Getting your seeds off to the best start this year

[Carbon Gold]

I noticed that VVG mentioned The Edible Garden Show earlier. If any of you are heading there please come and say hello. You will be able to chat to us in person then It's 15-17 March, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire.

[Carbon Gold]

I've read through all this thread and have come to the conclusion that although it sounds like a magical potion it is way too expensive for improving the soil of my 20 rod lottie.. So it'll be free llama poop, homemade compost, leaf mould and wood ash with a glug of comfrey tea thrown in for good measure .

Great to use what you have available locally binley100 and, even better, free natural resources! I don't happen to have any llamas near my allotment site But just wanted to add that rather than thinking of the soil improver as a blanket treatment for your whole site think of it as something that can boost homemade compost mixes in small amounts and as a valuable base dressing, sprinkled into seed drills and planting holes, to help plant root systems develop.

[Carbon Gold]

If there is truly a long term value from the 'Green' point of view in using Biochar, perhaps the Government should be looking to encourage farmers, allotment holders and gardeners to use these products by subsidising them.

If only you were in politics Sheneval The Australian Government are already paying farmers there to put biochar in the ground as part of their Carbon Farming Initiative - Carbon Farming Initiative Biochar Capacity Building Program - Grant Program Guidelines - Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

[Andromeda]

I love trials, I love looking at the results as well!

I have tried biochar in 2 locations, one where the soil was fairly poor and the other where I have been growing for some time (with the home made compost and mulches that involves). I found a significant improvement when used for the poorish soil, but no improvement at the second location (I was growing the same things in both places to keep the comparison fair).

Personally, I didn't consider the improvement to be value for money - someone with less experience/worse soil/less confidence/less time to dedicate may well find the outlay worth it.


This year's experiment is making my own seed compost mix and comparing the results...

[Sheneval]

If only you were in politics Sheneval The Australian Government are already paying farmers there to put biochar in the ground as part of their Carbon Farming Initiative - Carbon Farming Initiative Biochar Capacity Building Program - Grant Program Guidelines - Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Interesting - the Australians are quite often in the forefront when it comes to new ideas.

It just seems logical to me that, if the Green Lobby are serious, they should be promoting and encouraging the use of products that seem to meet their objectives.

Probably as well I am not in power. If I was and scientific research found the claims made by your Marketing Department to be untrue, I would support hanging as a mandatory punishment

[Feral007]

Sorry about that noise, I couldn't help snorting over some of those Aussies references you were all making! If they are subsidising something there will be something in it for them. Probably only subsidising farmers in marginals seats! Bluddy politicians don't get me started!

I couldn't help laughing when I saw Carbon Gold Expert's reply about ruffling some feathers.....so been in the chook house as well as the dog house?

I have a couple of things to say. One is that the Expert does seem to be pushing a lot of just the product. Prices weren't mentioned until other people had done the maths and over estimated the costs. Sorry but it's not really interesting listening to much the same thing over and over. In fact, in one long post (I'm a bit of a novelist too) every paragraph started Biochar.
I think the short way of saying it would be to say that you are being an expert in biochar.

If you could take the thread 'off topic' and just talk rubbish for a while, we'd probably all appreciate it because we like a bit of a laugh (altho there was that polly bit that was funny.)

And again, free samples. I'm a bit of an expert in free samples atm. I was calling different companies about their organic/mineral/testing products/services for the farming/gardening section of our markets.
A few companies sent me electronic information which I could print up at great cost to me. Quite a few companies pretend that local advertising is not important, so don't even send an automated reply. Some posted some things. Some said the would and didn't.
One company sent me 100 single sachet free samples of each of their 3 products with accompanying brochures.
Altho our markets were very nearly rained out I still gave out over half of those free samples. People were keeping their hands behind their back, until I held them out saying FREE, really FREE! Then they couldn't keep their hands to themselves!
The thing is, that there are over 50 people locally who will be putting those products to the test right about now. And if they do what they say they do..........there'll be over 50 people who will be beating down the doors of the local gardening and farming retailers. I'm not trying to teach your advertising dept how to suck eggs but.............the same company told me (as we were in a fire situation at the time I spoke to them) that they had donated hundreds of bottles of a product during the last fires. Everyone who attended a charity to access financial, clothing and accommodation help could pick up a free bottle of their product to get their garden going again.

What would it cost the company to donate 10 small amounts to several allotments. 5 to newbies, 5 to experienced growers. If it did good, they might become co operative about sourcing it cheaper.
People love freebies............gardeners ADORE freebies.

[alldigging]

What would it cost the company to donate 10 small amounts to several allotments. 5 to newbies, 5 to experienced growers. If it did good, they might become co operative about sourcing it cheaper.
People love freebies............gardeners ADORE freebies.

It would be a great way of getting some real feedback and showing that they are interested in being part of the forum.
Whilst I appreciate marketing and exposure via gardening forums is important for companies, and that advertising revenue is important for forums, it shouldn't distract from the quality of the forum.
I do think the sig file is a bit excessively long - they could have less blurb and perhaps a link to one page where they could stuff it full of info. That way if people want to go and read about it they can.

We don't know how long they're going to be experts for - or what terms have been put on their involvement as part of their contract so it's unfair of us to demand changes that might already be in stone.

[Mikey]

So how does biochar differ from wood ash, as far as the atmosphere is concerned?. How much less CO2 is created by making biochar over just burning wood and adding the ash to the allotment.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Mickey what you forget is that people who use wood ash from their fires have already had one major benefit HEAT and are then recycling the remains to get a further benefit from the process.

That would seem a damn site greener to me than just burning wood to make ASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Colin

[Carbon Gold]

So how does biochar differ from wood ash, as far as the atmosphere is concerned?. How much less CO2 is created by making biochar over just burning wood and adding the ash to the allotment.

Hello. The difference is that wood ash from an open fire will have a low carbon content because all the carbon has been burnt off into the atmosphere. It's great to add to your compost heap but it's not the same thing. The process of making biochar by pyrolosis locks in carbon. It varies according to production methods and feedstock (wood used), but is typically between 70% and 90% carbon. So making a tonne of biochar is around 3 tonnes of CO2 sequestered (locked away).

[veggiechicken]

So making a tonne of biochar is around 3 tonnes of CO2 sequestered (locked away).

How many tonnes of wood would be burnt to make a tonne of biochar please?

[Carbon Gold]

How many tonnes of wood would be burnt to make a tonne of biochar please?

It's around 5 tonnes of wood for a tonne of biochar - but depends on the feedstock and how dense the wood is.

[veggiechicken]

Thanks for your quick reply! I'm now trying to imagine 5 tonnes of wood or even, how big a tree is that! I find it helps me put things in perspective

[bearded bloke]

That would depend VC on what variety of tree,would be a heck of a big Balsa tree

[veggiechicken]

Just trying to get my head around it BB (not literally!) How many tonnes of a wood would a mature ash tree yield? I happen to have a few of those!!