Wood burning gaining acceptance?

Ianab · January 11, 2013, 06:14:18 PM

Plants require carbon to grow, so from that point of view it's a nutrient, but they don't actually absorb carbon from the soil. They absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Through photosynthesis they retain that carbon, building it into more complex molecules like sugars and cellulose. The Oxygen part of the CO2 is then released, quite fortunately, as it's then available for us to breath.

But from the point of carbon being a soil nutrient like sulphur, nitrogen, potassium etc, it's not the same. You can grow plants without carbon in the soil, or even without soil at all (Hydroponics) as long as you add the other nutrients that the plant needs. And have atmospheric CO2 available.

However in normal soil there is carbon present, and as stated above it's what gives nice fertile soils that nice dark look. But carbon in this case is more about the soil structure as decaying vegetable matter gives the soil a more open structure, it retains moisture better, and usually provides a heap of the other soil nutrients the plants DO actually need in the soil.

So retaining a lot of vege material in the ecosystem IS a good thing, but it's not actually to do with the carbon. Soil structure, yes. Other nutrients, yes. Carbon, that's just an incidental thing. It's useful in the soil, but not as a plant nutrient.

Terminology.? Carbon can be an atom. It can be an element (which is a whole heap of carbon atoms handing out together, diamond, graphite or charcoal) or part of a compound. (CO2, cellulose, hydrocarbons in general.)

Whether you call it a nutrient or not really depends on what it happens to be doing in a system. It's still an atom, an element and usually part of a compound, whether or not it's acting as a nutrient at the time....

Ian

muddstopper · January 11, 2013, 07:37:24 PM

DoctorB. I have reread this thread several times. I even wrote a long reply about some of the things that where written. Then I reread that a few times and decided to not post it. I participate in this forum because I like to read others experiences, the problems they have, and solutions they come up with. I try to contribute when I can. Like many here, I have been around a long time and have had many personal experiences I have learned from. I have made my share of mistakes, and every now and then, I actually do something right. One thing I have learned is that dwelling on things out of my control will only cause gray hairs. Some folks here seem to take exception to some of the things I have said, or maybe its the way I said them. Either way, not much I can do about what other people think.

I once had a Pastor at my church tell a story about a young preacher just starting out. The Preacher walked up to the pulpit and couldnt think of any thing to say. After a few minutes, he asked the crowd waiting for him to start preaching, Does anybody here know what I am going to talk about today? Everybody shook their head No. The preacher then said, if nobody knows, we might as well go home. The next week, the preacher again asked the crowd, Does anybody know what we are going to talk about today? Everybody nodded their head yes. The preacher then said, if everybody knows, we might as well go home. The next week the preacher asked, Does anybody know what we are going to talk about today? This time some nodded yes, and some shook their head No. The preacher then said, If those that do know, will just tell those that dont know, we can all go home. My pastor considered that one of the best sermons ever preached. Those that do know, telling those that dont know. I tend to agree.

If those that do know, can share with those that dont know, everybody will soon know, and thats what I try to do.

Paul_H · January 11, 2013, 08:15:45 PM

Well it's good you are willing to learn,that's half the battle.

Al_Smith · January 11, 2013, 08:54:56 PM

It's been decades since high school chemistry and physics and bioligy .However if memory serves me two things stick out in my mind .One being that carbon is the building block of matter .Secondly the basic concept regarding matter is it is neither made or destroyed but rather it's form is changed .

Plant matter through photosynthesis uses carbon dioxide and gives of oxegon while it is living .When dead and decomposing the process is reversed .

Iron ore basically is rust ,oxidized iron .Through the smelting process the oxegon portion is drawn off and you get pure iron .Toss it in a muddy field for two hundred years and what do you have ,iron ore good old rust .You didn't made anything you just changed it's form .Ashes to ashes dust to dust type thing truth be known in a simplistic way of saying it .

Gary_C · January 12, 2013, 02:46:20 AM

Since you didnt get a very good answer Doc, here is what is inside the calendar from Ponsse. www.ponsse.com/fi (Hope you can read Finnish. :D)

Forests cover one-third of the worlds land area, equalling to just more than 4 billion hectares of forests. The five most forest-rich countries (Russia, Brazil, Canada, USA, and China) account for more than half of the total forest area. In 2011 the harvested amount of roundwood summed (sic, ya, they are from Finland) up to 3.2 billion cubic metres, from which 1.56 billion cubic metres was used industrially and the rest as firewood.

So just over half of the roundwood harvested in the world is used for firewood. The US is a long way behind Europe and Asia.

Oh, and if you need some calcium, it's far better to consume dairy products and let the ruminants digest all those carbohydrates and yes, sometimes dirt.