Getting your seeds off to the best start this year

[bearded bloke]

I must say it is nice to see this thread is turning into a "normal" vine type discussion

[veggiechicken]

It had to happen, sooner or later.....

[bearded bloke]

Just hope OP gets this far & see's we are basically a friendly lot

[veggiechicken]

I hope they muck in with the rest of us and become part of this friendly, funny and very knowledgable community. I have great hopes that they will

[Sheneval]

I hope they muck in with the rest of us and become part of this friendly, funny and very knowledgable community. I have great hopes that they will

That sounds like the 'kiss of death'

[Newton]

I have been googling and youtubing......biochar.......quite fascinating and enlightening. Seems like carbon gold might be onto something rather good.

There seem to be many benefits of adding charcoal to your soil.......and it is interesting to see how it is done. The big biochar experiment is good reading.

So I've learned a lot. I would like to produce my own rather than buy it at what seem to be quite expensive prices........seems like I need some steel drums!

There is extensive information out there in google land. And I look forward to hearing more from carbon gold on here........

I would love a free trial???

Off to other threads now.......seems like sponsored advertising works........in this instance.......certainly for product awareness.

[Sheneval]

I agree - like you I have been following the subject online and I suspect there are considerable benefits to be gained by its use, particulalry if your soil is poor. I am a bit puzzled by their pricing as the gains from buying bigger quantities are considerably greater in proportion than you would expect from any other garden product. Almost as if the small grower is an extension of their normal business and they haven't quite got their pricing right for that market.

[Carbon Gold]

Nice to have so many comments and queries on our first few days on this forum. I’d just like to clarify Carbon Gold’s position as the ‘Soil Expert’ as we seem to have ruffled a few feathers amongst the more positive responses.

We’re here to represent our new and natural range of GroChar products, which are all biochar-based, peat-free and Soil Association approved. Our ‘expert’ status is based within the available science and evidence of using biochar as a soil amendment and may call on the experience of professional growers who have experience of using biochar. We are also amateur growers so may call on our own limited experience from time to time too!

One of the queries was asking about biochar. In short, biochar is a form of charcoal that has been used for millennia to improve soil nutrition and growing conditions. It can be made from any woody biomass that has been charred at a low temperature with a restricted supply of oxygen, a process called pyrolysis. As well as being a useful soil amendment, biochar can reduce atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide when buried in the ground.

At Carbon Gold we are working towards getting as much biochar in the ground as possible for both the health of our climate and health of our soils. This is one of the reasons we branched out into the horticultural sector.

I recently saw biochar described as ‘the oldest new thing you've never heard of’ which I thought was quite apt! Knowledge of biochar and the benefits of adding it to soil have been around for millennia. Studies of soil at sites throughout the Amazon Basin suggest that ancient Amazonian civilisations made a primitive type of biochar and added it to their soils to help grow their food. The result was a rich and fertile black earth - or ‘terra preta’ - with a high carbon content, which is still evident today.

[Carbon Gold]

Another interested article about biochar in the Financial Times here from 2009 - Black is the new green - FT.com

[Bigmallly]

Forgive me if I have missundertood but are you here to give advice to members with poor soil condition or merely to promote your product?

[WendyC]

I'm still a tad confused about the initial question (nothing new there you may say). Seeds have enough nutrients to get themselves started so is the question " What will we be sowing our seeds in" or "What will we be growing our plants in once potted on".............

Keep trawling through this thread but can't see if this question has ever been answered.

[Bigmallly]

I would not swap my soil for anything, I am just intrigued as to the answer that would be given (as an expert in this field) to members with clay soil.............without the addition of grochar.

[alldigging]

The addition of biochar to the amazon soil - whether it through natural fires or deliberate actions by man (fire is a way of clearing forest whether accidental or otherwise) doesn't add organic matter to the soil in the way that leaves falling and becoming a natural mulch would.
There are some plants that require a fire to grow in the forest - whether it's cos the seeds need a strong heat first or just some space caused by a fire ..?

Huglekulture uses wood in a pre-charcoal state to enrich the soil with organic matter.
Mulching with woodchip is just very shallow huglekulture.

[veggiechicken]

I'd like to ask a question that the Soil Expert will be able to answer!
What would be the application rate and cost of using Grochar on a 10 Rod allotment?

[Carbon Gold]

Its long been known that charcoal 'sweetens' compost and as far as I know has been used in bulb compost where bulbs are grown in pots without drainage holes for ages.
After having a look at some of the video's it appears to be a way of utilising a waste product (twigs and branches) and creating a useable soil conditioner from it.
I can't seem to find a stated N-P-K for it so assume its not a fertiliser?
It keeps being stressed that this is NOT charcoal but from what I can see it IS charcoal made from various woods?

I personally like the idea of the longevity of it and of course its organic. I don't know whether this is the case or not, but it appears to create work for small woodland enterprises as well, or am I seeing a glossed over image?

Hello Snadger. You're right in thinking that we use waste woody biomass to make our biochar which otherwise would have rotted or been burnt and CO2 released back into the atmosphere. Biochar is essentially a form of charcoal that can be used as a soil conditioner. It is is made at lower temperatures than charcoal, which results in a higher carbon content. It doesn’t need to be made from hardwoods, as barbeque charcoal does, and can be used in much smaller pieces or powder – known as ‘fines’ - rather than lumps.

It does indeed have the potential of creating work for small woodland enterprises, as does traditional charcoal making. We've got one of our kilns going into a National Trust woodland in March which we're really excited about - Nymans Estate.

The soil improver is not a fertiliser as you say it doesn't have a stated NPK, it is 90% biochar (typically 70-90% carbon content) activated with seaweed, mycorrhizal and wormcasts. We do make a fertiliser with biochar in it.