Biochar
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5 year old buck +
It was a podcast that got me interested. Then I saw a few videos by Skill Cult. The more I read and understand about it, the more I think it can help my soil here.
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
I guess I should have been a bit more clear. When I said light the match and walk away I meant go do other projects in the general area. If it's lit at the top It shouldn't just turn into fine ash. Come back and throw more wood on every so often while your working on something else. When you get down to an acceptable amount of char put the fire out. You will more than likely have some wood that didnt "char", set it aside and burn it again at a later time. Like mentioned it takes a lot of wood to get enough char for a big area but you need to look at it as an ongoing yearly spring project. There is never a shortage of things in the woods to cut up/down. If you burn wood you have even more. There are always plenty of smaller branches that arent worth messing with for fire wood but they are better off being turned into char that just burn or left to rot.
A retort kiln would be optimal but you can go about it like the mentioned skill cult vids and do just fine with minimal time and effort without having to trans port the wood or the kiln. I like the trench method because its usually not to tough in my area to find a low spot or a ditch near by to burn. Burn it down to char then cover it up with dirt. It will be there basically forever so you can deal with it whenever you have time.
IkemanTx
5 year old buck +
I plan on eventually buying a cubic yard of charged Biochar from this company for a heavy top dressing on my lawn.
https://www.wakefieldbiochar.com/shop/wakefield-kickstart-charged-biochar/
If I didn’t live in a neighborhood with such small lots (and such a strict HOA) I would build a kiln in a split second. I’d love to use a Biochar kiln to deal with all the limbs and trimmings on a property some day. At the very least, I have bound up some more carbon that can’t physically make it into the atmosphere for the next 1,000 years or so. Soil microbiology will definitely benefit, the soil’s bulk density will drop, some nutrients will definitely be retained better... all of this is good, regardless of wether or not I ever see an improvement in the garden or lawn.
If you are looking at it for large scale use, I would personally buy it commercial...
DIY Biochar and commercially available Biochar are typically worlds apart as far as quality. You don’t JUST want charcoal in the ground. It is all about porosity and surface area. Most commercial Biochar suppliers use water or steam to quench and shock the char. This shatters the carbon structure increasing the surface area from 10 to 100 times standard crushed charcoal (homemade Biochar). Also... the woods used, temps achieved, and duration of burn all effect the quality of the end product.
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https://www.wakefieldbiochar.com/shop/wakefield-kickstart-charged-biochar/
If I didn’t live in a neighborhood with such small lots (and such a strict HOA) I would build a kiln in a split second. I’d love to use a Biochar kiln to deal with all the limbs and trimmings on a property some day. At the very least, I have bound up some more carbon that can’t physically make it into the atmosphere for the next 1,000 years or so. Soil microbiology will definitely benefit, the soil’s bulk density will drop, some nutrients will definitely be retained better... all of this is good, regardless of wether or not I ever see an improvement in the garden or lawn.
If you are looking at it for large scale use, I would personally buy it commercial...
DIY Biochar and commercially available Biochar are typically worlds apart as far as quality. You don’t JUST want charcoal in the ground. It is all about porosity and surface area. Most commercial Biochar suppliers use water or steam to quench and shock the char. This shatters the carbon structure increasing the surface area from 10 to 100 times standard crushed charcoal (homemade Biochar). Also... the woods used, temps achieved, and duration of burn all effect the quality of the end product.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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yoderjac
5 year old buck +
From the reading and experimenting I've done, here is my take. Some soils are simply better at cycling nutrients than others. It is that microbiome in the soil that plays a significant role in this process. Some soils can support these microorganisms better than others. Biochar, if made properly, essentially forms a home for these microorganisms. The surface area is immense as it has tiny chambers in structures. It can improve the soils ability to hold nutrients. Good loam soils (often glaciated) have plenty of nutrient holding and cycling capacity and can take a lot of abuse with tillage. I'm not sure folks will really see much improvement applying biochar to these soils. Sand and clay often have poor nutrient cycling ability and are low in OM. Nutrients move through sand very fast. Clay too, has little capacity to support this microbiome. While I believe both of these could be improved with biochar, I have seen no practical, cost effective way to apply sufficient quantities in most field applications. That is why my first experimentation was with trees. You get very little true biocar from a kiln.
From what I saw on the old thread what Baker produced was truly biochar. In many cases, what I see is ash an partially burned wood. Not that these are bad, they will decompose and increase OM which is a good thing. Biochar is basically the remaining empty structure when all the organic matter is consumed. I did not see significant benefit with it from containerized trees. Since I can't find a way to make it economical and practical in a food plotting application, I've abandon it. It was a fun experiment.
Building OM from the top down on sand or clay soils by minimizing tillage and being smart about crop selection balancing C & N is a practical way to improve nutrient cycling that actually reduces cost by reducing lime and fertilizer requirements over time.
Thanks,
Jack
From what I saw on the old thread what Baker produced was truly biochar. In many cases, what I see is ash an partially burned wood. Not that these are bad, they will decompose and increase OM which is a good thing. Biochar is basically the remaining empty structure when all the organic matter is consumed. I did not see significant benefit with it from containerized trees. Since I can't find a way to make it economical and practical in a food plotting application, I've abandon it. It was a fun experiment.
Building OM from the top down on sand or clay soils by minimizing tillage and being smart about crop selection balancing C & N is a practical way to improve nutrient cycling that actually reduces cost by reducing lime and fertilizer requirements over time.
Thanks,
Jack
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