Biochar?

[beeman]

Anyone using/trying biochar? Would welcome some discussion.

[Worth1]

I brought this subject up some time ago with mixed results. This year I did mix in some charcoal in one area of my garden.

I had to pretty much let the garden go because of too may irons in the fire but from what I saw it didn't hurt the soil.

One of the most comprehensive books that covers the subject is one I have read three times now, called 1491. It is about pre-Colombian Indians and the way they lived before Europeans came along and spoiled the party. One section of said book covers the way folks down there treated the forest and soil. From what I have read they would burn off the trees in a small area grow crops for about 6-8 years and let it grow back. moving on to another spot. I the soil is farmed for about 10 years it wont come back.

One of the most misunderstood beliefs about native Americans from the so called tree huggers/environmentalist groups is the Indians lived without destroying or altering nature.
This makes my distant relatives look like a bunch of idiots that didn't have enough wits about their selves to do anything but hunt and gather.

This could not be farther from the truth.
The Amazonian black soil is a perfect example of this.

Indians of north America constantly burned the grass and underbrush all across the country.

They were also responsible for the chestnut trees that grew from one end of the east coast to the other until blight killed them off.
Well any how I gotta go I still have many irons in the fire one of them is completing my garage floor in rustic Oak. Gotta sand it and put down the oil then come the cabinets.
All of which I can proudly say I did on my own. My Back is killing me.

Please read the book you will love it.

One of the Indians in the book says something like this, "you can call us Indians or you can call us native Americans but when the white man leaves we can call our selves what we dam well please".
Well said I think.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...GpeDNwB1HnLerA


Worth who is about 1/8 Indian.

[svalli]

This may be out of the topic since I have not used biochar, but mixed wood ashes from our fireplace to my potting mix and flowerbeds to increase too low pH. There were some tiny charcoal pieces, but most was fine ash. Ashes seem to do wonders for my flowers, which looked much better than previous years. Container tomatoes and cucumbers look great too and no BER so far.

Farming methods in Finland used to be same as done by native Americans. People cut down the trees, burned them and mixed the ashes and charcoal to ground. They used to grow grain on that land two years and then couple of years of turnips and then move to an other area and let the trees grow back. This was done mainly on land, which was growing birches. That was the most common farming method here until the 19th century.

[beeman]

Originally Posted by svalli

Farming methods in Finland used to be same as done by native Americans. People cut down the trees, burned them and mixed the ashes and charcoal to ground. They used to grow grain on that land two years and then couple of years of turnips and then move to an other area and let the trees grow back. This was done mainly on land, which was growing birches. That was the most common farming method here until the 19th century.

It would be interesting to examine the land used in this fashion, just to see if it produced the same effect as the soil in the Amazonian region.

[jwalk98]

All biochar is not the same, As someone who is building a business on biochar, I can tell you that high quality biochar and campfire leftovers are not the same. An open fire leaves ash, or the inert material in whatever you're burning. Only a tiny percentage would be actual char, and this will give you a small benefit. True char comes from a non-oxygen thermal process and will give you dramatic results.

[wmontanez]

The dark amazonian soil also known as Terra Preta is surrounded by sterile soil typical of the rainforest area. In this soil are remains of unfired clay pottery chards, fish bones, slow-burnt vegetable debris converted to charcoal, animal manures and high levels of soil microorganism activity including micorizzhae. A fine example of self-sustainable agriculture with highly sofisticated soil management developed by native cultures in the Amazon basin. The soil is rich in hummus, would not leach nutrients and also seems to stay stable over hundreds of years probably due to the glomalin made by the micorizzhae fungi. They could have discovered the secrets of regenerative and self-sustainable agriculture and the Terra Preta remains as silent proof.

Half a century later we are re-discovering the agricultural value of BioChar and it's carbon sequestering properties. BioChar made by pyrolisis (combustion of biomass in absence of oxigen) yields a material very similar to Terra Preta which is different from the ash generated by campfire or slash and burn methods.

[dice]

Charcoal does not really contribute much of anything to a soil.
Some large pore air space, a place for some kinds of bacteria
to hang out, but nutritionally it is about as effective as a hard
rock. My guess is that the real benefit of biochar would be
microbial, as a haven for many kinds of beneficial bacteria
and fungi.

[beeman]

Originally Posted by dice

My guess is that the real benefit of biochar would be microbial, as a haven for many kinds of beneficial bacteria and fungi.

It does tend to hold a quite enormous amount of water. One reason I am really interested in as I live on sandy soil and need to improve it's holding capability.
Experiments ongoing.

[dice]

Ash may not be biochar, but it is quite a bit different from
charcoal, too. It is less inert in the soil. It does have some
available nutrients (wood ash has potassium and a little bit
of phosphorous and minerals; it is alkaline and will raise pH).

The nutrient content of some kinds of ash, mostly fruit and
vegetable rinds, is listed in the Primalseeds list of random
compostable materials:
http://www.primalseeds.org/npk.htm

[beeman]

I am part way into an experiment with interesting results.
I made up 6.6 gallons of Char using a 13 gallon barrel as a retort inside a 55 gallon drum. After the burn I ended up with approx 50% equaling approx 6 gallons of high quality char.
Now I need to inoculate it ready to use.
I took 3.5 gallons of ACT I had just finished and poured it into the Char, it sucked it all up with no drips. If that had been soil all I would have got is mud!
Here then is a major advantage for my easily drained garden. Holding that amount of water in such a small space can be the answer to a great many of my problems with drought.
Experiments ongoing.

[jwalk98]

High quality BioChar is nearly pure carbon. Ash is the residue of the inert contents of the biomass after the carbon has been combusted. That’s why they’re different. The beauty of BioChar is that it’s stable carbon that hosts microbials and water very well. It’s an enhancement, and benefits all soils...but more-so for poor soil with low humus (carbon), poor moisture retention, or low porosity.

But pure biochar must first be “charged” or loaded with moisture and nutrients prior to introduction to the soil. If you put it in “bare” it will initially adsorb from your target soil! Be sure you mix it with some compost first to “load” it up.

Once there, it will stay there, and your plants will grab the nutrients produced by the microbes, and use the water stored in it year after year.

And you have decreased atmospheric carbon a little as well!

[wmontanez]

jwalk thanks for the info, is your product available south of your border (USA) anytime soon? I haven't seen "BioChar in a bag" yet around here.

[wmontanez]

Beeman, I am interested to know about your BioChar results, keep us posted!

[jwalk98]

Yes wmontanez, I am producing biochar now.

PLease contact me at jsw@walkerrenewableenergy.com

www.walkerrenewableenergy.com

[RinTinTin]

If anybody is learning more about Bio-Char (including advantages/disadvantages), the following is a good read:

Biochar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia