https://video.nostr.build/7d331e93298ccb2cf896469e749d15c8ee56eaebfa47bb04751ad1b17a1e8054.mp4
There are a lot of fancy ways to make Biochar, but I prefer the simple slash pile method.
We burn slash (dead branches) anyway to reduce hazardous fuels around our home, so why not make charcoal for the garden!?
Simply burn until the sticks become charcoal, spread it out and then extinguish the coals.
It can take some tending to move branches on the sides that aren't burning hot onto the pile.
Lots of people make biochar a science, but I tend to be more of an artist and KISS.
After the charcoal has cooled, I put it in compost, add it as a layer in lasagna beds, put in planting holes with trees in the winter or dig into beds I am tilling. Only then does it become biochar, once the microbes have inhabited it.
🔥 Please burn responsibly.
Have you made biochar before?
p.s. if you're wondering why the slash pile was so long, I am burning grass for a new raspberry bed.
#permaculture #permaculturegarden #biochar #sequestercarbon #gardenideas #homesteadskills #homesteader #sustainablegardening
I've read and heard many times that adding straight biochar without first loading with microbes can decrease garden output for a few years as the charcoal has massive capacity to absorb nutrients from the soil system. The best practice I've heard I'd to use something like KNF or some kind of fermentation to "preload" the char before adding it your garden.
Do you have any thoughts or experience with that?
you can even just use coal
no, more carbon means more places for soil bacteria to live and more active soil bacteria increases nutrient availability, on-demand, because simple salts just wash away or alter pH which is not what you want for most cases
like, for example, some plants really hate calcium levels being too high, and if that's your water supply (quite common) then by loading the soil with carbon you enable it to buffer that calcium so the plant isn't exposed to the chemical action but when it needs calcium it's available in colloidal form, thanks to microbial/fungal action
the exact main difference between a desert and a rainforest is carbon, and it's not necessary to bake it into charcoal, just the carbon, carbon is all you need
the soil is the iceberg below the water, and the plants are the part you can see
there is 9x as much more importance to the life under the soil than above it
taking culture from healthy soil is a good move tho
the carbon is essential but it's not going to substantially impede the health of the plants alone, unless the ambient bacteria are particularly out of balance.
making a soil culture is easy though, it's basically keep a bucket of water with malt (malt is the most broad spectrum feed for microbes and fungi) and an aquarium pump and that will 10000x your source of good soil microbes, and done
it does make a big difference too... there is a company in australia for 30 years now called Nutri-Tech Solutions that sells a kit to brew up good soil bacteria
i should also add that stuff like vermiculite and ion exchanger materials (other than carbon, which is this for nonpolar substances mainly) like zeolite also benefit plant health, but they do it also by buffering nutrients
i can't see how it is possible that adding carbon to the soil is harmful to any extent other than that the soil has been sterilised with shit like potassium chloride, that's a fairly common problem tho
more usually, there is so much phosphorus and calcium bound up from years of using superphosphate and gypsum that carbon actually unlocks the fertility of the soil, carbon, phosphorus and calcium are the most critical elements for plant fertility, calcium for stems, phos for flowers and seeds, and carbon to keep pH in a nice range with the help of bacteria and fungi
*superphosphate and lime - these turn *into* gypsum
Yes, its true. But it depends what time of year, where in the soil profile, how close to the roots it is and how much you add. I don't preload my char. I let nature do it. I don't get to heady about the science, that's just my style and it works well for me and my plants. 💚🤗
Also I should mention i usually tend to incorporate my "raw" charcoal in the soil in winter and by spring or summer when I'm planting its well innoculated. I also incorporate raw charcoal in the fall when I plant favas and garlic and it hasn't been a problem.
