Has anyone used Biochar?

[dirtgirl]

I've just been reading about this and it sounds amazing, anything that helps my crops and could help to slow down climate change would be amazing. So, I'm curious, has anyone used it yet, and what did you find?

[dirtgirl]

Forgot to say, I came across it first on a new site People Fund - People Fund which I think is a brilliant idea, and I'm definitely tempted to pledge to it, along with a couple of others. Looking further into it, I came across The Big Biochar Experiment, GET STARTED - The Big Biochar Experiment and they need people to use it and report back their findings, good and bad (they give a bag of Biochar to you so that you can do this) which some of you might be interested in

[veggiechicken]

I saw the People Fund project too. It sounds very interesting. I'm not organised enough to do a trial of Biochar (even with a free bag) but I may pledge some money and have a bag that way.

[Aberdeenplotter]

very interesting

[zazen999]

I have heard of it, but I'm going to be trying the method rather than getting hold of a bag of it. As it is a method - rather than a product...

Make Biochar

I have invested in a company like this, although not on that website [mine was in the USA]; and I helped the company get their tooling sorted, received my item [a new pinhole lens for Micro 4/3 cameras] and the item is on general sale now. So I love this sort of idea.

[Potstubsdustbins]

The new charcoal. I read about this sometime ago and at first I was very interested but after further research I began to have doubts.

Not about whether it would be good as a soil improver but about the other claims made for the product.

One article I read was by George Monsiot (I think thats how you spell it) in the Guardian. In it he decribes how the claims made for biochar make the Atkins diet look healthy. One of the proponents of the scheme a Peter Read advocates that the world should use 1.4Bn hectares for the purpose of the scheme as we only have 1.36Bn hectares of arable land in the world someone's going to go hungry.

More reading for me I think before I go down this route.

Colin

[solway cropper]

I'm with Colin on this one. Anything that makes the sort of claims that biochar seems to be making should be treated with a little caution. It is, after all just another soil improver and I already have wood ash, seaweed, compost and animal manures so I can't really see it making much difference to my soil. On unimproved land it probably will make a difference but then so would just about anything and not many of us garden on unimproved land anyway. Wearing my cynics hat I'd say someone has got a research grant for the biochar project by throwing in the magic words 'climate change'

[planetologist]

There's a whole issue of a scientific journal that has just come out about this, Plant and Soil. It does sound as if it helps, especially in combination with nutrient additions.
Plant and Soil
Free download until 31 December.

[chris]

I like the idea of people fund it (I already invest in (ethical) p2p lending projects) so will have a further read!

[dirtgirl]

Thanks for the links, it's good to read about the supposed benefits from more than one source. I also understand people's reservations about all of the claims, but I could do with some soil improver, so think I will make a pledge on that basis, and hope that it's doing good for the climate too

[planetologist]

>and hope that it's doing good for the climate too
If you make it at home from waste organic matter, or as a byproduct of a wood stove that sits in a room where the central heating radiators are off, sure. But if they make it in Oxfordshire by an industrial process and then have to send it to Surrey, I doubt it.

[smc999]

^
There is no doubt that climate change is a reality but the impact that we as a species are having is debatable. Considering that various parts of the globe have gone from deserts to frozen wastes for periods of time I know my own feelings on the subject.

[planetologist]

smc999, since we both use the word doubt, but use it in completely different contexts, I just want to clarify what I am doubting.

I have about as much doubt that there is human made climate change as that there is gravity (leaving the ladder one may fall upward). The IPCC says there is convincing evidence that climate change is human made, and no alternative evidence whatever that can explain all the different strands of global change that are happening. You only need a brief glance at the thoroughness of the IPCC reports and the procedure by which they are put together to see that this is a group of several thousand scientist, who are used to qualify every statement, saying that this is very likely. I can recommend
The Copenhagen Diagnosis
which is only 60 pages, and very readable, for a brief glimpse.

What I was doubting is whether using biochar that has been made by an industrial process and not exactly locally would be a good thing to use in order to mitigate climate change. Chances are that it will make it worse.

[vegman23]

Hi does any one know how much this soil improver is, because basically that's what it is ,
i think it will cost a lot more than manure . how many bags for average allotment ,we have been told in the past about miracle seaweed extracts think i will stay with the manure for now

[zazen999]

Hi does any one know how much this soil improver is, because basically that's what it is ,
i think it will cost a lot more than manure . how many bags for average allotment ,we have been told in the past about miracle seaweed extracts think i will stay with the manure for now

Free if you make it yourself. Hence posting the link above.