Corn Harvest

The corn from the biochar experimental plot established in November has been harvested! We  are incredibly excited to have our first data on the biochar experiments here in Villa Carmen.

Some data was easy to collect in the field, such as wet weights of the stalks, and the corn itself. In order to get data on percent of spoiled grain, and dry weights the corn had to be degrained. This was a labor intensive process (3 days) and everyone left with blistered thumbs but in high spirits.

A few of the corn degrainers at the end of 3 days of hard work!

The corn was then able to be weighed, good grain separated from bad. The cobs were also weighed apart from the grain.

photo credit: Jessica Suarez

The final step was to dry the biomass in a rustic biomass dryer we have here at Villa Carmen. Biomass is reported in oven-dried weight in the literature so the grain, cobs, and stalks were dried for 48 hours until constant weight.

Villa Carmen biomass dryer

The data has yet to be analyzed, but all in all the hard work of the corn harvest was a success!