG's to be lost into the atmosphere and plant and human pathogens aren't positive
- This shouldn't be taken as ****ting on bokashi, it is what I have learned about anaerobic organisms.
But, I'm just learning with a critical eye as I want to know what's happening. Like, we could look at a green field of grass and say that's a good result, but it could be sprayed and chem fertilised. Where we start from, what happens during, and exactly what is the end result is what I'm looking to learn.
The biochar acted as the organic material the washing were lacking?0 -
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