Subnostr

I have some bottle brush trees that I hate and are in a spot that I want to plant hazelnut trees.

I have two hazelnut tree sprouts in pots that I plan to put into the ground in 2 years. My idea is to cut down the bottlebrush trees and burn them down to charcoal and work into the soil for fertility for those future planting.

Is there anything special I need to do to make this work?

#biochar

#permies

#grownostr

Adeptus 1y ago

Time and patience, mostly.

Do you have a set fire pit for making your biochar or are you going to dig in and do it in-ground?

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Discussion

GHOST 1y ago

In place in ground.

Adeptus 1y ago

Then the usual time to let the wood and brush dry so you're not burning it green is the biggest issue.

(Of course that's my opinion. Any corrections/suggestions are welcome)

I do it as a shallow rectangular pit.

Pile up 1/2 to 3/4 of the material and light it.

As it begins to show the beginning of white ash forming on the top, ad more debris until it's all in the pit.

Once that starts to show embers/white ash on the edges, The smoke will be more billowy and white, then kind of yellow, then a thinner blue/grey. That's the stage I throw on soil and let it ride out until it self extinguished.

(I do know of people that use water to quench it at this stage)

This the technique I've used, but I'm sure there are several that work.