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Sunn hemp and biochar to prepare for bamboo plantation

Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 6:41 am
by Thaibamboo
In Thailand I am preparing an area of about 1.4 acres for a small plantation. These will be timber species. D. Asper. D. Gigantues and a little Guadua. There is already a lot of bamboo growing in the area, as the climate is well suited, however the soil has most likely been depleted from agriculture (I'm yet to have a soil analysis done).

I plan to add biochar (burnt rice husks) in large amounts to the soil, then grow a legume called Sunn Hemp. This will be fully grown in 60 - 90 days, then I will till it into the soil, along with some manure and plant my bamboo.

Once the bamboo is planted, I will probably grow another crop of the Sunn Hemp it to suppress weeds and use as mulch when the monsoons stop (end of Oct).

Any thoughts on this? Besides enriching the soil, the other benefit of this plan is it's simplicity. I don't have much time and can't really rely on others to do anything too complicated.

Re: Sunn hemp and biochar to prepare for bamboo plantation

Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 10:33 pm
by marcat
Sounds like a good start. Do you have any plans for future enrichment once the babmoo are growing. Think if you have a source of animal manure you can compost it on site and top dress.
MarCat

Re: Sunn hemp and biochar to prepare for bamboo plantation

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 6:41 am
by deOmair
I will probably grow another crop of the Sunn Hemp it to suppress weeds and use as mulch when the monsoons stop.....!!!

Re: Sunn hemp and biochar to prepare for bamboo plantation

Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:43 am
by Bamboo4me2
deOmair wrote:I will probably grow another crop of the Sunn Hemp it to suppress weeds and use as mulch when the monsoons stop.....!!!
Bio char is a little more than just burning the rice hulls.
The process is more like making charcoal in something that can be airless a some point to stop the burning to create charcoal. Interesting test. It took me a bout 2 years for my mesquite bio char to kick in plus you need to test the soil PH . My stuff is doing good now and i'm trying to go without fertilizer of any sort to see how well it does. My soil looks great. Black and loamy now, just haven't tested it recently.
Good luck
My 2 cents