The Buzz On Biochar In Peat-Moss Based Media Mixes

[Somatek]

i think the only REAL reason it was used to begin with and then adapted, was for breaking new ground, building an airy soil quickly, adding potash etc with added benefit of "sequestering carbon" i could be wrong, and would love to see some side by sides of a mix with perlite and with perlite plus biochar. this spending 50$ for a bag that has been shipped from 1000km away is silly, and not what the concept was developed for. is dark carbon rich soil good? yup.. but little hype me thinks.. ive been wrong before!

The interest in biochar started with looking at terra preta, the only rich soil deposits in the amazon which were created thousands of years ago (most likely by clear cutting, burning and then mixing the charcoal into the soil). The early studies showed it greatly increased soil fertility as well as texture and microbial activity, there's a video from cornell about field studies looking at biochar by itself, fertilized crops and a control crop where biochar grew almost as well as the fertilized crop (roughly twice as big as the control without anything done). Which is what I saw with my first experience with it while living on my friends farm up north. I built him a new outhouse while up there, so we dragged the old one into the field and burned it before they got tilled. The oats grew twice as high that year where it got mixed in, you could see a noticeable bump in the crop about 5' square lol. I've used it ever since, although I don't buy the fancy stuff just uncharged and soak it myself (usually a slurry of worm castings, water and biochar).

 

[YellowCanaryConsulting]

The Organics industry is 100% marketing of scrap products at this point. Instead of turning greasy painted up blue pallets into sawdust, they burn it and call it soil conditioner.

 

[clearheaded]

smoke does not equal co2 btw. smoke is carbon and other particulate matter not gas issue is majority is specifically made JUST for biochar as many have wanted to do in this thread just burn wood JUST for biochar. silly. yes use waste, but dont ship it from 10000s of miles away where they are actually burning wood for fuel. ALSO by supporting such things it makes it visable to continue to use wood as fuel source on industrial scale.

my point is folks really need to think about what biochar is and what it isn't. if off grid and use wood to heat ur house, great use the charcoal.

yup peat isnt the greatest either and often burnt after one use in greenhouses. yes its better to go source some flax that they burn in the feild anyway and use that as a medium that airy.

is biochar good or specific people in certain locations? sure. but its not a miracle and the point was to find use for waste, not to burn wood JUST to make biochar as many here have indicated they want to do. 0 sense.

you build yourself a heavily organic soil plenty of spots for life to live and plenty of air and water movement.

just please dont make biochar JUST to make biochar or purchase stuff that isnt a waste product and shipped 1000s of km and pay a crazy amount of $ for it. not only bad for environment u wont see enough benefit for it to be worth it infact can make things worse.

some of you say i should educate myself on biochar i encourage u to look up the original research and why it was developed/purposed. promise its not burn wood just to make biochar lol.

 

[Somatek]

smoke does not equal co2 btw. smoke is carbon and other particulate matter not gas issue is majority is specifically made JUST for biochar as many have wanted to do in this thread just burn wood JUST for biochar. silly. yes use waste, but dont ship it from 10000s of miles away where they are actually burning wood for fuel. ALSO by supporting such things it makes it visable to continue to use wood as fuel source on industrial scale.

my point is folks really need to think about what biochar is and what it isn't. if off grid and use wood to heat ur house, great use the charcoal.

yup peat isnt the greatest either and often burnt after one use in greenhouses. yes its better to go source some flax that they burn in the feild anyway and use that as a medium that airy.

is biochar good or specific people in certain locations? sure. but its not a miracle and the point was to find use for waste, not to burn wood JUST to make biochar as many here have indicated they want to do. 0 sense.

you build yourself a heavily organic soil plenty of spots for life to live and plenty of air and water movement.

just please dont make biochar JUST to make biochar or purchase stuff that isnt a waste product and shipped 1000s of km and pay a crazy amount of $ for it. not only bad for environment u wont see enough benefit for it to be worth it infact can make things worse.

some of you say i should educate myself on biochar i encourage u to look up the original research and why it was developed/purposed. promise its not burn wood just to make biochar lol.

One of the big interests in biochar is that it can be made from ag waste products and its a carbon negative way to generate energy, it doesn't have to be made from wood and can be produced locally anywhere that there's agriculture happening (ie everywhere). To make biochar you need biomass (can be manure) and low oxygen combustion which generates carbon monoxide and biochar, when CO is mixed with oxygen it becomes a fuel that co-generates energy and heat with the byproducts being CO2 and water; basically perfect for a greenhouse. There's actually one in Peterborough that's been using a biochar generator for years now. You've really got the wrong idea about it, it's a much more sustainable way to farm as you can eliminate waste while creating a valuable soil amendment that reduces the need for fertilizers while building soil (profitable as most of the demand is for field crops not home growers) as well as heat/energy in a carbon negative way. There's lots of info from Cornell or the university of Guelph about it's use in sustainable agriculture or permaculture sites like permies.com have all sorts of info about it.

 

[Somatek]

The Organics industry is 100% marketing of scrap products at this point. Instead of turning greasy painted up blue pallets into sawdust, they burn it and call it soil conditioner.

Anyone can make their own biochar or people have simply bought lump charcoal if they can't dig a pit in their backyard and the research about how to make/use it is all over the web for free. While I generally agree that most organic products are over marketed, over hyped and more about generating profits the core of organics is exactly this kind of product that turns waste byproduct into valuable inputs, while generating energy/heat in a carbon negative way. The fact some places charge exorbitant amounts for it just highlights their greed, not a problem with biochar.

 

[MrBreeze911]

View attachment 18744486

Roughly what I recommend.
The yellow is everywhere there is a cut or a hole.
The green is the top 1/3 of a 2nd barrel with the lid kept on. Make those cuts so you can flare out metal tabs that allow you to sit that barrel on top of the pink barrel.
Cut a hole in the center of the top of the green barrel and also use that tab method to make tabs which fold up and outward to put a smaller metal chimney on top.
Now stuff your barrel and stand back because you might get a 15' fighter jet stream of fire roaring out of that pipe like I do.
Also the as seen on TV thing is a joke.

Haha right on xet. So I guess I just need an angle grinder, right? I have unibits, drills, drill attachments to cut 1.5 in holes, 2.5 in holes

 

[MrBreeze911]

View attachment 18744486

Roughly what I recommend.
The yellow is everywhere there is a cut or a hole.
The green is the top 1/3 of a 2nd barrel with the lid kept on. Make those cuts so you can flare out metal tabs that allow you to sit that barrel on top of the pink barrel.
Cut a hole in the center of the top of the green barrel and also use that tab method to make tabs which fold up and outward to put a smaller metal chimney on top.
Now stuff your barrel and stand back because you might get a 15' fighter jet stream of fire roaring out of that pipe like I do.
Also the as seen on TV thing is a joke.

I also have a hacksaw and tin snips for about up to 16 gauge steel.

 

[MrBreeze911]

I'm just going to use all of the dead brush on my property to make biochar with.

 

[xet]

Haha right on xet. So I guess I just need an angle grinder, right? I have unibits, drills, drill attachments to cut 1.5 in holes, 2.5 in holes

Yeah that is all I used is an angle grinder. The stuff cuts like butter, go slow if you don't want that steel to eat up your carbon fiber. You can do triangles to speed it up just 3 cuts for your "hole" I pointed my triangles one direction to make an air whirling effect. Scrap wood, logs, leaves, grass, a lot of things to burn

 

[clearheaded]

The Organics industry is 100% marketing of scrap products at this point. Instead of turning greasy painted up blue pallets into sawdust, they burn it and call it soil conditioner.

lol...

The interest in biochar started with looking at terra preta, the only rich soil deposits in the amazon which were created thousands of years ago (most likely by clear cutting, burning and then mixing the charcoal into the soil). The early studies showed it greatly increased soil fertility as well as texture and microbial activity, there's a video from cornell about field studies looking at biochar by itself, fertilized crops and a control crop where biochar grew almost as well as the fertilized crop (roughly twice as big as the control without anything done). Which is what I saw with my first experience with it while living on my friends farm up north. I built him a new outhouse while up there, so we dragged the old one into the field and burned it before they got tilled. The oats grew twice as high that year where it got mixed in, you could see a noticeable bump in the crop about 5' square lol. I've used it ever since, although I don't buy the fancy stuff just uncharged and soak it myself (usually a slurry of worm castings, water and biochar).

lol thousands of years ago, in amazon, clearcutting u say.. just kiding but amazon farming wasnt thaaat widespread

remember they CHARGED the biochar otherwise would strip the N out. so no, please dont be fooled. yes it works as use for waste 100%. no doubt easy way to instant add carbon, but comes at expense of effort and extra additives.

at what point does enough additives = soil? again seems like perspective is a little off and need to ask what are u trying to do? synthetic or organic. while yes a few extras with synthetic can help, at a point ur not getting the best of either.. remember if want biochar for microbes calcium nitrate doesnt play well with diverse microbes.

yes in theory the concept is great using waste. but majority u buy or if burning wood just or biochar defeates its purpose. why burn manure when compost is just fine? unless producing power. but is anyone here doing that? again, certain situations, awesome. 99% hype that's more harm than good as again huge waste of money at hydro store.

 

[clearheaded]

One of the big interests in biochar is that it can be made from ag waste products and its a carbon negative way to generate energy, it doesn't have to be made from wood and can be produced locally anywhere that there's agriculture happening (ie everywhere). To make biochar you need biomass (can be manure) and low oxygen combustion which generates carbon monoxide and biochar, when CO is mixed with oxygen it becomes a fuel that co-generates energy and heat with the byproducts being CO2 and water; basically perfect for a greenhouse. There's actually one in Peterborough that's been using a biochar generator for years now. You've really got the wrong idea about it, it's a much more sustainable way to farm as you can eliminate waste while creating a valuable soil amendment that reduces the need for fertilizers while building soil (profitable as most of the demand is for field crops not home growers) as well as heat/energy in a carbon negative way. There's lots of info from Cornell or the university of Guelph about it's use in sustainable agriculture or permaculture sites like permies.com have all sorts of info about it.

again yes in specific instances its fine, but my point is folks are burning wood JUST for biochar which is crazy. or BUYING it shipped in for purpose made biochar ie no power being made etc. so again, just would be better off composting it. its a niche thing that most people shouldn't even worry about. toss ur camp fire ashes on ur plants and call it a day lol

what is possible and what its being used for by 95% of people are very different things. folks just need to think about what they are specifically after. burning wood just for biochar is not only a waste but counter productive ie net loss of nutrients on ur farm. as u see most people want to build fancy things JUST to burn wood to make biochar.. lol madness! THATS my whole point, not what can be done with waste, but folks making waste just for biochar lol. 0 logic.

 

[pjlive]

This is a thread on the topic of the use of various grades and types (forms) of biochar in soilless hydroponic grow set-ups. Specifically, the use of inoculated and active biochar in combination with a Peat Moss based media. There is also an aside intention of discovering if it can be used as a replacement for Peat so we can leave those carbon sinks out there doing what they do best in nature.

Deep biochar discussions can have their own threads elsewhere.

Thanks.

 

[pjlive]

I'm just going to use all of the dead brush on my property to make biochar with.

I'm thinking of doing this as well. But a pointer by @F2F has opened up a pretty big doorway into a very new world of biochar amendments. As he alludes to in his pointer, many of these biochars come ready-to-go with all sorts of goodies pre-inoculated into the batches. Lately, when trying to research here and there, I've been finding more and more information on these types of amendments. It's a tricky deal overall because almost all of the manufaturers of this type of char are marketing to large scale operations. It is very hard to find information aimed at smaller scale growers. It's even harder to find good info on growers of cannabis.

But, the biochar beat goes on... I'm still very excited to try it whether I end up making my own or buying a small bag of ready-to-go pellets.

 

[Somatek]

lol...


lol thousands of years ago, in amazon, clearcutting u say.. just kiding but amazon farming wasnt thaaat widespread

remember they CHARGED the biochar otherwise would strip the N out. so no, please dont be fooled. yes it works as use for waste 100%. no doubt easy way to instant add carbon, but comes at expense of effort and extra additives.

at what point does enough additives = soil? again seems like perspective is a little off and need to ask what are u trying to do? synthetic or organic. while yes a few extras with synthetic can help, at a point ur not getting the best of either.. remember if want biochar for microbes calcium nitrate doesnt play well with diverse microbes.

yes in theory the concept is great using waste. but majority u buy or if burning wood just or biochar defeates its purpose. why burn manure when compost is just fine? unless producing power. but is anyone here doing that? again, certain situations, awesome. 99% hype that's more harm than good as again huge waste of money at hydro store.

What makes you think they charged the biochar before growing on the land in the original use of terra preta? We don't actually know what they were doing and when I burned my buddies outhouse down there was nothing done other then burn and plow it into the ground which still caused the growth to double in the dry farmed field (no external inputs/fertilizers used). I can't remember the UoG field studies done in New Liskeard talking about charging the biochar either but simply adding it to the fields. We're talking about different things though, I'm talking about the science behind biochar vs you talking about the common practices of people. Which like you said often are prone to being exploited by marketing and don't make sense from a practical/sustainable point of view. I don't necessarily disagree, it just seems like you're throwing the baby out with the bath water as biochar can be a functional, sustainable input regardless of whether people are equally being exploited because of their minimal understanding of the subject.

 

[Somatek]

I'm thinking of doing this as well. But a pointer by @F2F has opened up a pretty big doorway into a very new world of biochar amendments. As he alludes to in his pointer, many of these biochars come ready-to-go with all sorts of goodies pre-inoculated into the batches. Lately, when trying to research here and there, I've been finding more and more information on these types of amendments. It's a tricky deal overall because almost all of the manufaturers of this type of char are marketing to large scale operations. It is very hard to find information aimed at smaller scale growers. It's even harder to find good info on growers of cannabis.

But, the biochar beat goes on... I'm still very excited to try it whether I end up making my own or buying a small bag of ready-to-go pellets.

The way I think about it is that microbial colonies usually tend to stabalize based on the microbes around them (it's a common topic in sourdough baking where people argue whether buying "special" starters makes a difference), so I assume the same thing will happen with biochar. The microbes in your soils/teas will eventually out populate any initial colonies established based on the conditions in your soil, so I doubt it really makes much difference. Although I grow in a soil with worms/etc, if you're growing in an inert media then it could make a difference unless you use a lot of microbial products alread. It's not like you'll be reusing the soil allowing the biochar time to develop colonies naturally.

 

[F2F]

my holes were ~40% native soil, promix and perlite made up the balance. Used a lot of marine cuisine and cavern culture ferts in those holes for ~2yrs, both have come along bennies. Would be interesting to look at microbe profiles in the native soil versus my holes after working them for a couple years.

Peace
F2F

 

[pjlive]

my holes were ~40% native soil, promix and perlite made up the balance. Used a lot of marine cuisine and cavern culture ferts in those holes for ~2yrs, both have come along bennies. Would be interesting to look at microbe profiles in the native soil versus my holes after working them for a couple years.

Peace
F2F

When I read, "...marine cuisine" I had to smile. Over the past bunch of days I've been focusing my attention on aquatic microbes. I don't have links saved, but as I get deeper into this maybe I'll post some.

This is going to come off as "nuts" (it would have to because I'm a lifelong Platinum Card member) but over the years the more I've learned about cannabis the more I wonder if at one time the plant was completely submerged -- an anaerobic plant like seaweed. At some point in time the plant was forced into an aerobic, terrestrial environment where it eventually adapted and welcomed both free oxygen and abundant direct sunlight.

Yep. Nuts! But it's one of my daydream theories!

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Until I can design a system that also efficiently uses the heat for some other task, I'll use biochar pre made by others. The charging I'll do myself, thanks. lol

Anerobic... ok lol

 

[BOMBAYCAT]

Any updates on your work with Biochar? The general consensus is that it seems to work. Amazonian Terra Prieta (Biochar) is thousands of years old though so I won't see those benefits LOL. I ran out of precharged Biochar so I will have to make some more.

 

[slownickel]

Success or failure of using biochar comes from the biochar being pHed correctly. Biochar that comes from organic material that is grown in alkaline soil, is alkaline. The same for organic material that comes from acid soil, the biochar is acidic. This is why so many folks see no or even negative response from biochar applications quite often. Both must be buffered. Some use KOH, I recommend lime to raise the pH of acidic biochar. Alkaline biochar needs to be hit with acid. Phosphoric acid is the normal go to I believe. Like most Carbon sources (magnets), they should be used as such and not as nutrient sources. This means adding your calcium and phosphorus to OM so that you can maintain availability to the plant even in times of drought by changing the base from water to humus. Thus not requiring water for uptake.