Biochar Charging Question

CanandianMojo · Jan 11, 2021

Good afternoon folks,

I make my own organic soil and I think I have my recipe spot on. It is gentle enough for an auto seed directly in the soil but strong enough for a photo clone with 4-week veg and full 8-10 flower with water and some molasses here and there.

I want to add biochar for overall soil and plant health. After all the stuff I have read, this biochar is a must in any organic soil.
I was thinking of adding it at an 8 to 10 % ratio.

If I put it in Uncharged into the mineral soil for the 3 to 4-week composting process will my soil be weaker overall for a few months until it starts releasing?

Or, if I put in some Charged biochar during the composting process will it then make my soil too strong?

Or, Is it possible to charge biochar with only microbes and elements that won't burn the plants?

Thank you very much for your time and help. I really appreciate it.
Mojofingers

green_machine_two9er · Jan 11, 2021

My go to recipe for biochar
Equal parts biochar and earth worm castings. 1 cup alfalfa per cf or so for N

water down and let sit for minimum if a month.
I add this to my soil at rate of 1 qt per cf.

whatever you don’t just add globally during your doom process. Charge someway first

CanandianMojo · Jan 11, 2021

green_machine_two9er said:
My go to recipe for biochar
Equal parts biochar and earth worm castings. 1 cup alfalfa per cf or so for N

water down and let sit for minimum if a month.
I add this to my soil at rate of 1 qt per cf.

whatever you don’t just add globally during your doom process. Charge someway first

Thank you very much for your help.
I will pre-charge and wait 2 weeks until the hot cooking is done

meangreengrowinmachine · Jan 11, 2021

green_machine_two9er said:
My go to recipe for biochar
Equal parts biochar and earth worm castings. 1 cup alfalfa per cf or so for N

water down and let sit for minimum if a month.
I add this to my soil at rate of 1 qt per cf.

whatever you don’t just add globally during your doom process. Charge someway first

Think I might try this out!

CanandianMojo · Jan 11, 2021

green_machine_two9er said:
My go to recipe for biochar
Equal parts biochar and earth worm castings. 1 cup alfalfa per cf or so for N

water down and let sit for minimum if a month.
I add this to my soil at rate of 1 qt per cf.

whatever you don’t just add globally during your doom process. Charge someway first

I would thumbs up but I'm such a newb I cant find the option on my phone hah

green_machine_two9er · Jan 11, 2021

meangreengrowinmachine said:
Think I might try this out!

It’s such a nice consistency when done. Smells wonderful. I’ve done it with kelp in there as well

green_machine_two9er · Jan 11, 2021

CanandianMojo said:
I would thumbs up but I'm such a newb I cant find the option on my phone hah

Lol I think you need a certain number of likes or something. Welcome and love talking soil and organics here

solakani · Jan 11, 2021

CanandianMojo said:
Good afternoon folks,

I make my own organic soil and I think I have my recipe spot on. It is gentle enough for an auto seed directly in the soil but strong enough for a photo clone with 4-week veg and full 8-10 flower with water and some molasses here and there.

I want to add biochar for overall soil and plant health. After all the stuff I have read, this biochar is a must in any organic soil.
I was thinking of adding it at an 8 to 10 % ratio.

If I put it in Uncharged into the mineral soil for the 3 to 4-week composting process will my soil be weaker overall for a few months until it starts releasing?

Or, if I put in some Charged biochar during the composting process will it then make my soil too strong?

Or, Is it possible to charge biochar with only microbes and elements that won't burn the plants?

Thank you very much for your time and help. I really appreciate it.
Mojofingers

Principles of Biochar Activation is a good read.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

CanandianMojo · Jan 11, 2021

solakani said:
Principles of Biochar Activation is a good read.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

That was a great read.
Can't wait to see what this does!

lakesidegrower · Jan 12, 2021

green_machine_two9er said:
My go to recipe for biochar
Equal parts biochar and earth worm castings. 1 cup alfalfa per cf or so for N

water down and let sit for minimum if a month.
I add this to my soil at rate of 1 qt per cf.

whatever you don’t just add globally during your doom process. Charge someway first

what do you like to use for your biochar starter? Any preferred type of wood?

green_machine_two9er · Jan 12, 2021

lakesidegrower said:
what do you like to use for your biochar starter? Any preferred type of wood?

I buy the bagged Mother Earth biochar and start from there. I believe wood choice can be critical and also the environment where it is burnt needs to be zero oxygen, ( I think, speaking from zero experience) like a sealed metal container or some kind of pressure sealed vessel.

lakesidegrower · Jan 12, 2021

green_machine_two9er said:
I buy the bagged Mother Earth biochar and start from there. I believe wood choice can be critical and also the environment where it is burnt needs to be zero oxygen, ( I think, speaking from zero experience) like a sealed metal container or some kind of pressure sealed vessel.

Interesting, I've never heard about that being how its produced
I would be hoping to make it myself, its crazy the kind of natural abundance that I've leaned about which is right under my nose around where I live.

lakesidegrower · Jan 12, 2021

This is what I've dug up in a quick search:

"Basically, it’s organic matter that is burned slowly, with a restricted flow of oxygen, and then the fire is stopped when the material reaches the charcoal stage. Unlike tiny tidbits of ash, coarse lumps of charcoal are full of crevices and holes, which help them serve as life rafts to soil microorganisms. The carbon compounds in charcoal form loose chemical bonds with soluble plant nutrients so they are not as readily washed away by rain and irrigation. Biochar alone added to poor soil has little benefit to plants, but when used in combination with compost and organic fertilizers, it can dramatically improve plant growth while helping retain nutrients in the soil."

Looks like the covering is what creates the O2 deprivation - I have a steel drum I use for burning yard waste, gonna play around to see what I can make.

green_machine_two9er · Jan 12, 2021

lakesidegrower said:
This is what I've dug up in a quick search:

"Basically, it’s organic matter that is burned slowly, with a restricted flow of oxygen, and then the fire is stopped when the material reaches the charcoal stage. Unlike tiny tidbits of ash, coarse lumps of charcoal are full of crevices and holes, which help them serve as life rafts to soil microorganisms. The carbon compounds in charcoal form loose chemical bonds with soluble plant nutrients so they are not as readily washed away by rain and irrigation. Biochar alone added to poor soil has little benefit to plants, but when used in combination with compost and organic fertilizers, it can dramatically improve plant growth while helping retain nutrients in the soil."

Looks like the covering is what creates the O2 deprivation - I have a steel drum I use for burning yard waste, gonna play around to see what I can make.

Nice. Let us know how it goes? At almost 30$ a cf sure would be worth making yourself.

loco41 · Jan 12, 2021

I've made a couple different batches of biochar. Not sure if what I ended up with could be considered "biochar" exactly, but if nothing else it helps with compaction some I suppose and is all different shapes and sizes.

Used an old iron pot and a broken green egg steamer thing this time. Havent charged this batch up yet, but the previous couple attempts I soaked the char in a kelp/alfalfa tea with added fish hydrolysate. After a couple days in the 5 gallon bucket, it was all added to the compost bin. Since then it has found it's way back into the soils and worm bins for further "charging".

Really new to all this myself, just sharing my little bit of experimenting. I'll get some pictures of the end product up sometime, but here's a few of things burning up..

lakesidegrower · Jan 13, 2021

Looking good - I was wondering about about charging... I had read somewhere that when you soak too long the biochar loses some of its ability to perform as well as it could in the soil. Anyone have thoughts on how long you should be ‘charging’ it by soaking?

solakani · Jan 13, 2021

lakesidegrower said:
Looking good - I was wondering about about charging... I had read somewhere that when you soak too long the biochar loses some of its ability to perform as well as it could in the soil. Anyone have thoughts on how long you should be ‘charging’ it by soaking?

I buy my biochar charged but if diy then the duration of the charge should be at least 14 days or when cec is at maximum. If this is not possible then there is a problem with the compost method.

lakesidegrower · Jan 13, 2021

solakani said:
I buy my biochar charged but if diy then the duration of the charge should be at least 14 days or when cec is at maximum. If this is not possible then there is a problem with the compost method.

I have the time for sure, just want to make sure that I’m not doing it wrong lol
Can anyone share their process for charging?

green_machine_two9er · Jan 13, 2021

green_machine_two9er said:
My go to recipe for biochar
Equal parts biochar and earth worm castings. 1 cup alfalfa per cf or so for N

water down and let sit for minimum if a month.
I add this to my soil at rate of 1 qt per cf.

whatever you don’t just add globally during your doom process. Charge someway first

Here ya go

lakesidegrower said:
I have the time for sure, just want to make sure that I’m not doing it wrong lol
Can anyone share their process for charging?

green_machine_two9er · Jan 13, 2021

The charge happens when you wet the biochar mixed with compost ( ewc) and some sort of nutrient. Usually high nitrogen. Alfalfa is great

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