Hi Dr Karve,
As this particular line of discussion is relevant to work of my associates, I
would like to offer some comments that may be of interest to yourself and
others who use the term biochars for soils enhancement. I also have personal
interest as a organic citrus grower (in past years), and there is some
relevance to put reason behind certain failures.
>we have tested wood vinegar as a pesticide on plants. It works in the
>case of moderate infestation, but if the infestation is severe,
>especially with sucking pests such as mealy bugs and woolly aphids,
>one has to use a conventional organo-phosphatic systemic insecticide.
As an acid, wood vinegar cannot penetrate the waxy type coating of "some"
pests. From experience (not with wood vinegar), you need to add a surfacicant,
which wets the infestation through it's protective coating. This is a simple as
adding a liquid detergent to the spray mix. I have no recommended ratio, but
you can see it work when the spray wets the insect. Most phenolic compounds
will kill or upset the insect to detach and leave the feeding surfaces.
>Biochar has never worked in our local soils, which have pH higher
>than 8.5. Wood vinegar has a number of organic acids in it, which may
>be used by the soil micro-organisms as their carbon source, so that
>they multiply their numbers. That the population density of soil
>micro-organisms is positively correlated with soil fertility, is a
>known and accepted fact.
If the soils are already containing high levels of carbon or micro-organisms,
what you say has relevance, but key here in this type of discussion, is the
type of char being used. Most char readily available as a waste stream and
dumped as soil enhancement, is of the wrong type to provide a habitat for soil
micro-organisms, being made to maximize the carbon content and density for
smokeless cooking. This is the type needed for carbon sequestrian to maximize
the reduction of atmospheric carbon. Soil bacteria on the other hand, need safe
habitats, and this type of carbon is of the activated type, with huge internal
surface porosities. Other than providing a habitat, the carbon also provide the
means of holding nutrients in soils that might not retain them if applied just
to the soils.
Therefore, any treatment, which causes the
soil microbe population to rise, would automatically result in higher
soil fertility.
I am 100% behind your conclusion, and hope the work that many are devoting
their soil research work, can add to their knowledge from the flow on effect,
of gasification technology.
Hope this might be of interest.
Doug Williams,
Fluidyne Gasification.
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