BIO-CHAR retains water in agricultural soil.

BIO-CHAR retains water in agricultural soil.

The fact that bio-char helps
Ken Bourne (not verified) | November 9, 2011 - 7:15pm

The fact that bio-char helps to retain moisture in a known fact! The benefits of bio-char as an agricultural amendment are ancient history,e.g. terra preta. What we need is for some brave scientist, who is not funded by international chemical companies,to start telling the truth.
The world is inundated with problems that politicians are reluctant to cure. Waste, pollution, water shortage, food shortage, diseases and other chronic health problems, and worldwide unemployment.Power is also a massive problem especially where nuclear energy is concerned. Most of these have been caused, in my opinion, by over application of chemicals which reduces the amount of nutrients in food, and the products obtained from oil.
All of these problems can be reduced, if not eliminated by bio-char and organic food production. All organic waste can be turned into bio-char. So can sewage, farm manure, waste from sawmills and farms, forestry waste(slash piles) and the millions of trees that dead from pine beetle. Sewage would not pollute the oceans and our water would be filtered by the charcoal in agricultural and forestry soil. Chemical farmers must change over to organic farming and the large monoculture farms split up and returned back to family intensive farms. This would eliminate the food shortages as the food produced would be nutrient rich so that the consumption would be reduced considerably as, for example, one apple would contain the same nutrients as 5 of today's!(This would be the same as the nutrient value of food 60 years ago.) There would be far more available jobs, power would be created from the heat of creating the bio-char, and the resulting bio-oils and gases can be used for vehicular power instead of oil and natural gas. the actual process of creating bio-char creates more power than is used. Organic food production results in more food per acre than chemical farming and restores the top soil that farmers have nearly eliminated. This would also reduce the amount of diseases that are caused by our immune systems being compromised, and the associated health problems of obesity. (Good food would taste so good that children would eat it!) Bill Gates and Sir Richard Branson realize the potential, lets hope that the people we elect and those that we pay to research come to the same conclusion soon.
Ken Bourne. BC. Canada

Soil Blocks for transplanting

The CARIBOO GARDENER by Ken Bourne

Soil Blocks- less shock when transplanting.

Transplanting seedlings from flats or pots directly into the garden always creates some stress in the plants and in the process some roots are damaged and take some time to recover. This could put an end to your well-laid plans for an early garden as so much time is lost if you have to re-sow the seeds.

One of the best solutions is to grow your seedlings in soil blocks. They are easy to make, inexpensive and really do work. Plants take off immediately because they have a superb root system that has not been damaged by tearing them apart.

Soil block machines are available in many garden and hardware stores or from a seed company like Veseys. The ideal size for the home gardener makes four blocks at a time.

Use potting soil with a peat or coir (coconut husks) base and make it very moist so that the blocks stay intact. You fill the four holes very firmly and depress the lever to eject the four soil blocks.

There is a depression in the top of each block to sow your seeds. For larger seeds put in one seed and for smaller ones you can sow a few and when they have germinated reduce them so that the strongest plant remains. After sowing cover the seeds with a sprinkling of soil and keep the blocks moist.

The seedlings will not require any fertilizer until they are transplanted when they have 2 to 4 true leaves. If kept any longer you can give them a weekly boost of compost tea but they must be transplanted as soon as roots start showing through the sides of the soil block.

Copyright 2011 by Ken Bourne

(Word count 296)

(One of my garden columns)