Bio-char Soil Ammendment

[organix4207]

Anyone have any experience with using biochar in container growing?
It looks interesting and can be made with any high carbon source. One draw back I've heard is it can rob nitrogen from the plant.
One thought would be soaking char in a compost tea for a few weeks. Thus supercharging the char.
I don't know ????
Anyone??

 

[organix4207]

http://www.biochar-international.org/biochar
Very interesting link C I O

 

[biocharBruce]

Raw biochars bind-up nutrients for ~ a year and a half. Need to be conditioned. Organichar is conditioned (pH dropped to neutral state, fines/ash rinsed and inoculated w/ beneficial microbes). Raw biochar can have a very high pH. Some source material can produce BC with high salts too. In general, hardwoods (pine,birch) are good. Pore structure conducive to water and nutrient retention. Think of it as adding a coral reef to the root zone. Develops a strong fixation pool for soil organic molecules, which will slow down the leaching of nutrients and encourage the formation of complexes with high microbial activity.

 

[straincreation]

Yup i add it to my soil as it cooks as i stated before. At about a 5_10% ratio. Seems ro do just fine. i also heard you mention a precharge in the last thread havent been back there though. Ive never pre charged my char. Ive also never had problems unless over applied.

Happy farmin;)

 

[Seamaiden]

In general, hardwoods (pine,birch) are good.

I thought pine was a softwood. I still use pine shavings in various capacities, though. Just incorporated shavings used as coop litter in a bed we're reconfiguring. I'm getting some chicken poop, and the shavings hold a lot of water.

 

[organix4207]

Yup i add it to my soil as it cooks as i stated before. At about a 5_10% ratio. Seems ro do just fine. i also heard you mention a precharge in the last thread havent been back there though. Ive never pre charged my char. Ive also never had problems unless over applied.

Happy farmin;)

I was thinking the same thing of adding to my compost/worm farm. Then using this compost/ewc 6 months later. That should give the charcoal enough time to be teaming with bio life. The char should have a npk high enough to not rob from the plant. lack of patience seems to be biggest problem with bio-char and growing in general.
Thanks for the info
Happy farming

 

[below frigid]

I wanted to use this bio char. easy enough to make. I think I already made some without knowing it. Just have to dig it up. I decided not to use it when I read it will raise the soil ph. I am already a little higher than I like so I had to pass.

 

[straincreation]

Well if your char is fresh then it will lock out, anything in a bag usually is redy to go. Organichar as stated above is usuallly what you get when you buy a bag. Its the year and a half wait time that is with fresh charcol. Or char that needs to be set aside to break down a bit and become nuetral.
Happy farmin;)

Should be intrestimg to see what the worms poop out from that bio char and if it has any additional benefits.

 

[stanknugzz77]

I used to make bio-char pretty regularly with bamboo. I always heard it stored the nitrogen and released it as needed, but what the fuck do I know? lmfao. That and vermicompost are the shit. I have made a fuckton of both and used them with great results. Positive vibes...

~nugzz

 

[Seamaiden]

Biochar is, IMO, a lot like activated carbon. Anyone who's kept many fish has probably worked with AC. Anyone who's done that probably already knows how quickly the AC can become inactive because it's become "clogged" with microbes, possibly detritus (depending on the filtration setup) and most definitely whatever "pollutants" it has ad/absorbed. So, to that end, it seems to me that a few days in a brewer or something similar will be sufficient to get it into a good condition to use immediately with plants.

I don't know that char will release N "as needed" but I do believe (have experience with) that once it hits saturation, it dumps everything (in an aqueous environment).

 

[biocharBruce]

Activated carbon/charcoal (AC) is cooked off (pyrolysis) at a much higher temperature vs biochar (~470 celsius). Briquettes for BBQing much lower temp, but have very high volatile organic compounds (VOC) because they're made to burn. Due to some chemistry involved in AC, it binds onto minerals too strongly and will not release them when needed. Biochar will bind onto nutrients both because of its porous nature and because it carries a slight negative charge. Nutrients become bio-available and can be used by neighboring feeder roots (when they need it).

 

[Week4Bytch]

Anyone here use straight activated carbon to cure/remedy a lockout in organic soil?