Biochar...anyone doing it?

[Beekissed]

I vaguely recall a thread about this in the past but can't seem to find it. Anyone doing biochar in their gardens and can report on the change in the fertility of the soils?

I'd like to try an experiment with it this year and do some sections of the same row with biochar and see how the same row with the same types of plants yield different results in the soil with the char~or not.

Does it seem to benefit the soils in that same year or is it a long term thing that only starts to show results down the road?

 

[John_henry]

I hadn't heard of Biochar before, so thanks for the heads up. It seems from a little research that it may actually come into its prime after what could be a long digestion period, so may only be useful for soil amendment and for plants that require high potash and elevated pH.

I got this from wikipedia: "a b c Lehmann 2007a, pp. 381387 To date, scientists have been unable to completely reproduce the beneficial growth properties of terra preta. It is hypothesized that part of the alleged benefits of terra preta require the biochar to be aged so that it increases the cation exchange capacity of the soil, among other possible effects. In fact, there is no evidence natives made biocahr for soil treatment, but really for transportable fuel charcoal. Abandoned or forgotten charcoal pits left for centuries were eventually reclaimed by the forest. In that time the harsh negative effects of the char (high pH, extreme ash content, salinity) had worn off and turned to positive as the forest soil ecosystem saturated the charcoals with nutrients. supra note 2 at 386 (Only aged biochar shows high cation retention, as in Amazonian Dark Earths. At high temperatures (3070C), cation retention occurs within a few months. The production method that would attain high CEC in soil in cold climates is not currently known.) (internal citations omitted)."

Did you have a specific crop in mind?

 

[Beekissed]

No...but I have specific soil in mind. My mother's soil is very acidic...grows moss like crazy. I've already placed some lime pellets on her whole garden and lawn but would like something a little more slow releasing than even the pellets.

This whole portion of property used to be a pine forest and has red clay soils. It grows things...adequately...but not as well as I'd like to see. Ridge top soil makes for very thin topsoil with a clay bed not too far below the surface. I'd like to move the topsoil aside and put some biochar in the next layer down for crops that may need to access that level of soil and replace the topsoil to it's origin.

I'm hoping to improve the texture and nutrient value of her soils a little deeper than a few inches of topsoil so that roots can go a little deeper and mine for nutrients and moisture there in years of drought...which we have had for the last 3 years. Hard to push roots through heavy clay, so placing some biochar there just might be the ticket.

We also use cover crops, permanent pathways of clover and grass and we mulch any exposed soils heavily to retain moisture and promote good soil habitat for worms and other beneficial organisms.

We have so much material around here to make the biochar, so I was thinking...why not try it?

 

[Denim Deb]

I've never heard of biochar. Can you give us more info on what it is?

 

[Beekissed]

Here's one link or two...there are a few out there:

http://www.bigbiocharexperiment.co.uk/rationale.html

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/Make-Biochar-To-Improve-Your-Soil.aspx

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-03-30/tech/biochar.warming.energy_1_carbon-co2-organic?_s=PM:TECH

http://www.biochar-international.org/

http://biochar.pbworks.com/w/page/9748043/FrontPage

Here's an interesting excerpt from the last article~notice the rich solution suggested for soaking it...urine! I'm on it!

Biochar enthusiasts generally agree that raw biochar needs to be processed further prior to being added to the garden. Composting, or soaking with compost tea, is commonly used to charge the pore volume with beneficial organisms and nutrients. Soaking in a nutrient rich solution (examples are urine or fish emulsion) prior to composting is accepted practice.

 

[Candy]

my understanding is that biochar works becasue the micro- organisms will set up housekeeping in it and they will stick around for a long time. Biochar should be charged by putting it in the compost pile.

Im experimenting with it this year a little. I get mine from the wood stove. All you have to do is put some logs in at night and damper it totally down. In the morning you will have a black charcoal in the shape of the long but the wood is all gone. Take it out to the compost pile or garden and smash it up with the shovel and mix it in.

People who have a really rich garden may not really notice a difference in their plants. Those with bad soil will notice a bigger change. Which ever type you have it will be helpful for the long run.

 

[Cindlady2]

I can only say what I have done and what a neighbor when I was growing up did, who had the most awesome 1-1/2 acre garden I ever saw!

At least 1 cover of chicken coop waste on the entire garden in the fall. Mixed with kitchen waste the chickens didn't get. Burn off in early spring (what I do) or late fall (not sure when neighbor did) every 2 or 3 years. I have very good soil but the area where I grew up was mostly clay. He turned that lump of clay into a fantastic high yield garden.

 

[Candy]

I can only say what I have done and what a neighbor when I was growing up did, who had the most awesome 1-1/2 acre garden I ever saw!

At least 1 cover of chicken coop waste on the entire garden in the fall. Mixed with kitchen waste the chickens didn't get. Burn off in early spring (what I do) or late fall (not sure when neighbor did) every 2 or 3 years. I have very good soil but the area where I grew up was mostly clay. He turned that lump of clay into a fantastic high yield garden.

What do you mean by burn off? How do you burn off chicken poo and kitchen waste?

 

[Beekissed]

I would assume they just set it on fire, as I did mine. I placed mine in a trench and set it on fire, waited until it had good burn going and covered it lightly with soil. You can still see the smoke as it continues to burn with the decreased O2 exposure. Should be some good biochar under the soil at this point. Some folks just do a burn on top of the soil and produce some thin biochar that way. People have been "burning off" fields for thousands of years, which can kill any weeds and their seeds and also apply the carbon right to the soil.

 

[Cindlady2]

Yup, that's what we do. Spread it out, let it dry good, light it up! Some times you have to 'help' it burn even but yes, kills allot of weeds and seeds. Then when you till it up it mixes in. Each year it works it's way a little deeper and decomposes more and more. I feel it works well, It's free and not that hard to do. I don't know, (every one seemed unclear) how long the "break down" period is, but to me it seems it's not as long as some seem to indicate. I know my neighbor had been doing it to his clay for 30 years before I came along. He was probably getting good crops for many years before I knew him. It probably make a big difference as to what soil you start with and what gets burned. What we burn is ' light' and breaks down faster than if wood was used. Also different matter releases different components.