In Search of Soil

In this episode of In Search of Soil, we’re talking to Italian soil Scientist Dr. Adriano Sofo to shed some light on the importance of soil macrofauna, earthworms, beetles, ants, and the like, and their roles in building healthier soil for more sustainable agriculture.

Dr. Adriano Sofo is an associate professor in the University of Basilicata in Matera, Italy. Cited more than four thousand times, his research interests include plant-soil interactions, biogeochemistry, and environmental botany. With a passion for educating, he believes that information dissemination is the key to creating a more sustainable and regenerative agricultural landscape.

List of Dr. Adriano Sofo’s Works

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• Traditional agricultural practices that deplete soil organic matter and biodiversity (01:45)
• How Dr. Sofo defines minimum till (05:23)
• The band of soil that plays the greatest role in agronomy and the band of soil you don’t want to disturb (07:04)
• Incorporating organic matter into the soil vs. leaving organic matter on the soil surface (10:07)
• Completely wet soil vs. wet soil surface: is there a difference in plant health? (14:05)
  • It all depends on the root morphology and root architecture (18:15)
• How different irrigation systems can affect plant growth (19:33)
• Will tillage dry out soil faster? (24:50)
• Why isn’t sustainable agriculture viewed as a better option? Why do farmers still subscribe to conventional farming practices? (27:33)
  • The soil has as much carbon as the biosphere and the atmosphere (32:38)
• The importance of soil microfauna, mesofauna, macrofauna, and megafauna (33:28)
• The roles that earthworms play in soil health (39:00)
• What roles do ants play in soil health? (42:15)
• Who aerates the soil more, earthworms or ants? (44:31)
• How to increase the earthworm population in your soils (47:42)
• Why does the soil collapse with tillage but maintains its structure with the macrofauna? (49:52)
• Speeding up the reversal of compaction (57:01)
  • Aerating the soil with a broadfork (59:59)
• Is it possible to get to a point where you can let nature take care of the soil? (01:01:17)
• Choosing the gentle approach over the harsh approach (01:05:10)
• Organic matter in soil: layering vs. mixing (01:06:18)
• Defining sustainable agriculture today (01:09:57)
• What Dr. Adriano Sofo wants farmers to know (01:11:18)

In this episode of In Search of Soil, we’re talking to one of the pioneers in developing probiotic technology, Dr. Matthew Wood, to shed some light on what efficient microbes (EM) are, what they do to the soil, and how our soils can benefit from adding them.

Dr. Matthew Wood earned his Bachelor’s degree in Soil and Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Missouri-Columbia and his Master’s degree working under Dr. Teruo Higa from the University of Ryukus in Okinawa, Japan. His work in probiotics resulted in global engagements in many fields including microbiology, agriculture, and human health. In 2004, he founded SCD Probiotics where they develop and commercialize consortia fermentation technologies for multiple industries.

More on microbes at SCD Probiotics: https://www.scdprobiotics.com/

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• Dr. Matthew Wood’s interest in the soil sciences (01:40)
• Studying in Japan and working with Dr. Teruo Higa (03:24)
• Notable findings working with Dr. Teruo Higa (04:43)
  • An increase in the diversity index (05:05)
  • Plant-microbe communication (06:53)
• What is EM? (08:35)
• The concept of consortia in the context of microbes (11:25)
• The whole is greater than the sum of individual parts (12:28)
• The question of the purity of cultures (15:11)
• What happens in the transition microbes go through (16:22)
• Cultured microbes adapting to the soil pH (19:25)
• Stimulating the biology in the soil (22:17)
• Observing a single microorganism would yield different findings versus observed together with other microorganisms (25:45)
• What EM will do to the microfauna in your local soil (28:35)
  • A potential reason why EM hasn’t been adopted widely (30:30)
  • An article about classifying soils based on which microbes were dominant in the system (31:22)
• How long before seeing the long-term changes made by EM (32:57)
• SCD Probiotics approach: biochemical products that act like chemicals
  • Breaking the business: industrial, agricultural, consumer (35:57)
• Culturing out mother cultures and lowering the cost per application (38:29)
• Dr. Matthew Woods’ SCD product recommendations to start with (39:51)
• Using beneficial microorganisms as foliar feed (43:00)
• Ways that beneficial microbes push out pathogenic microbes (44:11)
• The worry of whether the beneficial microbes will live or die after applying them to a system (46:42)
• What EM’s major groups of microbes do for the soil (48:44)
• Adding a mother culture to a compost pile (51:29)
• Beneficial microbes neutralizing foul odors (54:48)
• Sharing the built-up localized bacteria base (55:33)
• Dr. Teruo Higa: It’s not the presence of the pathogen that causes the problem, it’s the high population of the pathogen that does. (57:17)
• Can you go overboard with adding mother culture to your soil? (59:06)
• Using a mother culture to re-energize depleted soils (01:00:35)

In this episode of In Search of Soil, we’re talking to soil scientist Dr. Kurt Spokas of the United States Department of Agriculture to walk us through what biochar is, what it can potentially do, and what its limitations are when it comes to applying it to agricultural production.

Dr. Kurt Spokas is a soil scientist at the United States Department of Agriculture who has dedicated years of research on the impact of farming practices on the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and other greenhouse gases, including transport and surface exchange of greenhouse gases. His areas of interest include biogeochemistry, contaminant hydrology and water quality, and soil physics.

Dr. Spokas' Publications: https://www.ars.usda.gov/midwest-area/stpaul/swmr/people/kurt-spokas/publications/

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• Any changes in what we know about biochar in the last 10 years? (01:42)
• Questions that still remain around biochar (02:20)
• Why we can’t yet answer how biochar works (02:51)
• Biochar: a positive, a negative, or neither? (04:48)
• Potential negatives of biochar that can possibly hinder plant growth (05:56)
• Dr. Kurt Spokas’ research on biochar on the nitrogen cycle (08:05)
• Biochar to potentially mitigate nitrous oxide emissions (09:24)
• The variability between biochars (10:27)
  • The differences and nuances of variability between biochars (12:36)
• Variably defined biochars in different studies (13:18)
• Aged biochars (14:50)
• What changes are happening in a biochar undergoing oxidation? (16:26)
• Biochar for agriculture before completely understanding what it is and what it does (18:08)
• No two biochars are the same (19:57)
• Is there a sweet spot for feedstock materials to use as biochar? (20:55)
• Silica deficiency in soils (22:53)
  • Silica entering the soil (23:32)
• Scientific knowns when it comes to biochar (24:06)
  • Biochar’s potential as construction material (26:30)
• Can you use biochar as a substitute in a potting mix? (27:20)
• Can a small amount of biochar make a difference? (28:16)
• Is more biochar better than less biochar? (30:07)
• Adding the bio to the char to become biochar (30:44)
• Why nutrients attach to biochars (32:32)
• Surface area of organic matter vs. surface area of biochar (34:15)
• How long can the carbon in biochar sit in the soil? (35:40)
  • What makes the carbon in biochar unique (37:05)
• Gradual breaking down of carbon over time (39:06)
• Adding carbon now via biochar is adding carbon later (40:33)
• Biochar and beneficial agricultural microbial groups (41:42)
• Amazonian soils, Terra Preta, and biochar (42:48)
  • Was adding charcoal to the soil actually intentional? (46:40)
  • Can we say the char actually made the soils better? (48:03)
• Higher microbial populations, slower carbon turnover (49:49)
• The microbe population that appears high in Terra Preta soils (52:47)
• To add or not to add biochar to your farmland? (53:33)
• Potential negative to adding biochar (54:52)
• A key piece of information to quantifying biochar and its effects (56:22)
• Reproducibility of activated carbon products (57:46)
• Pushing the science of biochar forward (01:00:07)
• Homemade biochars (01:01:36)
• Biochars and potential toxins such a heavy metals and toxic organic compounds (01:04:01)
• For farmers: some takeaways about biochar (01:07:06)
• Where to find more information on biochar, its application, etc. (01:08:32)
• Where to find Dr. Kurt Spokas and his work (01:10:18)

In this episode of In Search of Soil, we’re talking to Dr. David Laird of Iowa State University to shed some light on what it means to have clay soil, what its benefits and drawbacks are on agricultural production, as well as de-mystifying some common misconceptions on clay soils.

Dr. David Laird is a professor at Iowa State University Department of Agronomy. As a soil scientist, he has authored and co-authored more than 120 journal articles and book chapters on many subjects, most notably on clay mineralogy. Dr. Laird’s research interests include carbon sequestration, chemical, mineralogical, and surface properties of soil clays, nutrient leaching, and the impact of biochar on soil quality, among many others.

Dr. David Laird’s Publications

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• Common misconceptions around clay from an agricultural producer standpoint (02:07)
  • Clays evolve over time (04:05)
• How clays affect agricultural productivity (05:42)
• Why cation exchange capacities of clay are important in agriculture (08:51)
  • Minerals: sand vs. clay (10:38)
• Quartz particle size and clay particle size (14:55)
• The time it takes for a clay to dissolve like a quartz would (20:55)
• Factors affecting the evolution of clay in the Great Plains and the variation of clay and mineral contents across geographies (23:02)
• Will a plant be able to tell the difference between clays and will there be a difference in performance? (33:33)
• Are minerals in clay biologically available for microbial use? (34:34)
  • Incredibly weathered soil in the tropics and yet it supports the greatest biome on the planet (36:42)
• An ecosystem with stable and accessible nutrients (38:44)
• The process of smectites being broken down (39:33)
• What in biology breaks the smectite bonds? (41:19)
• How can a positively charged ion knock off a negatively charged ion if they’re equal strength? (44:24)
• Plant absorbing the nutrients knocked off the smectites (46:53)
• Soil evolution and why row crop soils tend to acidify (50:28)
• What happens to the clay when plants are introduced into the soil? (51:20)
• Can you turn a sandy soil into a more productive loam by adding in clay? (01:01:09)
• Clay is good, but there’s such a thing as too much clay (01:05:58)
• Would it make sense to add sand to a clay-heavy soil?(01:09:06)
• Can roots make a difference in breaking up a clay-heavy soil? (01:10:17)
• Interactions between clay in the soil and organic matter (01:12:42)
• The dynamic changes occurring between clay and organic matter (01:16:19)
• Does clay always protect organic matter? (01:21:52)
• Comparing the cation exchange capacity between clays and organic matter (01:23:47)
• Roots proceed down the path of least resistance (01:27:54)
• Comparing the surface area of clay vs. the surface area of organic matter (01:29:26)

In this episode of In Search of Soil, we’re talking to 3Bar Biologic’s Dr. Jane Fife to shed some light on microbial biologics, realistic expectations of what they can do to our soils and our crops, and a little bit about the biological products industry.

Dr. Jane Fife is the Chief Science Officer at 3Bar Biologics as well as an Adjunct Faculty at The Ohio State University. With more than twenty years of applied research experience, she is a proven leader in research in agricultural application technologies, biologics, and precision agriculture. Her main points of interest include more targeted delivery of agricultural inputs for safer, more sustainably produced food.

More on 3Bar Biologics: https://www.3barbiologics.com/

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• The limitations of applying biologicals to the seed coat and as a soil surface spray (02:00)
• Opening the spectrum of microbial biologicals by adjusting the time of application (05:10)
• Ohio State University and how 3Bar Biologics came to be (07:36)
• How difficult is it to culture beneficial microbes? (09:22)
• Dry formulations of microbials (11:08)
• Efficacy between wet and dry-formulated products (12:28)
• Regionality and efficacy of microbes (13:40)
• Realistic expectations in applying microbial biologicals (15:36)
• A sweet spot where microbes can really help (18:03)
• How much agricultural practices affect the microbes already present in the soil (22:31)
• Will there be significant improvements on the crop if there were no application constraints on microbial biologicals? (26:22)
• How much microbes are taken in by the plant through foliar feeding? (28:48)
• Effectivity of foliar feeding vs. root feeding (31:08)
• How much of the biologicals is actually wasted in the soil? (33:07)
• Why can’t soil microbes stay and proliferate in the soil if they’re already soil-borne? (35:30)
• Healthiest when there’s a large diversity of microbes (39:12)
• Soil organisms that proved to be interesting hence 3Bar was born (40:52)
• What live microbe technology would look like on the farm (43:50)
• Grow the microbes as close to the point of use as possible (46:25)
• 3Bar’s Biostimulant (47:00)
• Are microbial biologicals targeted for specific crops? (48:53)
• Optimum application for microbial biologicals (50:24)
• For transplanted crops, would it make sense to apply microbials in a nursery setting? (52:06)
• What information should growers look for when seeking out microbial biologicals? (53:19)
• Snake oil, regulations, and the agricultural microbials industry (57:10)
• Having appropriate and realistic expectations with 3Bar’s microbial technology (59:52)
• Farmers willing to try and experiment in their own farms and see for themselves (01:01:37)
• Where would the agricultural microbials industry be in 10 years’ time? (01:04:40)
• The rough cost per acre of application of 3Bar’s microbial technologies (01:06:58)
• Where to go to learn more about 3Bar, what they’re doing, and what they’re offering (01:07:53)

In this episode of In Search of Soil, we have Dr. Gary Harman of Cornell University on the show to talk about what Trichoderma is, what it does to the soil and all the benefits that it brings to plants and crops.

Dr. Gary Harman is a Professor Emeritus at Cornell University College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, School of Integrative Plant Science. His fields of specialization include biological control systems, plant-microbe interactions, and fungal genetics. With more than forty years’ worth of research under his belt, he has published more than 150 on these topics, most notably on agriculturally beneficial Trichoderma species.

Purchase Trichoderma (Rootshield)

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• Diego introduces the episode and the guest, Dr. Gary Harman (00:22)
• What is trichoderma? (01:18)
• The interest in trichoderma for agricultural purposes (02:26)
• Wild-type species of trichoderma and strain-specific agricultural benefits (05:15)
• The role of trichoderma in the soil microbiome (06:15)
• Beneficial trichoderma species naturally occurring in agricultural soils (08:58)
• The dominance of trichoderma over disease-causing fungi (10:18)
• Trichoderma induced plants to control disease (12:40)
  • Trichoderma helps plants suppress diseases (14:05)
• Having the pathogens stick around vs. killing them off (14:58)
• Gene priming and upstream regulation of RNA (16:00)
• Trichoderma feedback from plants (17:17)
• No evolutionary feedback with the trichoderma (20:45)
• How effective is trichoderma in increasing plant resistance to known plant diseases? (22:13)
• The difference between disease resistance as a trait vs. disease resistance through gene priming from trichoderma (23:08)
• When a farmer doesn’t want to add trichoderma but wants to encourage the microbiome already in their soil (24:42)
• Externally adding trichoderma to soils (27:07)
• How vast can trichoderma grow to? (29:51)
• Increased root growth with trichoderma (30:45)
• Mineral nutrition and trichoderma (32:13)
• Our current understanding of plant-microbe interactions (34:38)
• Trichoderma are not mycorrhiza (35:46)
• Why trichoderma can be cultured outside a host (37:08)
• Adding trichoderma at the seed level (38:12)
• Biologicals: inconsistent at best, snake oil at worst (41:34)
• Applying trichoderma if you’re a small-acreage grower (43:58)
• Applying trichoderma on the leaves of a grown plant (48:45)
• Does trichoderma have any effect on pests? (51:36)
• Are live roots the only things trichoderma needs? (54:37)
• Cherry picking results for marketing purposes (55:38)
• More robust root system and an affected aboveground growth (57:45)
• How trichoderma in the wild reproduce (59:45)
• Korean natural farming and wild harvesting molds (01:02:13)
• Which trichoderma to get (01:04:06)
• Antibiotic material from trichoderma (01:06:03)
• A trichoderma will do what a trichoderma will do (in terms of disease resistance) (01:08:35)
• What’ll happen if there were a sudden 100% increase of trichoderma use (01:10:32)
• Will mycorrhizae ever be commercialized? (01:11:45)
• No negative repercussions with trichoderma (01:14:35)
• Why do plants need trichoderma to become more disease resistant? (01:15:58)
• The possibility of having a locally-adapted strain of trichoderma (01:19:50)
• Keep up-to-date with Dr. Gary Harman’s work (01:22:35)

In recent years, there’s been a visible shift of farmers and growers, especially the younger ones, moving into more regenerative agricultural practices. That as may be, there are still a sizeable amount of growers who are firm in their conventional practices for one reason or another.

In this episode of In Search of Soil, we’re talking to Dr. Gabe Kenne of the University of South Carolina to share a bit about trialing different growing practices involving tillage, no-till, and cover crops, as well as some of the nuances behind the varied soil tests we can get for our land.

Dr. Gabe Kenne is a Postdoctoral Researcher and Soil Molecular Biologist whose field of interest includes examining ways to better understand healthy soils in agricultural systems and how to subsequently promote agricultural practices that are environmentally responsible and sustainable. Currently, he is exploring nutrient cyclin potential in variously managed agricultural soils, as well as ways in which crops can be healthy and productive while minimizing synthetic inputs.

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• Diego introduces the episode’s guest, Dr. Gabe Kenne (00:24)
• Areas of regenerative agriculture that deserve more research (01:45)
• Proposing research for potential solutions that affect farmers’ livelihoods (04:34)
• A long-held traditional agricultural view that farmers firmly hold onto (05:51)
• Reasonable expectations to set when going no-till (08:14)
• Where science is right now with regards to no-till (10:30)
• On individuals perceiving no-till as a risky endeavor (14:02)
  • The cover crop project (16:05)
  • Project participants and their shifted views (18:48)
• Tremendous changes in soil in the cover crop project (20:30)
• Where is the rise in soil organic matter coming from? (23:16)
• The increase of organic matter in the soil relative to the increase of organic matter on the soil surface (26:56)
• The role of no-till in building the soil underground with cover crops (29:07)
• The lesser evil: no-till with fallow or cover crop with tillage? (31:00)
• The worries in a no-till, no cover crop model (32:34)
• What a farmer should expect with four different treatments (34:30)
• What to start thinking about when it comes to traditional agriculture vs. regenerative agriculture (37:23)
• Is it possible to grow cash crops with regenerative ag without adding nitrogen? (39:20)
• A bigger cumulative yield (41:32)
• Agriculture as a tool to sink carbon into the soil (42:52)
• Is there a cap on how much carbon soil can take? (46:55)
• Crop performance relative to increases in soil carbon (49:42)
• Putting microbes back into the soil in conventional agriculture (51:50)
• The difference between soil tests (54:50)
• Where soil tests can be inaccurate (59:52)
• How many soil tests are there? (01:02:43)
• A misfit soil test based on your farming management system (01:04:16)
• Can a soil test be argued to be useless? (01:05:10)
• If people want to get a biological soil test (01:08:44)
• A patch work solution to soil tests in different contexts (01:10:30)

As farmers and growers, one of the number one things we need to take good care of to ensure good production is our soil. Now, there are a ton of practices and amendments available that supposedly make our soils healthier, from compost to compost teas, to biochar, to a lot of other things.

Consequently, one such amendment that’s coming more and more into light these past few years is live microbial amendments. Microbial amendments help both stimulate and improve the microbial fauna in the soil that keep our crops healthy. And we have Dr. Paul Zorner of Locus Ag to talk about how microbial amendments do just that.

Dr. Paul Zorner is an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Horticulture at North Carolina State University, as well as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Agronomist of Locus Agricultural Solutions, an agricultural company that produces microbial probiotics. Firmly believing that agriculture is one of the most sustainable ways to mitigate our current climate issues, he is also one of the key proponents to actively push for incentivizing farmers to sequester carbon in the soil to improve global CO2 emissions.

https://locusag.com/

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• Diego introduces the episode’s guest, Dr. Paul Zorner (00:58)
• Is our view of soil and the complex relationships within it too reductionist? (01:45)
  • The wonders of human intuition (03:42)
• Mycogen, theories, and how they played out over time (06:52)
• Dr. Paul Zorner’s thoughts on weeds in their function in the succession of a landscape (10:38)
• Weeds and cover crop are closely related in terms of what they do (15:14)
• A potential net positive to plant growth competition (15:43)
• Can you get your soil healthy enough that it won’t allow weeds to grow? (18:42)
• Moving higher up in the succession with the plants you want to grow (21:20)
• Different weeds have different relationships with different microbes (25:00)
• Can the biological side of agriculture catch up to the yields from conventional agriculture? (27:27)
• Are you stunting the biological potential of the soil if you give easily accessible nutrients to plants vs. microbe food? (32:18)
• Adding microbes to help fast track building up soil (36:58)
• Putting the sugarcane back into the field—minus the sugar (39:20)
  • Quorum sensing (40:30)
• Is any practice involving the addition of microbes to the soil beneficial? (45:02)
  • Environmental sequencing in a metagenome (46:18)
• Getting the right microbes to get the ball rolling (47:42)
• Why adding microbial amendments yield inconsistent results (50:12)
• Why is there a need to reapply microbial amendments, can’t they reproduce in the soil in their own? (53:34)
• An increase in positive effects after application of microbial soil amendments before the eventual plateau (56:28)
• What happens to the plant after having Rhizolizer® that makes it grow more roots? (59:54)
• Will putting microbial amendments result in higher yield? (01:03:30)
• Addressing the location issue for microbial amendments (01:06:50)
• Inoculating with microbial amendments at the time of seeding (01:09:12)
• Is there a benefit to adding microbial food sources without the microbes? (01:10:32)
• Off-shelf options that feed soil microbes (01:14:02)
• Common microbes that tend to be missing in agricultural soils (01:14:52)
• Finding out to include Trichoderma in the mix (01:17:21)
  • What Trichoderma exactly does (01:18:53)
• Carbon sequestration and where carbon goes (01:23:42)
• Soil microbes that absorb large amounts of CO2 (01:29:35)
• CO2 respired from the soil (01:30:56)
• Where the industry is right now in terms of monetizing carbo sequestration (01:32:52)
• Adopting practices that increase soil carbon sequestration (01:40:23)
• A marketplace to sell carbon sequestration credits (01:44:00)
• Where to find out more about Rhizolizer, CarbonNOW, and what Locus Ag has to offer (01:46:30)

In this episode of In Search of Soil, we have Dr. Johannes Lehmann, one of the leading scientists in the field of soil biogeochemistry. We’ll discuss and question everything we know—or think we know—about humus, biochar, and soil organic matter with insightful, thought-provoking discussions.

Dr. Johannes Lehmann is a professor at Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences with a profound interest in advancing studies on biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrient elements in soil. Apart from pioneering studies on biochar in the 90’s, his current field of research is locally and globally relevant, impacting both climate change and environmental pollution.

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• Introduction to today’s guest, Johannes Lehmann (00:46)
• Johannes Lehmann on our general understanding of organic matter in soil (01:55)
• The key unknown to hasten our progress to understand soil (06:00)
  • Finer points that are unknown, mainly the intricate interactions between microorganisms (08:12)
• The theory of humus and why it made sense (10:20)
• Humus, as we understand it, does not exist (17:34)
• The initial thought behind the formation of humus (19:38)
• In situ: microorganisms, soil, and carbon (20:53)
• An analogy of functional complexity (25:40)
• The question of the evolution of soil microorganisms (29:15)
• Is the lack of microorganismal evolution nature protecting itself? (31:20)
• The accessibility of carbon and its potential buildup (32:05)
• The amount of labile carbon vs. the amount of recalcitrant carbon (36:25)
• What tillage does to the carbon in the soil (38:27)
• Where the long-term carbon storage in soil happens (41:23)
• Adding more stored carbon into the soil (44:18)
• The carbon lost from the soil over the last thousands of years (51:43)
• Does more microbial population in the soil mean higher CO2 emissions? (53:19)
• How much carbon leaks out of a certain farming model (57:40)
• How beneficial is biochar to carbon sequestration? (01:00:52)
• Justifying the cost of using biochar (01:09:25)
• The possibility of positive plant growth results with the use of biochar (01:18:42)
• Thinking about whether to compost or make biochar out of manure (01:23:08)
• Does pyrolyzing manure break down persistent herbicides?  (01:29:32)
• Organic matter, water-holding capacity, and context (01:31:17)
• The value of carbon left after mineralization (01:36:45)
• Microbial and abiotic nitrogen cycles (01:38:32)
• The ammonia gas in the soil (01:43:22)
• Where to keep up-to-date with current research and all things biochar (01:44:35)

In this episode of In Search of Soil, we have biochar scientist and citizen scientist advocate Francesco Tortorici to fill in those knowledge gaps and encourage you to push forward with being a responsible citizen scientist.

Francesco Tortorici is an engineer by trade, and since 2014, he has worked with the Port Townsend designing and building biochar filters that remove heavy metals from stormwater runoffs. He and his wife Joan founded Olympic Biochar in 2015 to promote biochar and its benefits and provide good, locally-made biochar.

Learn about Francesco Tortorici - https://www.olympicbiochar.com/

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• Diego introduces the episode’s guest, Francesco Tortorici (00:35)  
• Francesco Tortorici’s claim to fame in the world of biochar (01:15)
• How Francesco views citizen scientists and how they fit into greater research (03:08)
• Doing trials with controls in your context instead of blind following (06:10)
• The need to fully understand your context and the biochar you plan to use (08:37)
  • Not all biochars are created equal (09:52)
• Francesco Tortorici’s definition of biochar (10:52)
  • Biochar isn’t biochar until it’s biologically active (12:02)
• Biochar and what’s left after the carbon (14:00)
• The soil benefits of sequestering atmospheric carbon in the soil versus using compost carbon (14:42)
•  Why has the Pacific North West look at biochar as a way to guide the soil? (19:37)
• Some case studies of university research trials and citizen science trials and their results (22:38)
• Biochar doesn’t directly help the plant per se, it enhances the biological community (29:55)
• The possible negatives of putting in biochar (32:12)
  • Worm avoidance test (35:50)
• What to look for and what to avoid in choosing commercial biochar (37:26)
  • International Biochar Initiative standards, PAHs, PCBs, and dioxins (39:35)
• Which biochar to use if you’re growing vegetables (40:24)
• Measuring the pH of the soil and Francesco’s view on biochar affecting soil pH (42:08)
• The only apparent trade-off for biochar: time, money, effort (45:20)
• A concern: the potential of concentrating heavy metals biochar by burning long-lived trees that absorbed large amounts of pollution (49:35)
  • A question you should raise: what do the microorganisms eat and transmute into something else? (52:30)
• Fransesco’s input on application rate and rules of thumb (54:40)
• Will you see different results working on a kiln and a retort? (58:38)
• Ash to char ratio and burning smaller feedstock (01:02:25)
• Tips on how to be a good kiln operator: what to look for (01:04:50)
• Humans’ intrinsic connection with fire (01:10:13)
• Adding biomass: more of stacking pancakes instead of piling everything in one go (01:13:55)   
• Digging a cone out of the ground instead of fabricating a kiln (01:16:55)
• Quenching the burn: what does water do apart from extinguishing the fire? (01:18:36)
• What’s next after you’ve got your biochar sitting in your kiln (01:21:17)
• Other potential uses of biochar (01:23:23)
• Is biochar activated carbon? (01:30:00)
• One thing Francesco wants everyone to take away about biochar (01:34:25)
• Where to find Francesco and his work on biochar (01:35:28)

We're collecting a new batch of In Search Of Soil episodes! Season 2 starts next week. We know you'll love what comes next! Stay tuned for more deep-dive explorations into the science behind your soil!

While you wait, we'd love for you to experience some of the other great stuff we have to offer:

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We're cultivating a new crop of In Search Of Soil episodes for you, and Season 2 is coming soon! Stay tuned for the next batch of explorations into the science behind your soil!

While you wait, we'd love for you to experience some of the other great stuff we have to offer:

WATCH FULL EPISODES 

YouTube https://bit.ly/watchISOS

SUPPORT EPIC GARDENING   → Shop: https://growepic.co/shop → Seeds: https://growepic.co/botanicalinterests   LEARN MORE   → All Our Channels: https://growepic.co/youtube → Blog: https://growepic.co/blog → Podcast: https://growepic.co/podcasts → Discord: https://growepic.co/discord → Instagram: https://growepic.co/insta → TikTok: https://growepic.co/tiktok → Pinterest: https://growepic.co/pinterest → Twitter: https://growepic.co/twitter → Facebook: https://growepic.co/facebook → FB Group: https://growepic.co/fbgroup

We're collecting a new batch of In Search Of Soil episodes! Season 2 is in the near future, and we know you'll love what comes next. Stay tuned for the next batch of deep-dive explorations into the science behind your soil!

While you wait, we'd love for you to experience some of the other great stuff we have to offer:

WATCH FULL EPISODES 

YouTube https://bit.ly/watchISOS

SUPPORT EPIC GARDENING   → Shop: https://growepic.co/shop → Seeds: https://growepic.co/botanicalinterests   LEARN MORE   → All Our Channels: https://growepic.co/youtube → Blog: https://growepic.co/blog → Podcast: https://growepic.co/podcasts → Discord: https://growepic.co/discord → Instagram: https://growepic.co/insta → TikTok: https://growepic.co/tiktok → Pinterest: https://growepic.co/pinterest → Twitter: https://growepic.co/twitter → Facebook: https://growepic.co/facebook → FB Group: https://growepic.co/fbgroup

We’ve heard and talked about compost and compost teas. We’ve also discussed all the different ways to make your own compost and compost teas. But say that you just don’t have the time to make your own - you’d probably just hop on over to the municipal composting site, grab a truckload, and go home.  How can you tell that the compost you got is actually good quality compost? Does it matter?

Our guest, Randy Ritchie, will talk about exactly that topic and what it all means in this episode of In Search of Soil!

From working as a landscaper in his design in build business, Randy noticed the need for better, more environmentally-conscious steps in his business. Then, when he met Alan York and the biology in his compost, Randy felt the tug of working with the soil and moving on to composting.

Learn about Malibu Compost - https://www.malibucompost.com/

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• How and why Randy Ritchie got into the composting business (01:27)
• The mind-blowing difference between good, high-quality compost and poor compost (03:30)
• Why you see coarser composts in municipal yards (05:35)
• Municipal composting, fungi, and time (07:40)
  • Taking care of what goes into the green waste bin (09:55)
• The problem of persistent herbicides and chemicals (10:38)
• Which is better starting off: no compost, subpar compost, or good quality compost? (13:03)
• Why run toxicology tests on compost? Are there other toxins apart from herbicide and pesticides? (16:43)
• Randy’s take on manure from a conventional system as compost material (19:48)
• Financially speaking, would it be more beneficial to get conventional manures vs. organic manures? (22:24)
• Randy’s take on using biosolids as inputs (25:15)
• Are all manures created equal? (27:02)
• Salt content in compost (30:00)
• Is compost a critical component to creating high-quality compost? (30:35)
• Soil analysis and compost analysis in NPK values (33:33)
• How much of a ‘fertilizer kick’ is in good compost (36:07)
• Adding unfinished or poor-quality compost: adding more harm than good (38:30)  
• When the compost is finished, how much of the pile is aerobic and how much just needs to cure (43:43)
• What regulations say that compost should be (47:58)
• A right level of moisture content in compost (50:38)
• Cutting through the BS and figuring out if the products are as good as what it says in the bags (52:40)
• The multitude of amendments and products and the actual need for it (57:44)
• Doing microscope work on finished compost (01:02:20)
• Why Randy felt that selling biodynamic compost was important (01:03:55)
• The biodynamics and the amendment itself is what sets the product apart (01:08:50)
• The gray area that is biodynamics and satisfying curiosity by going with what feels right (01:11:38)
• Adding a compost tea into the product offerings (01:14:40)
• The compost tea kits (01:20:55)
• Potting mixes and Baby Bu’s Biodynamic Blend (01:23:30)
• A takeaway that Randy wants the audience to take home (01:32:45)
• “I want people to be self-sufficient.” – Randy Ritchie (01:35:05)
• Randy’s advice for people who want to start a composting business (01:37:45)
• Having and holding onto the conviction to charge what you need to charge for your premium product (01:40:05)

Carbon sequestration, carbon emission, carbon building. Soil carbon, organic carbon, and accessible carbon. They all keep popping up here and there in the farming space, but what exactly do they all mean? With carbon being thrown around everywhere, it’s understandable to get confused somewhere along the line.

This is why today’s guest, Dr. Bruno Basso of Michigan State University, will shed some light and hopefully clear up the mist surrounding carbon, its different forms, and how significant it is when it comes to agriculture and environmental sustainability.

Dr. Bruno Basso is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Michigan State University. An internationally recognized agricultural scientist, Dr. Basso co-founded CiBO Technologies, where they aim to incentivize farmers for applying environmentally sustainable practices.

More on CIBO Technologies:  https://www.cibotechnologies.com/

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• How Dr. Bruno Basso views carbon sequestration in soil (01:55)
  • How plants sequester carbon in two ways (02:45)
  • The presence of carbon in the soil can serve as a health check of sorts (03:52)
• In a natural system, does the carbon balance itself out? (04:55)
  • The carbon imbalance in a managed system (07:34)
  • You break the aggregates when you touch the soil (08:24)
  • The positive aspect behind carbon retention (11:14)
• Does soil saturation affect the evolution of plant life? (12:45)
  • The soil carbon is at equilibrium if you don’t till it (15:08)
• What happens when you add more organic carbon to an already carbon-saturated soil? (16:03)
  • The difference with carbon as an element (17:12)
  • The problem is losing carbon by “opening the jar” (18:22)
• Does soil carbon saturation automatically mean that the plants will be healthy? (19:43)
• The changes of microbial behavior in carbon-saturated soil (22:17)
• Plants and crops that naturally sequester carbon (24:24)
• Do all fertilizers contribute to greenhouse gases equally? (31:40)
  • The emission factor (32:41)
  • Plants do not utilize organic nitrogen (33:33)
• If you plant corn in a no-till system with good soil, will you still need to add nitrogen? (35:43)
• Is nitrogen the same as carbon in the sense that there’s a saturation point in the soil and storage comes down to the biomass? (39:48)
• Even in the healthiest systems, you’ll need to add nitrogen (45:58)
• Legume cover crops and adding nitrogen into the soil (47:02)
• The reason behind keeping a live root: you want something to catch what leaks out of the leaky system (50:10)
• The benefits of planting a cover crop from the fall to the freeze to the thaw (51:30)
• Do you sacrifice yield by interplanting multiple crop species? (57:22)
  • Keep the soil covered to prevent soil evaporation (58:52)
• When and where tillage becomes a problem (01:00:52)
  • Inversion tillage should be avoided (01:02:45)
  • The damage is done only where you do tillage (01:05:08)
• Explaining and valuing the different forms of carbon (01:04:14)
• How to build your soil into a favorable intermediate pool (01:11:32)
• Is carbon decomposition above and below ground? (01:15:07)
• Building soil up and building soil down (01:18:00)
  • Note that temperature plays a big role (01:20:10)
  • The percent of clay in soil plays a protection factor (01:20:52)
• Dr. Bruno Basso’s take on biochar and how it affects carbon equilibrium (01:21:15)
• How practices play into the future of carbon credit (01:23:35)
  • Carbon farming is the new way of farming (01:29:22)
• Looking ahead: the possibility of selling carbon credits in 10 years’ time (01:29:58)
• The approach to take if you want to sequester as much carbon as possible (01:33:13)
• The plant with more root biomass sequesters more carbon (01:35:32)
  • We win when we start making fertilizer by electricity and not by fossil fuels (01:37:46)
• Climate change, changes in temperature, yield, and sequestering carbon (01:38:17)
  • Using global warming to your advantage (01:42:17)
• Nitrogen management: how much nitrogen you’re applying and how much nitrogen comes out as plant protein (01:43:38)
• Growing for quality versus growing for weight and volume (01:48:52)
  • Incentivize the farmers to adopt good farming systems (01:50:54)
  • The ideal situation is having profitability, environmental sustainability, and environmental justice come together (01:52:22)
• A viable future in poly-culture systems: the younger generation and urban farming (01:53:13)
• What vegetable farmers can do to start building their soil (01:57:07)
  • Don’t farm naked, keep the soil covered (01:58:03)
• A brighter future where carbon is managed, and farmers are compensated (02:00:25)

What if your soil test just came back, and suddenly someone tells you that your soil’s nutrient values will stay consistent regardless of whether or not you put amendments? Understandably, you would find that hard to believe. You’d probably ask, where is it coming from, and where does it go?

Today, we’re talking to Dr. Buz Kloot of Soil Health Lab to discuss just that.

Dr. Buz Kloot began his professional career as a chemical engineer. He then joined the University of South Carolina in 1999 and has since worked on various agriculture and environmental quality projects. His passion for soil health brings him to work closely and collaboratively with farmers.

More on Buz: https://soilhealthlabs.com/

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• How Dr. Kloot’s background in chemical engineering helped him with his research in the soil space (01:52)
  • Meeting Ray Archuleta changed how Dr. Kloot saw soil (03:17)
• The pros and cons of coming into soil science without a soil science background (03:55)
• The biggest mistake Dr. Kloot made that helped him advance his knowledge (05:44)
• Dr. Kloot’s view on the importance of soil micronutrients for plant growth (08:14)
• The argument of adding micronutrient and macronutrient amendment to the soil (10:20)
• Where the soil potassium comes from when you’re not applying it (13:54)
• The potential of clay soils and the biology (16:31)
• Soil testing: is it really beneficial despite the lack of information of the soil biology? (18:22)
  • The value of soil tests is based on calibrated returns (20:57)
  • Outdated soil recommendations from half a decade ago (23:15)
• The possibility and plausibility of going farming with zero chemical amendments (23:20)
  • The caveat is needing to build your soil first (24:48)
• Do we have a better understanding of aquatic systems than soil systems? (27:05)
• The five principles of soil health (29:34)
  • Keep disturbance to a minimum (31:05)
  • Keep the soil covered with a living canopy (31:15)
  • Keep a live root in the soil all year round (31:35)
  • Keep diversity, diversity, diversity (32:30)
  • Integrate livestock back into your system (33:12)
• What ticks 3 boxes all at once: multispecies cover crops (33:52)
• A case study of practicing multispecies cover crops (35:45)
  • Jason Carter’s cover crop trial (36:12)
• Farmers’ concerns on why they wouldn’t grow cover crops (42:00)
  • The potential added costs (43:35)
  • Planting into the residue (45:00)
  • Let’s be intelligent about choosing cover crops (46:52)
• Emulating hoof action of animals with a Phillips Harrow (47:27)
• The potential soil damage that comes from chemical herbicide (50:58)
  • Francis Chaboussou: the excess nitrogen we use make plants tastier for pests (53:09)
• Tillage or herbicides: which would cause less damage (55:02)
• The Holy Grail of terminating cover crops: no tillage, no herbicides (57:18)
• Choosing between a single species of cover crop that terminates easily mechanically or a multispecies cover crop that is tricky to terminate (58:20)
• The why and how behind the steady levels of phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium in the soil (59:37)
• The idea of looking more into plant tissues to determine soil health (01:02:58)
  • Looking at plant sap analysis rather than plant tissue analysis (01:05:25)
• Where foliar fertilization comes into the context (01:06:40)
• Foliar feeding versus root feeding via soil drenching (01:08:24)
• Growing a perennial-type cover crop and keeping it alive (01:09:47)
• Dr. Kloot’s opinion on seeds co-existing with cash crops (01:12:05)
• Looking at weeds from an academic standpoint (01:15:27)
  • What we need is a better ecological understanding of weeds (01:16:16)
• Anecdotes of no-till farms with no weeds (01:17:38)
• Weeds aren’t there to rectify the problem (01:20:00)
  • The true interests of weeds (01:21:00)
• Weeds don’t form mycorrhizal relationships in the roots—they form them aboveground (01:22:18)
• Cation exchange capacity and what it actually means (01:23:35)
• Tackling experiments and ventures that don’t yield the expected results (01:27:28)
• Be mindful of your context (01:30:15)

One of the members of the soil ecology that is mentioned on a generalized note is fungi. Although we recognize their importance, there aren’t a lot of specifics tied to mycology—and that’s because there’s still a lot we don’t know about them.  As a branch of science, mycology is still relatively new, and a lot less studied compared to other fields of study.

Today, mycologist Peter McCoy sheds some more light on fungi from a deeply mycological perspective.

Peter McCoy is a mycologist and mycology educator with 17 years of experience. Known for mushroom cultivation and mycological remediation, he authored Radical Mycology, a 650-page book of condensed knowledge about fungi. He also created Mycologos in response to the growing need for accessible mycological education.

Learn from Peter at https://mycologos.world/

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• How are mycelia faring in this day and age? (02:09)
  • Fungi are the first to come back from the most detriment (03:18)
• 7% of CO2 are from humans and 85% comes from the soil (06:00)
  • Fungal respiration (07:06)
• We’re living in the fungi and plants’ world (08:14)
  • The paradigm shift when studying fungi (09:13)
  • Tons of undiscovered science behind fungi (11:11)
• Mycology: we don’t know what we don’t know yet (11:46)
  • Fungal mycology and human intersections with mycology (12:18)
  • We’re in the fourth era of the human-fungal history (13:13)
  • Mycology is a neglected mega-science (15:25)
• Where agriculture’s understanding of mycology is (16:02)
  • Mycology isn’t learned about (17:41)
  • Shifting the awareness about fungi (18:40)
  • Fungi in a culinary standpoint (19:58)
  • Fungi in an agricultural standpoint (20:33)
• Fungal mycelium and their compounds may be the primary source of carbon in whole soil communities (22:22)
• What exactly is mycelium made of? (27:35)
  • The fungal cell wall (28:36)
• How readily viable is sloughed-off fungi? (30:55)
• If fungi pair up with plants, how much carbon is produced by the plants, and how much is produced by the fungi? (33:28)
• What can a plant do if it’s been stripped off from its relationship with the microorganisms it’s dependent on? (38:18)
  • Plants have evolved to be entirely dependent on fungi (40:10)
• Why some plants don’t form robust relationships with microorganisms (43:35)
  • The definition of a mycorrhiza (44:44)
  • Dark septate endophytes or DSEs (45:38)
• Does crop rotation make sense in the perspective of plant-fungi relationships? (47:30)
• Given a robust soil ecosystem, would fungal intervention suffice in keeping the harmful pathogens away from the plant? (54:43)
• Withholding fertilizer application because the soil ecosystem fertilizes itself (58:23)
  • Trichoderma species of mold (01:00:57)
• Assuming there isn’t good fungi in the soil, will the good fungi show up if you take care of your soil well enough? (01:03:36)
• Are quickly made compost beneficial to developing fungi? (01:07:12)
  • What fungi do you need? (01:09:44)
• What kind of fungi do you want to encourage to grow in the soil as much as possible? (01:13:33)
• Putting in all stages of decomposition in your compost pile (01:19:02)
• Is there any heat in fungal decomposition? (01:21:40)
• Going about speeding up wood chip compost (01:24:02)
  • The go-to: garden giant mushroom (01:24:47)
• The ideal temperature to speed up composting in a lab setting (01:26:45)
• Optimum moisture for fungi (01:28:28)
• Oxygen and decomposition: are there fungi that thrive in low oxygen? (01:30:02)
• Are we adding fungal food when we add finished compost? (01:32:32)
• Soil amendments that benefit fungi (01:34:20)
• Growing mycology with community science (01:38:40)
• Propagating resident fungi and re-inoculating (01:40:55)
• Do compost teas make sense and are they really doing anything (01:45:21)
• Propagation: the limiting factor is air agitation (01:47:48)
• Stick to paying attention on keeping what’s above ground healthy (01:52:47)
  • Nature will find a way to put things in place where they belong (01:55:32)
  • Concentrate on bringing back as much diversity as possible (01:56:35)
• A fungal perspective on biochar (01:57:00)
• Mycologos, Radical Mycology by Peter McCoy (01:59:38)
• Diego wraps up the episode with where to get in touch with Peter McCoy (02:03:28)
• Accountability and intellectual honesty (01:05:20)
  • Anyone can make a mycological breakthrough tomorrow (02:07:33)
• Arbuscular mycorrhiza: a mycological mindblower (02:08:31)

With how far science has come, we’re still at odds in the face of finding the holy grail of agricultural research: finding nitrogen-fixing bacteria that affiliate with non-legumes. The search has been going on for 50 years with no luck.

And this is where synthetic biology comes in. Synthetic biology strives to engineer beneficial microbes to give growers the same, or better, optimized solutions that traits and chemicals do. 

So if we can’t find a naturally occurring nitrogen-fixing bacteria to associate with non-legumes, why not engineer one? In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Michael Miille, the CEO of Joyn Bio to tell us a little bit about the sci-fi-esque venture of engineering bacteria.

More on Joyn Bio: https://joynbio.com/

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• What Joyn Bio is setting out to do (02:15)
• How difficult or doable is Joyn Bio’s core mission? (03:26)
  • Can you find host microbes that will colonize the plant? (04:35)
  • Registration and customer acceptance (05:50)
  • Bayer, Gingko, and risks (07:05)
• An analogy of an engineered microbe (07:40)
• Non-robust knowledge base vs. plain difficulty in starting (10:08)
  • Breaking down the complexity with the help of sequencing and genomic tools (11:43)
• The pathways to approach the nitrogen-fixing bacteria: seed treatment (13:18)
  • Microbes and plants in symbiosis (16:01)
  • Instead of fertilizer, nitrogen-fixing microbes in the second half of a corn’s life cycle (17:15)
• On top of nitrogen-fixing bacteria, does the corn need to be modified? (18:34)
• Why did some plants evolve not to have a symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria? (20:36)
  • Some crops weren’t given the opportunity to evolve (22:30)
• A microbe that associates, colonizes, and 100% replaces the external fertilization needs of the corn plant (23:38)
• Thoughts of ramping up an existing legume’s nitrogen fixation (25:08)
• Is there any worry that the synthetic microbes could upset the current soil microbiome? (28:58)
• The desired outcome of microbe colonization (31:42)
• Needing microbes to ignore negative feedback (35:17)
• Communication between the corn plant and the soy plant (36:35)
• What would bring the corn and the microbe to come together (37:52)
  • Isolating corn microbes in different geographies (39:24)
• The challenge of making microbes robust to thrive in the wild (40:32)
  • Consistency in performance (42:06)
  • Why engineer microbes in the first place? (44:02)
• Engineering and ensuring good, consistent performance (46:47)
• Are there microbe products being used in the market? (48:28)
• The efficacy of the Votivo seed treatment compared to nitrogen fertilizer (50:55)
  • The benefit hast to be big (52:18)
• For the anti-engineering-minded, what part of the picture are they not seeing? (53:32)
  • Random genetic mutations vs. controlled mutations (54:46)
• The general fear around new solutions comes from what is unknown to them (57:40)
  • Environmental sustainability and economic sustainability (59:22)
• How synthetic biology fits in, compares to, and contrasts with GMO technology and Crispr-Cas (01:02:08)
• Have we maxed out the potential of chemical solutions? (01:06:06)
• Why choose to focus on corn? Is corn the lead domino in this field? (01:10:55)
• If corn has been done, would that make it a little easier to do other crops? (01:12:30)
  • A separate chassis-searching program (01:13:30)
• The possibility of an association between a non-leguminous plant and a nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the wild (01:16:04)
• It can really be anything in the next 50 years (01:20:26)
• What the funnel for looking for chassis looks like (01:23:12)
• Everybody knows how to work with E. coli and yeast (01:25:28)
• The factor to fight against when making a legume associate with corn (01:26:24)
• The communication and signaling between plant and microbe (01:27:28)
• How far out are we from the corn-associated nitrogen-fixing bacteria that survives in the field? (01:33:25)
• Approaching from a business perspective: how it is looking at a project that would take a decade (01:37:35)
•  What Mike Miille wants growers and farmers to know (01:42:10) 

In this episode of In Search of Soil, we’ll get information about compost tea from soil consultant Troy Hinke.

There is a multitude of soil amendments out there just bursting out of the catalogs, and each kind promises one, two, or a few things. Some are met with skepticism, while others are met with excitement.

One of those things is compost tea. It’s one of the soil amendments that is sworn to by many farmers.

But what is it, exactly? And what does it do? It’s promoted as an everything-cure, but is that true? Today, we’re joined by Troy Hinke to shed some light on the subject.

More on Troy: http://instagram.com/livingrootscomposttea

Troy's new compost tea podcast airing Friday - What's Brewing: https://open.spotify.com/show/6IfzHSm0gJWESbiLv4Laux?si=KVx0Le55SxyhxNW71uPMjQ

WATCH FULL EPISODES 

YouTube https://bit.ly/watchISOS

SUPPORT EPIC GARDENING   → Shop: https://growepic.co/shop → Seeds: https://growepic.co/botanicalinterests   LEARN MORE   → All Our Channels: https://growepic.co/youtube → Blog: https://growepic.co/blog → Podcast: https://growepic.co/podcasts → Discord: https://growepic.co/discord → Instagram: https://growepic.co/insta → TikTok: https://growepic.co/tiktok → Pinterest: https://growepic.co/pinterest → Twitter: https://growepic.co/twitter → Facebook: https://growepic.co/facebook → FB Group: https://growepic.co/fbgroup

• Diego introduces the episode’s guest, Troy Hinke (01:14)
• How can compost be evaluated (02:00)
  • All characters of the soil food web (03:04)
  • Various degrees of decomposition (04:04)
  • Nutrients in plant-available form (06:32)
• Compost feeds the organism that feeds the plants (06:45)
• What large-scale composting companies do that small-scale composters should avoid (08:40)
  • Home scale: it’s all a matter of diversity (11:00)
  • Focusing on biology means focusing on temperature and moisture levels (14:16)
• Cold composting and enabling fungi better than bacteria (15:50)
  • Provide oxygen, don’t break the fungi network (18:52)
• Good compost needs to mature, but people don’t like waiting (19:45)
• 45 days vs. 18 months of waiting for the compost to mature (22:06)
• The ease and cost of evaluating soil biology using a microscope? (24:48)
• Overapplying poor quality compost vs. applying less amounts of better quality compost (28:20)
• Law of Diminishing Returns: is there an upper limit to inoculating soil (29:58)
  • Plant succession (31:15)
  • It depends on what you want to grow in the soil (32:50)
• Equal food source for fungi and bacteria to keep the near one-to-one ratio (33:57)
• A compost that’s all vegetable waste and no woody material will be nasty compost (37:11)
  • You want different sizes of materials in your compost pile (39:02)
  • Balance the green material and brown material (39:47)
• How to know if good soil could be better soil (43:05)
• Is the presence of pioneer weeds a reliable indicator of soil conditions? (45:20)
• Liquid soil drench tea that outcompetes anaerobic microbes (49:03)
  • A forgotten compost pile turned hard clay soil to pliable soil (52:30)
• Is going purely no-till detrimental to the biology in the soil (55:10)
  • Incorporate some disturbance but not something too drastic (57:55)
• Why you should consider adding compost tea in addition to straight compost (59:24)
• Given the soil has organic matter, can we survive on compost tea alone? (01:02:13)
• Is there a difference between compost teas for the soil and compost teas as foliar feed? (01:04:45)
  • What compost tea is and what it aims to do (01:05:40)
  • Extract vs. tea (01:06:38)
  • Increasing microbe populations without adding microbial food (01:07:07)
  • (01:08:27)
• The realistic changes end users can expect to see after using compost tea (01:10:35)
  • The first application of compost tea had the most drastic changes (01:12:52)
• The plant response to minerals and microorganisms (01:15:55)
• A compost tea recipe for beginners (01:16:52)
  • Brewing too short and brewing too long (01:20:50)
• A visual cue for brewing too long (01:21:42)
  • A compost tea that smells like manure has gone anaerobic (01:23:17)
  • Cold composting and Hot composting (01:24:28)
• Another mistake about compost tea: water quality (01:26:38)
  • Brew at ambient temperatures (01:28:32)
• Chlorine and chloramine aren’t as detrimental as you might think (01:29:36)
• The best method of applying compost tea (01:31:00)
  • You can’t really dilute it too much (01:33:40)
• Is there a danger of putting too much compost tea? (01:34:04)
• Applying tea to a plant part to be eaten (01:35:50)
• Recommendation: tea to foliage or tea to soil (01:38:21)
• Can microorganisms thrive from tea brew to soil (01:39:21)
• Adding only microbe food instead of microbes (01:42:16)
• Protecting foliar surfaces with beneficial biology (01:44:51)
  • Good rates of application (01:45:44)
• Seed inoculation (01:46:27)
• Closing the episode and where to find Troy Hinke (01:49:12)

In this episode of In Search of Soil, we’ll be learning information about biochar straight from a biochar expert, Kelpie Wilson.

There are as many soil amendments out there as there is soil. Some of them are well-known and widely accepted, while others are a little bit more controversial because of the amount and quality of information readily available.

One such amendment is biochar. With the amount of contradicting information available about biochar, it’s understandable to have some confusion about what it is, how it’s used, and whether or not it’s actually good for the soil.

More on Kelpie: https://wilsonbiochar.com/

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SUPPORT EPIC GARDENING   → Shop: https://growepic.co/shop → Seeds: https://growepic.co/botanicalinterests   LEARN MORE   → All Our Channels: https://growepic.co/youtube → Blog: https://growepic.co/blog → Podcast: https://growepic.co/podcasts → Discord: https://growepic.co/discord → Instagram: https://growepic.co/insta → TikTok: https://growepic.co/tiktok → Pinterest: https://growepic.co/pinterest → Twitter: https://growepic.co/twitter → Facebook: https://growepic.co/facebook → FB Group: https://growepic.co/fbgroup

In this episode of In Search of Soil 

• Introducing today’s guest, Kelpie Wilson (01:06)
• Kelpie Wilson before she took interest in biochar (02:00)
• The “aha” moment to explore biochar (03:05)
  • The virtuous cycle of carbon sequestration (04:55)
• Kelpie’s thoughts on what media says about biochar (06:24)
  • International Biochar Initiative
• How the current biochar studies are getting better (09:23)
  • Sombroek, terra preta, and plaggen soils (11:32)
  • Iowa soil’s carbon is from past prairie fires (13:13)
• The scientific knowns based on biochar research (13:49)
  • Direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) (16:43)
  • Microbial life and microbial diversity (19:17)
• Stories about biochar changing agricultural soils (19:31)
  • Labile carbon, oily carbon, and ash (21:55)
  • Put the biochar in the compost first (23:37)
  • Designing and building kilns (24:26)
  • The cascade of biochar in animal production (24:57)
• The fractionality of the optimum biochar (25:42)
  • Misconceptions about pyrolysis (27:34)
  • High-temperature and low-temperature char (27:56)
• Concerns with burning char at higher temperatures (31:28)
• Controlling the high temperatures in kilns (33:52)
• The difference between chars made of pine and chars made of black locust (34:31)
• Conserving minerals from the char instead of repurchasing (37:00)
• Quenching biochar and rinsing off the ash from the biochar (39:02)
• What to look for when purchasing commercially available biochar (41:21)
  • Biochars and activated carbon (43:12)
• Starting on biochar for beginners (44:10)
  • Small brushes are the key (46:38)
• The significance of burning from the top down (47:49)
• Where it is that people make mistakes when it comes to making biochar (49:13)
• The characteristics of a perfect burn (50:50)
• Kelpie's thoughts on particle size post-burning (52:28)
• The goldilocks dosage of applying biochar (54:03)
• Closing remarks and where to learn more about Kelpie Wilson and biochar (55:43)