Hi Doug, I think one of the clearest papers on the soil properties of biochar and how it can work in soil systems is by Bruno Glaser and can be downloaded for free in pdf from the publisher: Daniel Fischer and Bruno Glaser (2012). Synergisms between Compost and Biochar for Sustainable Soil Amelioration, Management of Organic Waste, Dr. Sunil Kumar (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-307-925-7, InTech, DOI: 10.5772/31200. Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/management-of-organic-waste/synergism-betwee n-biochar-and-compost-for-sustainable-soil-amelioration
When we're talking about biochar with plants, we are generally talking about using biochar and compost together. Just as you wouldn't try to live on charcoal without food, you wouldn't want to feed your plants charcoal without providing a source of nutrition. So in that sense Tom is right, it does have the potential to tie up nutrients that are needed by plants. Dan is right too, sometimes the whole soil system works in ways that aren't predicted by chemical analysis. But the work done by soil scientists studying biochar in the last couple of years leads me to believe that the scientific community be able to understand these interactions well enough to be able to make reliable application information available to people that are interested in it. kind regards, Erin R. [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: Gasification [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Doug Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 10:03 AM If what you say is correct, then I'd like to know why some charcoal can survive thousands of years close to the surface and not be totally consumed. Any further explanation regarding this area of interest I'm sure would be appreciated by those of us less informed. Doug Williams, Fluidyne. _______________________________________________ Gasification mailing list to Send a Message to the list, use the email address [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/gasification_lists.bioenergylists.org for more Gasifiers, News and Information see our web site: http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org/
