Been reading a lot of biochar literature lately. Picked up with quote from Andrew Jackson Dowling:
"Canals and railroads wrote a one-way ticket for soil fertility. They bring from the West millions of bushels of grain, and send not one fertilizing atom back to restore the land. And in this way we shall by-and-by make the fertile prairies as barren as some of the worn out farms of Virginia."
This prescient statement was made in 1851 prior to the dust bowl.
#grownostr #soil #permies
One question I always come to after creating #biochar is how does one know when it’s fully charged/inoculated without a microscope?
Followed back!!
From my understanding as long as it doesn't float, i.e. it is saturated with water, it is okay to use.
You can inoculate it by mixing it with compost or manure and letting it sit for two week, but some people skip that step.
Without inoculation it may stunt growth the first year but after that it will be fully functional.
Experiment with different ways and see what works for you.
I’ve been letting it just sit in rain water. I think you’re right though and just let experimentation be the indicator. Just don’t want to add uncharged to my new garden beds.
I put about 15% uninnoculated biochar in one of my pea beds and seed germination was great. The peas seem to be doing just fine with it so far.
We will see as the season progresses.
Very nice! I’ll throw some in my flower beds. Those are perennial so I know even if they suffer first they will explode next year
I have not made #biochar on purpose, but I have one of those Titanium portable rocket stoves, and when I terminate my cooking, I have a small amount of charred wood bits, some charcoal, some biochar and a little ash in various stages... I always dump it into a #10 can and add sand/soil on top to stop the burn - this gets added to my next soil mixing when I make my own posting mix.
As for exporting biomass, even on a microscopic level - it's a given in a "consumers will be mined for profit" environment!
