Making Biochar / Charcoal as Soil Amendment

[Mac_]

Does anyone have any experience making biochar (charcoal) for use as a soil amendment? I have a row of pines that have grown tall enough to shade our kitchen garden, and will cut them down this winter and am looking for a practical means of making about 4-5 cords of pine logs into biochar to use as a soil amendment.

More info on biochar at our farm blog:

http://growingbeyondorganic.blogspot...0sequestration

Thanks,

Mac_

[madness]

Neat! My nerdy engineering family is actually working on a pyrolyzer that will turn leftover wood scraps into bio-oil and biochar. So far no 'homestead' friendly means of doing it on a large scale!

[bowdonkey]

I've done quite abit of research on this topic and I'm not sure how charcoal works in the soil. I've been screaning the stove ash all winter and throwing the charcoal in the garden. Is this OK?

[Grandmotherbear]

My understanding was you burn your wood in a pit. When the flames die down you cover the logs with earth and leave them smoulder. This makes the best charcoal spozedly. I cheat. I burn my trash brush in the open and shovel the ashes/charcoal into the compost or the pots directly. The FL heat and sugar sand mean we will only get about 4 months of good from any soil amendment before the nutrition is burnt by heat or washed away by monsoon rain.

[terradura]

No direct experience in making biochar, but you do have to be careful to distinguish between char and wood ash. You probably know this, but wood ash (the white ash from complete combustion) is highly alkaline and was used to make lye. It has a pH of 12.

On the other hand, it contains nutrient elements that were in the original plant (calcium, potassium, etc.). That is why slash and burn agriculture has been used in the the tropics. The ash gives a quick shot of these nutrients to the soil.

Char is only partially combusted (low oxygen environment) and has a pH near neutral. It is full of microscopic pores that hold water and nutrients and are habitat for microbes.

[Wintergrower_OH]

I would stay away from biochar . Biochar can ruin your garden for years according a to a university study . Biochar is suppose to help retain water . Do a google on its benefits and how it can ruin your garden .