I get a lot of biochar from sticks & branches that fall or are cut on my property.
I let them build up & then do a burn.
Discussion
Yeah it's fuel and biochar for the stuff I am cutting now. Just genuinely suprised how dense they are as it grows fast. Probably grows as fast as elderberry but the wood of that is pithy and horrible to burn. Perhaps I will cut some black locust of a similar size and to try to compared strength and fuel potential.
Best I've seen for bio char has been bamboo. It's a bit shit as a fuel though.
I planted a lot of ice cream bean for the nitrogen fixing & mulch about a year ago. They really didn't grown as quickly as I had expected. I think once they're established they'd grow almost as quick as black locust but without the spikes. They don't like frosts though, so not great if you get those.
My elderberry is due for a prune so I'll be planting cuttings from that. I was surprised by how quickly that grew in a single season. I think elderberry stems were used as straws back in the day.
Ice cream bean won't work here looked into that a while ago, sounds cool though. Elder is a like a weed tree here I think some of the association we have with witches living inside them is because its such as bad firewood. I think you are right they were used for straws.
I need to do a specific bamboo burn but it keeps try to escape next door rather than growing on property not sure what I have done to offend it 😆
I heard that bamboo got it's name from the sound it makes on the fire. It certainly lets off quite the bang when those segments pop under steam pressure.
I grow the clumping varieties that seem to stay mostly in place. They certainly produce a lot of biomass in a small space. The char produced is very easy to crush very small (another bonus).
Makes sense, never heard of that 😁. I have only clumping ones but they still like next door 🤷♂️. I have a the strongest bamboo, the Japanese make arrows from it and the giant moso one too, but that one is struggling a little bit as its not in the best place for it.