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Bone Calcium Phosphate, Juglone Toxicity, Chitosan for Chromium

October 1, 2023 · by Drake Weinert

Drake answers a question about charring bones for calcium phosphate by walking through 2018 footage from Master Lee's farm in Muju, Korea, where two methods were tested side by side: bones burned fast and hot in a metal can, and bones cocooned in rice straw and sesame stems and burned slower. Master Lee said the slower rice-straw method gave better results. The goal is fully charred black bone, not white ash — ash means the calcium phosphate got burned off.

A long deep-dive on juglone (found in black walnut and hickory) concludes it isn't a problem for KNF growers: juglone breaks down into carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and soil bacteria, especially Pseudomonas putida J1, metabolize it as food once a pile stays aerobic. Drake suggests adding soil from under a walnut tree to an IMO3 or IMO4 pile to introduce that bacteria.

For hexavalent chromium contamination, Drake recommends chitosan made from toasted shrimp or crab shells dissolved in vinegar, combined with fish or animal amino acids and biochar to bind and stabilize the metal. He also covers keeping IMO3 piles aerobic when they run hot or go anaerobic, sterilizing and mineralizing woodchips in a saltwater barrel before use, and using sunflowers to pull contaminants from soil.

Other topics: where the "ear" and "nose" of a plant are (the nose is at the base — don't bury it in mulch), Ben's IMO#4 recipe using hickory nuts and horse feed, and making fermented plant juice from grapes.

Questions answered

  • 6:53 At what point do bones over-char into ash? — They overchar when they turn to ash; you want them charred black all the way through, not white ash.
  • 7:33 How do you make calcium phosphate from bones, KNF style? — Char bones fast in a metal can or slower cocooned in rice straw and sesame stems, then soak the fully charred bones in vinegar.
  • 17:46 What's the difference between charcoal and ash? — Charcoal is carbon and stays black when cracked open; ash is potash, and it means you burned the bones too far.
  • 19:27 How do you make plant juice from grapes? — Smash the grapes, layer with sugar under a cloth cap, and let it extract in a clay jar like standard fermented plant juice.
  • 33:22 Is juglone in walnut or hickory harmful to plants? — No; juglone is just carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and soil bacteria like Pseudomonas putida J1 break it down fast in an aerobic pile.
  • 40:50 How do you protect crops from juglone toxicity? — Keep the pile aerobic and add soil from under the walnut tree to inoculate it with Pseudomonas putida.
  • 45:22 What is the "ear" and "nose" of a plant? — The ear is the grain-bearing tip of a stalk like wheat or corn; the nose is at the very base, and piling mulch over it suffocates the plant.
  • 47:53 How do you remediate hexavalent chromium contamination? — Make chitosan from toasted shrimp or crab shells dissolved in vinegar, and combine it with fish amino acids and biochar to bind the chromium.
  • 54:40 Do wood chips with a lot of mycelium hurt an IMO3 pile that keeps going anaerobic? — Keep the pile aerobic and under 120°F and turn it; you can also sterilize the chips first by soaking them in saltwater before mixing into IMO3.
  • 55:30 How do you sterilize and mineralize woodchips before use? — Soak them in a barrel of saltwater for a few days so the microbes go anaerobic, then dump them out so they flip back to aerobic in the air.
  • 59:20 My IMO pile keeps going anaerobic — what should I do? — Turn it more, keep it cooler, and make the pile smaller if it keeps overheating.
  • 1:00:21 Can sunflowers remediate contaminated soil? — Yes; bag and remove them after the season, then shred and ferment them with chitosan and crab shells to break the contaminants down.
  • 1:00:53 Should I worry about mycelium in woodchips before adding them to IMO? — Not much; the wood-decomposing fungi get outcompeted by soil mycelium as the IMO process and temperatures shift.

Topics: calcium phosphate, juglone, chitosan, chromium, imo3, woodchips, mycelium, pseudomonas putida, walnut, hickory, plant juice, korea

KNF Office Hours is a free live Q&A every Sunday at 9 AM HST. Bring your question to pureknf.org/learn/questions or join live.

In this episode

  1. 0:00 Stream Starts, Waiting for Screen
  2. 1:03 Good Morning
  3. 1:34 I Ching Reading: The Creative
  4. 4:25 Why We Have Extreme Flooding (Schauberger)
  5. 6:53 When Do Bones Over-Char?
  6. 7:33 Master Lee's Two knfStructure Methods (Muju, Korea)
  7. 19:27 Making Plant Juice From Grapes
  8. 21:15 Master Lee's Methods Continued
  9. 26:48 Touring 2018 Korea Trip Footage
  10. 32:30 Ben's IMO#4 Recipe
  11. 33:22 Juglone, Chitosan & Pseudomonas Putida
  12. 44:27 Hickory Mulch Recipe
  13. 45:22 The Ears and Nose of a Plant
  14. 47:53 Chitosan to Remediate Chromium 6
  15. 54:40 Wood Chips in IMO#3
  16. 55:30 Sterilizing & Mineralizing Woodchips
  17. 56:07 Erin Brockovich and Chromium
  18. 59:20 Fixing an Anaerobic IMO Pile
  19. 1:00:21 Sunflowers and Mycelium for Remediation
  20. 1:02:10 Thanks for Tuning In

Transcript

Auto-transcribed with Whisper. Click any timestamp to play from there.

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