John Suavecito

This is a fascinating project.  You need to have both a lot of skills and knowledge to pull this off. It reminds me of the short movie, "The Need to Grow".

John S
PDX OR

Many people have garages or tool sheds that won't quite freeze. My attached garage doesn't freeze.  Some will get quite cold, but not freeze.  This is a good way to think about things, Douglas.  

John S
PDX OR

Good ideas, Amy.  I remember living in Albuquerque briefly. When there was no wind, I could be out in the sunshine in my T shirt when it was below freezing, and I'd be ok.  Very different than here in the winter, where it is very humid, and therefore colder.

John S
PDX OR

I think that many sources of ideas is optimal.  

When I had my soil tested, it was very acidic. I live in the PNWet, an area of frequent drizzle between November and May.  It was very low in calcium, fine in Magnesium, fine in Potassium, and slightly low in Sodium.  I have steadily added ag lime, a great source of calcium, since then.  I haven't tested it recently, but I imagine that the soil is much more balanced than it was.

Have you seen those charts where they show during which ph range minerals are available? I found those charts quite helpful.

John S
PDX OR

Doug McEvers wrote, "I have never considered high soil pH as a detriment, it is a sign in our case of a high inherent soil quality."

Most of our fruits especially, prefer a slightly acidic soil.  Lower than 7 is good. So is above 6.

John S
PDX OR

I just burned biochar a week or two ago. Normally I don't burn it this time of year, because it's too cold, wet and dark.  The wood doesn't burn very well, and it creates too much smoke.  However, we just had a long, very dry spell, so I did. It went pretty well.

However, I've had some problems with inoculation.  I normally inoculate with a liquid mix. It's just so much faster.  I don't have chickens or a lot of land to lay it out on.  One problem is that the inoculant gets frozen.  Hard to pour it out when it is iced over.  Another problem is that when I'm done pushing the last of the biochar out back into the container with my hand, I can't rinse it off with frozen water.  Obviously, this is the part of the year in the Northern Hemisphere when it is most likely to freeze.  One adjustment I've considered making is to do my daily drench of the biochar in the afternoon when I come home from work, etc. instead of in the morning. It's just much more likely to have melted in the afternoon.  

I am mostly done with my own yard. I am taking it to my volunteer gig at a nearby school to biochar the orchard I put in.  

Please let me know if you have ideas or if you have figured out how to solve this issue.

Thanks,
John S
PDX OR

Biochar retains 6 times its volume of water, so I would think it would be highly useful in a desert situation.  I would start with things that naturally grow there, improve the healthy soil "island" and spread out from there. The more you have growing, the larger number of things you can use to help bring your soil closer to 7.  Definitely fermentation comes to mind.

John S
PDX OR

For whip and tongue grafting, matching the diameter of the scion and rootstock is crucial.  It's ok to graft it a bit higher, and it would ensure that it is size-limiting.  

With different sizes, you could do a bark graft or a cleft graft.  Bark graft is done a bit later and requires more scions. If you don't have lots of scions, a cleft graft is better.

John S
PDX OR

I burned biochar in mid-January the other day. Very rare for me. Usually we are very wet now, but we're in the middle of a dry spell, so I thought I'd take advantage of it.

As sometimes happens, it was burning along and then it turned to just smoke. I get worried when this happens. Sometimes in the past it has lasted several minutes, churning out smoke and no real fire.  This is the opposite of what I want.  I'm burning a TLUD 55 gallon drum with a chimney.

I decided to throw a piece of waste paper in the top.  It burned and it reset the rest of the barrel to start burning again. It continued to burn for the rest of the time.   I had a sense that with a TLUD, there needs to be a flow of burning of the gases off the wood as it goes up the chimney.  My guess is that it reset that flow.  

I'm curious as to whether someone else might have more insight into what happened.

Thanks,
John S
PDX OR

Strap can be anything-an old belt, an extra strap.  It just has to be the right length.
JOhn S
PDX OR