Biochar?

TorontoJoe

TorontoJoe

Administrator
I was on YouTube looking at some raised bed ideas as I plan to add a few in the spring.... Somehow, I spiralled down this rabbit hole of videos on how to fill beds and eventually onto some videos about biochar... All sorts of stuff about the benefits and how good it is to add to compost etc... I've heard of the stuff but I don't think I've ever directly discussed it with someone who's actually used it.

Does anyone have any experience with this stuff? I'm just trying to figure out if it's just interesting YouTube content or if there are real measurable benefits from incorporating what's basically charcoal into my mix. I have no problem giving it a try but it looks like it could be pretty messy.
 
I use it in my potting mix and garden beds. In potting mix, you don’t want too much, just a little. In my garden beds, I use homemade biochar— our wood burning stove makes it very well. I sprinkle it and ashes on the beds before planting in spring. Some veggies really love it, like tomatoes, cucmbers, squash, etc.
 
Well, I have the wood forno that cranks out lots of ash and char. How do you keep it from getting messy? I envision ash and bits of charcoal blowing around and making a big mess
 
TorontoJoe said:
Well, I have the wood forno that cranks out lots of ash and char. How do you keep it from getting messy? I envision ash and bits of charcoal blowing around and making a big mess
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It can get messy if it’s breezy out and you’re using ash. But otherwise you just rake it in the top few inches of soil and it’s fine. The nutrients in ash are water soluable so they can disappear quickly if it’s a rainy period, that’s not as much of an issue if you’re growing directly in the ground.

Depending on the biochar, it can eventually break down in potting mix which is why I don’t like a large quantity of it. It also can raise the pH a bit, not as much of a problem in garden beds, but more of a potential issue in potting mix. The max recommendation I’ve ever seen is 20%, but the standard seems to be about 10%. I use just 5% in mine for nutrient retention because I prefer more mineral content.
 
TorontoJoe said:
Well, I have the wood forno that cranks out lots of ash and char. How do you keep it from getting messy? I envision ash and bits of charcoal blowing around and making a big mess
Click to expand...
Mix it with water first, like water soluble fertilizer, and pour it where you like it. I was always fascinated by the wild fires in Africa and how much greenery becomes of it after the rains.
 
Figology said:
Mix it with water first, like water soluble fertilizer, and pour it where you like it. I was always fascinated by the wild fires in Africa and how much greenery becomes of it after the rains.
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Interesting.... I wonder if this is also related to the practice of prescribed burning before planting a plot
 
TorontoJoe said:
Interesting.... I wonder if this is also related to the practice of prescribed burning before planting a plot
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For sure, it’s definitely related to that older growing technique! Burning what was there returned the leftover nutrients in the plants to the ground in a quick and readily available way. Plus, it saved the time of having to chop & drop it in place and wait for it to break down.
 
@TorontoJoe. We use a homemade biochar here in Berkeley CA. Like @Inflorescence suggested ((Charging)) homemade biochar with a good soak of fertilized water is a preferred treatment. I recommend using bigger chunks of homemade biochar. Maybe a quarter to half inch The Ash sludge can literally block the drainage of your potting soil. It's one of the reasons that 5% is a good amount. We went 25% one time, and had to filter out all the ash sludge before it would drain properly.
 
Figless said:
@TorontoJoe. We use a homemade biochar here in Berkeley CA. Like @Inflorescence suggested ((Charging)) homemade biochar with a good soak of fertilized water is a preferred treatment. I recommend using bigger chunks of homemade biochar. Maybe a quarter to half inch The Ash sludge can literally block the drainage of your potting soil. It's one of the reasons that 5% is a good amount. We went 25% one time, and had to filter out all the ash sludge before it would drain properly.
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very cool. Can you tak me through the process of soaking in fertilized water?

What sort of fertilizer? How strong a mix? And how long does it soak?
 
THE FIG HUT said:
Check out the biochar this place sells :

Biochar Charged | Black Swallow Living Soils, Brantford ON

Biochar is formed at different temperatures and in a different manner than regular charcoal. When formed at temperatures upwards of 600 C, the maximum amount of pores are maintained in the structure of the biochar.
blackswallowsoil.com
They are in Brantford.
It may be way cheaper to produce your own though.
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I'd bought some stuff from them a while back. I had no idea they sold Biochar..... or a number of the other things I'm seeing they have now. I recall them being very nice people to deal with. Thanks for the link
 
Figless said:
@TorontoJoe. We use a homemade biochar here in Berkeley CA. Like @Inflorescence suggested ((Charging)) homemade biochar with a good soak of fertilized water is a preferred treatment. I recommend using bigger chunks of homemade biochar. Maybe a quarter to half inch The Ash sludge can literally block the drainage of your potting soil. It's one of the reasons that 5% is a good amount. We went 25% one time, and had to filter out all the ash sludge before it would drain properly.
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Usually, if you are specifically making biochar any ash should be filtered out because that is not biochar. The biochar itself should be in solid chunks. Mine are several inches big. Biochar itself should not have any ash sludge that would block drainage.

BTW, @TorontoJoe , hardwood charcoal is the same exact thing as biochar and is often cheaper. You can get bags of that and depending on your application, either break them down smaller or keep them as is. Just not sure how readily available it is locally not being in summer now, it’s probably online though.
 
I
Inflorescence said:
Usually, if you are specifically making biochar any ash should be filtered out because that is not biochar. The biochar itself should be in solid chunks. Mine are several inches big. Biochar itself should not have any ash sludge that would block drainage.

BTW, @TorontoJoe , hardwood charcoal is the same exact thing as biochar and is often cheaper. You can get bags of that and depending on your application, either break them down smaller or keep them as is. Just not sure how readily available it is locally not being in summer now, it’s probably online though.
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I think what comes out of my pizza forno should do nicely. Mostly oak and maple, occasionally birch.
 
Figology said:
It’s likely potash, not biochar like I was thinking.
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I think... and I may be incorrect... "potash" comes from "potassium ash"? I assume the ash comes from burnt (something) The only video I found that described it in reasonable detail suggested that biochar is derived from wood that is heated past the point of ignition, but not allowed enough oxygen to combust... so it chars.... I'm guessing this is why I find it below the ash in my forno the morning after because under the ash it got starved of oxygen...

I'm learning a lot here.
 
Joe, I started using biochar in my garden two years ago. At first I bought a couple of bags of uncharged char and charged it myself. My wife wanted to know what the yellow stuff was in the jug( I was saving pee to charge the char.) I used chicken manure, compost, fish emulsion, kelp, anything to charge the charcoal. Put it in a five gallon bucket with a lid and fill with liquid. Worked well in the garden but way too expensive using already made char. Started buying lump charcoal and started using in my fig mix when up potting. Hard to use too much, roots really grow around it and cheaper than bags of perlite. Char soaks up the nutrients and holds on to them for the trees to draw from. Breaking it up can be dirty and dusty ( nasty to breathe) so a heavy bag to break it up helps. There are tons of videos on YouTube ( David The Good used a garbage disposal ) , I just used a spud bar to get away from the dust. Easy to mix in my pots.
 
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