Harvesting Biochar From My Woodstove

[HCK]

I have just put together an online photo essay about harvesting biochar from my woodstove for use in the garden next year. If you are an organic gardener, I think you will appreciate the simple system I've developed. Here's the link:

http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspo...woodstove.html

Best wishes,

Herrick Kimball
(in snowy upstate New York)

[MELOC]

the only problem i have with it is the trendy new term "biochar". nothing personal, but it just makes me a little ill when something tried and true..."charcoal" has to be renamed as (cough) "biochar" so that some folks can have a field day with a catchy new term.

[Randy Rooster]

I am obvioulsy missing something- why dont you just pour the ash from your coal scuttle directly onto the garden?

Thats what I do- I just spread it out as I pour.

[Rockytopsis]

HCK, we put the ash right in the garden. I went to the link and read the article, and I admit more work than what I want to do.
OT though something did catch my eye on the link though. Pickled Garlic Scapes, that sounds good, do you serve them like pickles?

[sammyd]

Meloc...If you rename it "bio char" then you can zap newbies with a bigger price when it catches on. Nobody wants to pay big bucks for charcoal.....
Seems like a lot more work than just throwing the ashes out on the garden and relying on nature to take care of things....

[Wolf mom]

Ashes in the garden - only if your soil isn't clay.....

[greenSearcher]

Originally Posted by Wolf mom

Ashes in the garden - only if your soil isn't clay.....

It is our second year heating with wood, and we wind up taking about half of the ashes to my DIL's trash can (I won't pay $45 a month for curb collection) since I tend to add only a modest amount of ashes to the compost bins.

So what do they do to clay soil, I am thinking it increases the alkalinity which I don't want to do, but what else?

I certainly have clay here in North TX, went face down in it last night when my boots got stuck. My poor chickens are surround by a moat of mud, thank goodness I filled the run with wood litter before the snow started melting. The litter is wet, but no mud so at least they can wander around in the run. I am nursing pulled tendons in my ankle and preparing to throw out the stinking boots.

I like the use for the charcoal even if I have to sift it out, no big deal, I think my compost screen is 1/4 inch hardware cloth, so it can do double duty. I never did figure out why they were soaking the charcoal so I guess I'll visit the group and ask.

Must remember this is the rain I prayed for in the summer, and the ground can store a lot.

Julie

[How Do I]

No reason to pay anything for charcoal when you can make it yourself.

[Homesteader at Heart]

Hello, HCK. I am enjoying your website. I just finished reading the blogs about making maple syrup.

[Michael Kawalek]

Before you go crazy investing all your time into biochar, I'd suggest reading Gene Lodsgon's new article on the subject.
http://www.energybulletin.net/51108
His "yeah, sure" attitude to biochar gives me a sense of what the real value of char is, and I don't think I'll be breaking my back to get it tilled in either any time soon.

[casusbelli]

Meloc-
perhaps biochar differs from plain charcoal in that real biochar is "primed"/saturated with nutrients, including but not limited to NPK.
HCK-
What struck me in the blog piece is that your method is piecemeal and inefficient. You're taking coals out before they're finished, robbing home from some odd kilocalories and reloading wood. Not to mention smokey transits to the door, burn risks, etc. Why not make charcoal en masse in a big drum outside or even in a bigger buried pit?
BTW, you can grind choarcoal down in a concrete mixer with a half brick in with it, or with a cinder block on a concrete driveway. I looped plastic rope thru the block holes to make handles so I wouldn't have to keep bending over. I step on the block and twist, becoming a giant pestle with driveway as mortar. Then sweep it up.
Saturate the charcoal to make biochar in the chunk stage, not dust stage. Use urine, old fertilizer, old coffee or beer, lesser amounts of epsom salts, whatever. Dry, THEN crush.
Good luck.

[sammyd]

Why bother putting urine on it then drying it out?
The kick from urine evaporates and you're left with a lot of salts and stuff that probably aren't the best anyway.
Still think putting the stuff and everything else mentioned out on the garden by itself would be a heck of a lot easier.

[casusbelli]

samm-
cause you don't want to be crushing wet charcoal (=messy).
Point 2: that's the point of biochar - the kick DOESN'T just evaporate. Ntirogen is bound just like everything to the carbon. Terra preta soils only need fertilized maybe once a DECADE, not twice a season like regular soils.

[sammyd]

Really...
I'm not impressed after reading the article mentioned.

It is really more practical, soil scientists say, to make one’s own terra preta by composting organic wastes into humus in the usual way.

[offGridNorthern]

Ooops.... what am I missing, Wolfmom .... I put ashes in my garden routinely and I garden in clay soil! (well .... I have amended the clay for years, but as you probably know, the amendments seem to disappear and you're still gardening in clay!)

Originally Posted by Wolf mom

Ashes in the garden - only if your soil isn't clay.....

[Belfrybat]

Originally Posted by offGridNorthern

Ooops.... what am I missing, Wolfmom .... I put ashes in my garden routinely and I garden in clay soil! (well .... I have amended the clay for years, but as you probably know, the amendments seem to disappear and you're still gardening in clay!)

I'm not wolfmom, but thought I'd respond. Clay soil tends to be alkaline, and ashes just make it more so. Biochar, on the other hand, will help break up the clay as the chunks are bigger than ashes (even if you crush it). But you still would want to go easy in clay soils.

[Bret4207]

Great website. I've been spreading ashes on the garden for decades. I'm a big one for putting any organic matter I can onto the garden, sadly some I just can't do anymore with mechanical help. Thank God for skid steers!