What is Biochar?

Waste wood is burned in a “flame cap” kiln at temperatures above 800 degrees F. The wood burns from the top of the kiln, and as it drops down, the kiln chokes it out, leaving almost no ash but lots of char. The kiln reduces carbon released into the atmosphere by either rot or normal burning by about 18%. That carbon is then locked up for centuries. A gram of char has the surface area of a football field, providing spaces for microbial life and moisture. This saves on irrigation and nurtures life in the soil, making food grown in it more nutrient dense. For info about the kiln and char making process, see https://wilsonbiochar.com or come visit our farm. For more info on biochar, see https://regenerationinternational.org/2018/05/16/what-is-biochar/   

Instructions to Charge (Inoculate) Biochar

You’re getting pure, uncharged char in this bucket. It starts out sterile (from the burning process). Follow these steps to get microbial life started before using it.

1. Dampen the char with water. Make sure it’s wet but not waterlogged.

1. Mix it with compost. Add the char to compost or aged manure in proportion to how you intend to use it. We mix it 10 parts compost to 1 part char for vegetables and flowers. We mix it about 3-4 parts compost to 1 part char for berry bushes, and about 50-50 for our fruit trees. The 50-50 mix helps dampen down fungal infections, which are common in our growing area. If you don’t have fungal issues, use the berry bush rate for fruit trees.

1. If you want to get the char bio-charged faster, we recommend spraying it with a microbial inoculant such as Winnie Soil Conditioner (http://www.barngrown.com/store) or EM-1 Microbial Inoculant (https://www.teraganix.com/products/em-1-microbial-inoculant-soil-amendment). You can also add worm castings or moisten it with compost teas. You can either mix it in separate piles depending on your intended uses, or mix it 1:1 with compost and then later mix it to suit with more compost. The idea is to start microbial life growing in the char before you apply it.

1. Let it sit. Allow your mixture to sit for at least two weeks. A month or so is better. This ensures that the char is alive and ready to start releasing nutrients into the soil. Otherwise, if you put it raw on your garden it will suck up microbial life and nutrients and take those away from your plants until it is charged up with lots of life and moisture.

1. Keep it moist while charging. Make sure it is moist, but not waterlogged. It should be about the consistency of a wrung out sponge. Turn the mixture (stir it up) every few days to make sure the compost and char coat each other.

1. Apply the charged biochar to your garden, trees, bushes or pots. You can do a surface application, or mix it into the soil before planting. We do both, depending on the situation. Water it after application.

Biochar can reduce or eliminate the need for conventional fertilizers as long as you add compost every year to renew it. Building up more char over time is also helpful in reducing irrigation needs and increasing soil life. Plants and microbes are a lot like our own guts. When good microbes abound, we feel better! Char attracts good microbes that help overcome the fungi and bacteria that harm our plants.