Biochar

[rary]

I am thinking of using biochar in my veg beds, and was wondering if anyone has tried using biochar in their garden, and if so is there any noticeable benifit from it

[Snoop Puss]

I've never used it, but it used to be used a lot in this area before manmade fertilisers came on the scene. How will you be making it? I went to a demonstration of charcoal making a few years ago. Apparently the stuff that was too small to be used as fuel went on the land. I think our forestry agent would have something to say about us making our own here.

[rary]

I will be making the charcoal by using two empty bean tins, one will have a hole drilled in the centre of the bottom this is for the vent, four sits cut into it at the open end of the same tin thi's is to allow the open end to be squeezed to fit inside the other can, fill the cans with organic material, fit together and place on a fire with the vent hole upwards. I use bean tins as I can fit them into my fire, you can of course use larger tins or tins with tight lids as long as it keeps oxygen out and vented for the gasses to escape, I made some char using orange peel roots and tops of onions and cabbage stems, basically things that I don't like putting onto the compost and it worked, I then put the char into a tub and added worm juice then covered it to prevent rain getting in, I also bought a bag of charcoal, I got one chemical free, in other words, char that hadn't been primed for quick ignition, crushed the char (I should have waited and got OH out with her crutches to walk over it) then put the crushed char into a container and added nettle, comfrey and seaweed tea, to charge the char, any organic liquid feed can be used or you could add it to your garden compost, where it will draw in neutrants from that, this will be added to the garden in the spring, I don't think the nutrients would be washed out over winter, but why run the risk.
I would suggest you look up biochar on the Internet and of course the name of a big London store sells biochar

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks, rary. That's very different to the way it's made and used here. Sounds like it should be very effective in the garden with all those nutrients.

[rary]

Snoop if there is any sign of char in your ground, try soaking the ground with a organic tea, it could be from weeds soaked, compost tea or adle, I think any organic feed will encourage microbes, and from what I can find, ground where chemical feeds are used are a bit sparse of microbes, and of course if you do use the tea you don't dig the ground as the microbes exist in the top three or four inches of soil, when you turn the soil you are burieing them and they then have to recolonize the top layer of soil

[rary]

Just back on to say urine is another very good organic feed, which could be collected from any farm with livestock or any other source you may think of

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks, Rary. No biochar made on our land since we've been here and probably not during the previous owner's time, as he abandoned it due to ill health. Been adding organic matter like nobody's business from assorted sources (cows, sheep, rabbits and horses, as well as hay), but the repeated flooding has meant it hasn't really benefited as much as I'd hoped. Or perhaps it has and the soil would have been much worse without it. What I do add is hardwood ash from our woodburning stoves where I think the plants will benefit from it (i.e. not the potato beds but definitely the toms, pepeprs and aubergines).

[rary]

As you have wood burning stoves try collecting any small bits of charcoal and once you have a bucket full make some adle (an organic tea usually made from rabbit or sheep's droppings) then add your charcoal to it and leave for about a month, this is to allow the charcoal to absorb the liquid, then work it into a small area of the soil, preferably where you don't get good results, then see if it improves your yield, really it costs you nothing, so worth the trying

[Nicos]

Interesting thread Rary.

[Snoop Puss]

Do you have any veg or ornamental plants you wouldn't feed using biochar, rary?

[rary]

Do you have any veg or ornamental plants you wouldn't feed using biochar, rary?

As I have just started with it Snoop I can't answer that, I wouldn't use it with any plants that survive in poor soil, like a flower meddow or similar, on finding information about biochar, it would appear that all veg thrive on it as well as trees, and just for information, I put some orange peel as well as a couple of tangerines, onion roots and a bit of wood into the cans last night, I will take a photo of the results and post it after

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks, rary. I'll follow your progress with interest. Hope it works well for you.

[rary]

[rary]

The above photos show the cans that I use as a retort, than the materials inside the third is the tangerines opened which shows that they would be better halved, the fourth is the contents emptied out the cans, there is some fine ash showing which I think would be from the onion peel which is possibly too thin to make char
some day I might be able to get the photos in order and on the same post as the information