Plants and growing systems
- Preparing and rooting plant cuttings
- Repotting, pruning, labeling, and caring for research plants
- Comparing plant growth, stress, rooting, and recovery
- Working with compost, experimental growing media, and coppice systems
Recurring Oakland greenhouse gathering
Spend an afternoon inside Carbocene’s working Oakland greenhouse and field site. We will propagate plants, make biochar, care for a living research collection, and explore how plant biotechnology can be practiced in an independent research setting alongside conventional scientific institutions.
Carbocene Industries is an independent nonprofit plant-biotechnology research organization operating a licensed California nursery, research greenhouse, and field site in Oakland.
The greenhouse includes a noncommercial research collection of photosynthesis-enhanced hybrid aspen, alongside propagation work, tissue culture, experimental soils, biochar systems, Photosynthetic Systems Engineering, bamboo biotechnology, and durable plant materials.
This is not a formal lecture or a polished demonstration garden. It is a working research and stewardship site. Each gathering combines teaching, discussion, and practical work based on what the plants and projects need that week.
No laboratory, gardening, or biotechnology background is required.
Activities vary with the living site
Activities vary by season and may include:
Plant propagation
We will teach the practical biology of producing new plants from cuttings, including:
These techniques apply well beyond aspen and are useful for gardeners, restoration practitioners, community biologists, and anyone interested in maintaining unusual plants.
Plants, soils, and durable carbon
Biochar is produced by heating plant material under limited oxygen rather than allowing it to burn completely.
We will discuss and, when conditions permit, demonstrate:
The goal is not simply to present biochar as a climate product, but to understand it as part of a larger biological system involving plants, soils, decomposition, materials, and repeated stewardship.
An operating research institution
Carbocene develops plant biotechnology across a connected system of biological research, propagation, greenhouse and field evaluation, measurement, management, and productive use.
The Oakland greenhouse and field site support living research organisms, tissue culture, propagation, permaculture, biochar, soil building, seasonal observation, and practical measurement.
These gatherings open parts of that scientific life to a wider biological community while maintaining careful stewardship, documentation, biosafety, and scientific responsibility.
A mixed community
The event is intended for a mixed community, including:
People from scientific, technical, cultivation, artistic, and community backgrounds are welcome. No previous technical experience is required.
Before you arrive
The event takes place at a working field site and greenhouse in Oakland.
Wear clothing and closed-toe shoes that can handle soil, water, smoke, and plant material.
Useful things to bring:
Separate from registration
Donations are welcome and support greenhouse costs, plant care, propagation supplies, research supplies, and Carbocene’s nonprofit scientific work.
Biopunk Greenhouse
Come ready to get your hands dirty, learn practical techniques, and spend time with biological technologies that are still alive, unfinished, and open to participation.