how long before becoming available in soil

[Wetdog]

Indeed black walnut is toxic to our beautiful plant, I keep hearing not to use hickory lump charcoal BUT I have been using it with excellent results for years before I read some saying not too... I suspect most nut tree wood would be best avoided, my nut tree leaves etc. kill anything that tries to grow under them....

I totally agree. What many don't seem to grasp is that fully completed lump charcoal is pretty much pure, inert, carbon. I've never noticed one iota of difference using lump charcoal from different hardwoods.

I've also never charged biochar and never noticed and deficiencys. I was using charcoal for orchid medium years before the internet and some ended up in the soil mixes for terrestials. It was something added without much further thought on advice from other rare plant growers in the area. SoFl is full of them. LOL

Now I wonder if the Inca's or Mayan's or whoever started with the biochar 2k years ago sat around discussing ways to charge it, or just added it to their gardens and went on about their business?

Wet

 

[GoRealUhGro]

I don't think.. Maybe im wrong... But i don't think with an good amended soil youre gonna see much deficiency With using uncharged char... I just like the idea of charging it with something i may want more of... Like i do with woodchunks...

 

[nobighurry]

I totally agree. What many don't seem to grasp is that fully completed lump charcoal is pretty much pure, inert, carbon. I've never noticed one iota of difference using lump charcoal from different hardwoods.

I've also never charged biochar and never noticed and deficiencys. I was using charcoal for orchid medium years before the internet and some ended up in the soil mixes for terrestials. It was something added without much further thought on advice from other rare plant growers in the area. SoFl is full of them. LOL

Now I wonder if the Inca's or Mayan's or whoever started with the biochar 2k years ago sat around discussing ways to charge it, or just added it to their gardens and went on about their business?

Wet

My other obsession is smoking meat, fish etc. I use alder sawdust in my smokers before I started saving the charred sawdust for plants, I notice everywhere I dump the used sawdust The veg responded very positive with no charging, I do still use EWC and or kelp tea on my lump charcoal I figure it cannot hurt...

 

[GoRealUhGro]

My other obsession is smoking meat, fish etc. I use alder sawdust in my smokers before I started saving the charred sawdust for plants, I notice everywhere I dump the used sawdust The veg responded very positive with no charging, I do still use EWC and or kelp tea on my lump charcoal I figure it cannot hurt...

yea.. My thoughts exactly.. What could it hurt..especially when you're not charging it with something super strong... I think kelp is always a good thing to charge it w... And ewc..

 

[cindysid]

I've just changed out all my carbon filters for new ones. I'm wondering how best to use the carbon in my soil. Would I need to charge it to prevent it from sequestering nitrogen?

 

[GoRealUhGro]

Apparently biochar needs charged or it can.. I hear both things.. Yes and no.. But with a heavily amended soil i doubt you will see much of anything happening... I could be wrong.... I would say a charge would be the safest thing anyhow... And like we were discussing... It could be charged with whatever u want or think u need a bit more of... Id say something like how i do my wood chunks would be great... Rabbit poop and kelp... They work reallly well together anyhow.... Shulby i think said he did a tea flr 10 days... I honestly say u wouldnt need ro even bubble it.. Wouldn't hurt... Grease was the one telling me no need to bubble my wood chunks.. Maybe the char is a lil diff.. So id play it safe and do it anyways

 

[GoRealUhGro]

I weigh out a lot of things like this and just simply think, what could it hurt.... We are all trying to out grow ourselves from the last grow.. Trying to make the best product we can.... So id say if doing something you're not sure about wouldnt hurt .. Then 99% of the time do it..especially if you see a benefit from it... Always good to ask though... Science can fool us sometimes and pull fast ones

 

[GoRealUhGro]

Maybe i didnt quite understand your q after rereading it lol im sorry