Bonfire effect!

[Northdowns Martin]

Can someone explain what’s happening where the crop is planted on the remains of a bonfire? Had a fallen tree in last years osr which couldn’t be cleared until after harvest. Removed trunk but burnt brush in field. This spring the wheat on the bonfire pack is twice as good as that around it. Have same in ex orchards where trees burnt going back over many years. Obviously there’s an increase in potash but is there anything else we can learn from what the fire has created?

 

[onesiedale]

Huge increase in the carbon content of your soil. (Organic matter)

 

[Mr Charisma]

Huge increase in the carbon content of your soil. (Organic matter)

Nahhhh, just dried the ground out and let him plant winter wheat in it 6 months before he planted rest of field ?
Probably drilled the bonfire area wit one o those new fangled lo disturbance thingies as well?

 

[shakerator]

Liming effect ?

 

[Brisel]

Huge increase in the carbon content of your soil. (Organic matter)

I'd have thought the opposite - no carbon left to tie up nitrogen, plus a fertiliser effect from the ash.

 

[Dry Rot]

I'd have thought the opposite - no carbon left to tie up nitrogen, plus a fertiliser effect from the ash.

Me too. Soil micro flora and fauna killed off for one. Would it be worth getting some soil analysis done of inside the burnt area and outside? But there is a similar effect after heather burning, that's one reason it is done.

 

[Gong Farmer]

You say the wheat is 'twice as good as that around it' - is the stuff around it worse than the rest of the field, such that the bonfire area is as good as the rest of the field? You often see poor, thin crops under trees which I assume is down to acidification from the tannin in leaves. Ash has a lime value as stated above so would offset this.

 

[Pilatus]

When farming I wish I had, had, soil and crop tissue analysis carried out by an "Independent", testing laboratory (not a very good idea to having testing carried out by a company that sells trace elements !!!), where we had "bonfire effect" and "muck heap" effect , as in theory one should learn a lot from the analysis results even if they supported ones own thoughts.

 

[Lincsman]

Seen it many times, its the carbon... lots of bits of charcoal left, there may be more potash but here potash isnt applied anyway due to natural amounts there anyway. The soil will also have been sterilised a little which a Greenhouse farmer will tell you is good.

Its also the reason crops seem to grow a little better after straw burning, the carbon was there instantly rather than locked in straw.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

It's because the heat of the fire has "cooked" the organic matter in your soil into char, which has the same effect as the terra preta of the old western hemisphere, or it's trendy new name: biochar

A gram of it has a massive surface area, so the soil microbes have somewhere safe to live and work, hide away from toxins (anyone had alcohol poisoning? charcoal takes it out) so there is a place for the fungi to hide from fungicide residues

etc etc

Basically, it's soil working as well as soil should be working.