Links to Wicking beds

shade house.pdf

 gin gin school

Links to water management

alternative water.pdf

harvesting smaller rains.html

water and the whistle blower.wmv

community action on water.pdf

eco-education.html

Water at the eco village.wmv

solving the water crisis vol 1, Vol 2,  vol 3,  vol 4, vol 5

Haiti -  I have had a request from Haiti for help in installing wicking beds to help with the food crisis.  Please contact me if you may be able to help

New files on mitigating climate change

Water for food

The wicking bed system could be described as a revolution in food production.  Yet it looks so simple that it does not immediately look revolutionary. But the implications are potentially dramatic.

There are still divergence of opinion on global warming, but there is no dispute that the world is warming and that carbon in the atmosphere is increasing. The divergence is how significant the contribution of man made emission are to global warming.

The developed countries have historically been the major contributors to increased carbon levels.  But in future the developing countries will be major contributors. China is already the largest emitter.

The strategy left to man is a combination of minimization and adaptation.  Water for food production will be one of the critical with global warming. The importance of the wicking bed system is that it means food can be produced with reduced and erratic rainfall. 

But it also captures carbon from the atmosphere and integrates this into the soil structure.  The wicking bed system can be adopted by both developed and developing countries however it is particularly appropriate for developing countries giving them the opportunity to offset their carbon emissions.

I

For over forty years I have conducted experiments trying to find better and more effective ways of using water to grow food.  I have described these experimental precursors to wicking bed as a way of fully understanding the wicking bed technology and story.  But you can go straight to wicking bed section here.

Chapter 1  Soil regeneration

Tests carried out over 30 years ago showed that soil could be rapidly regenerated by  controlling the moisture level in the soil to encourage the right type of micro-biological action.

Today this technology is important as it captures atmospheric carbon and so can offset climate change.  However it does require water to maintain the soil moisture levels - in a dry continent like Australia this presents a major challenge.  Subsequently technologies such as improved irrigation scheduling, local water harvesting, subsurface irrigation and the wicking bed were developed for the more effective use of water.

Chapter 2 irrigation scheduling

Improved irrigation scheduling is the easiest and cheapest way of making more effective use of water.  Traditionally scheduling has been a hit and miss affair  which was marginally improved by using crop factors and evaporation data.  However this is an open loop system with no in build feed back so significant water is still wasted.   Here we look as closed loop systems taking advantages of improved instrumentation for soil and plant moisture monitoring to control irrigation depth

Chapter 3  Subsurface  and improved flood irrigation

Subsurface irrigation was initially seen as way of saving water lost by evaporation.  A wide range of experiments however led to the conclusion that practical difficulties severely limit its application.   The experimental focus was then switched to developing a computer simulation of flood irrigation to improve its efficiency.

Technically successful but with limited commercial uptake this was not regarded as a success but it did lead onto the highly successful wicking bed technology.

Chapter 4  Local water harvesting

Australia is often considered to be a dry continent,  in fact it has reasonable rainfall.  The problem is excessive evaporation so much of the rain is lost by evaporation before it can be used by plants or captured in our dams.

Here we look at how local water harvesting can capture water but minimizing this evaporation.

Chapter 5 Wicking beds

Wicking beds were initially developed as a way of managing an erratic rainfall.   Experience showed then to be a highly productive growing system. 

The wicking bed  enables us to grow food with a lot less water, it can be used to harvest water otherwise lost and particularly it can actually capture carbon from the atmosphere. 

The wicking worm bed is a highly productive growing system which not only produces more food from limited water, but also recycles waste organic material to provide plant nutrient and capture carbon.

The essence is to form an underground reservoir of water or pond contained by a waterproof container or liner below the surface.   Water wicks by surface tension to feed the plants.

New wicking bed site www.easygrowvegetables.com

Chapter 6 climate change - capturing carbon in the soil

With the rapid growth of the developing countries, particularly coal burning countries like China and India we are not going to be able to reduce our carbon emission adequately to control global warming. 

The only solution is to extract carbon from the atmosphere.  Plant already extract 30 times more carbon than total and made emissions.  The problem it that this carbon rapidly en-enters the atmosphere.  This chapter shows how we can retain this carbon in the soil

Wicking beds and climate change
climate change -obstacles to getting a global agreement
food production and climate change
plants absorbing carbon dioxide
wicking bed technology (pdf)
Review of Copenhagen (pdf)
The future of agriculture (pdf)Comments welcome - email me

14 April 2010

 Buy on line

Books and DVD's

Water,wit and wisdom (book)

Solving the Water Crisis (DVD)

Water and the Whistle blower (DVD)

Katie keeps her cool -
wicking worm beds and global warming
(DVD)

anticipatory irrigation by adaptive scheduling
(DVD)

See new youtube videos

New wicking bed site www.easygrowvegetables.com