The ancient secret of Amazonian Terra Preta

Terra Preta. A fine example of self-sustainable agriculture with highly sofisticated soil management developed by native cultures. Is this knowledge all lost?

There is a region in the Amazon basin that has hectares of a type of soil that doesn’t lose fertility and it’s manmade, pre-Columbian actually. This dark soil is surrounded by sterile soil typical of the rainforest area. In this soil are remains of unfired clay pottery chards, fish bones, slow-burnt vegetable debris converted to charcoal, animal manures and high levels of soil microorganism activity including micorizzhae. The soil rich in hummus would not leach nutrients and also seems to stay stable over hundreds of years. Could disease brought to America by Europeans wipe out the elder generations causing the knowledge of the amazonic terra preta to be lost?

Half a century later we are re-discovering the agricultural value of BioChar and it's carbon sequestering properties. BioChar made by pyrolisis (combustion of biomass in absence of oxigen) yields a material very similar to Terra Preta.

Pre-Columbian Indians in the Americas made amazing contributions in agriculture and also breed some of the most important crops of the world like corn, potato, tomato, peppers, cocoa bean, sunflower, peanuts and beans. In North America they developed methods like the Iroquois 3-sisters system , the invention by the Incas of cultivating in terraces and raise beds that have proven over time not only to be very productive techniques of agriculture but water conservation and erosion control. They could have discovered the secrets of self-sustainable agriculture and the Terra Preta remains as silent proof waiting for it's secret to be unlocked.

Effect of the phases of the moon in agriculture: the lettuce experiment

Is this true or not? One possible explanation for this belief of farmers around the world is that during the lunar cycle, and especially during the changes in the phases of the moon, the amount of light reflected to the Earth is changing. In addition to this, the gravitational force that the moon exerts on the planet Earth is also changing during the cycle. The most notable effect is the tides.

It is believed that the moon also will affect the movement of water on the soil and the solubility or availability of nutrients to the roots of the plant. This combined with the extra light reflected from the Sun to the Earth affects the growth of plants. Let’s see the phases.

As the moon is changing from new moon to crescent moon, the amount of light is increasing and the plants development is balanced having both leaf growth and root formation.

Then from the crescent moon to full moon, the amount of light is increasing even more but this favors the rapid growth of foliage and not the root development. Plants experience a great movement of fluids in their stems to the leaves containing nutrients therefore stimulating the growth rapidly.

In the third phase, full moon to waning moon, the amount of light decreases. Since light is less and the fluids and nutrients are lower, the plant does not focus its efforts on growing leaves but to the growth of their root system to aid in the uptake of fluids and nutrients. There is rapid growth of the roots in this phase. It also encourages the task of transplant because the roots are better developed in this period and this reducing the negative impact of transplanting the plant.

The last phase of the waning moon to new moon, the light continues to decline and disappear. This period is of little growth.

I'll do an experiment! I am sowing lettuce in all different phases of the moon to observe germination and growth. The experiment consists of 3 months of seedlings and observation. I will sow at different stages of the moon phases. All seedlings will be exposed to the same kind of light, water, soil and care. The result will be days of germination and germination rate.

Then I am going to observe the growth of plants after transplanting: half will receive transplants in the most favorable moon day and half in the worst moon day.

Growing potatoes with true potato seeds

In April of 2009 I planted 3 or 4 blue potatoes, which I called Peruvian Purple potatoes but maybe it was another variety called All-Blue, Russian Blue, Congo or Blue of Sweeden.

The potato originated in the Andean region between Peru, Chile and Bolivia around Lake Titicaca. It was introduced to Europe in the sixteenth century and from there spread to the world.

In the Andean region there are red potatoes, blue, lilac or multicolored inside and outside, blue with white peel, white with blue peel, etc. The farmers of the birthplace of potato have varieties that are unique in the world and still save and plant them for generations. The most delicious potatoes I ever tasted were while vacationing in Peru!

Today potatoes are grown and consumed in more countries than any other crop. It is the fourth most important; the third is corn, second is rice and the most important is wheat.

In late June of 2009 my potatoes plants surprised me with beautiful lilac flowers and then I noticed a small berry.

I did not even know about the existence of sexual seed or botanical seeds of potatoes; true potato seeds or TPS.

Each berry contains hundreds of seeds! The fruit is toxic due to the high content of alkaloid solanine; here is a picture of a tetraploid type seed:

These seeds contain the genetic material for new varieties to discover.

These fruits are of great importance and an opportunity for genetic improvement and development of new varieties. The diversity of this food staple that exists in the potatoes of Peru is due to TPS seeds and open pollination of their plants. Throughout time farmers has achieved the domestication and cultivation of this crop with adaptation to diverse climatic conditions. Farmers have been developing potato varieties with marked differences in the sensitivity of the plant to the duration and intensity of light, water requirements and temperature of their environment.

The importance of this crop’s adaptability to various climates is critical, if we have different varieties and create bio-diversity; this ensures that this food will be available in different parts of the world.

If one sows a tray of 50 TPS seeds, the seedlings which survive will be adapted to the climate, humidity, light and other factors affecting the growth of the potato. Imagine this biodiversity!

Well ...I have sown a seed trial in January, some germinated fast and others are still germinating.

Note that the seedlings on the left have red stems and the right is green. Odds are that the red stem will be different than the green stem seedling. Have I gotten a new variety of potatoes??? We will have to wait and see...

Hello Everybody

Here I go, my start in the blogging world.

What do I have to say?

Not much, I am just going to show the progress of my organic gardening and my efforts to live with my environment in my quest for self-sufficiency. I hope to inspire others to help preserve the biodiversity of native plants and seeds and spread the happiness that I get while doing my little organic farm!