Great video, Alot of work. Can i use this to spread over my pasture for cattle grazing? What about ph and other tests ? Also what about putting it through a leaf/branch grinder ! Just wondering how to efficiently spending over pasture ? Thanks . Have you compared your original soil and you bio char mix re plant and grass growth ?
@@roarkbjorn2389 pH is lower with the biochar depending the efficiency of your burn and how little ash you get. Spread on pasture works well, in our area they use a manure spreader or you can mix the biochar into the manure before spreading. Carbon (without the additives) in the feed also lowers methane production from cows. Carbon in the bedding reduces smells and the cows mix it in for you!
I’ve been a professional gardener for over thirty years. This year I’m setting up a poly tunnel with “no dig” raised beds in my own garden (as part of my life long experiment and learning about growing). I now feel inspired to and knowledgable enough to create my own biochar and inoculate all the growing beds. Best authoritative lesson I’ve had on the subject and how to use it. Thanks for your time. Will definitely be listening to what else you have to say 👍
@@PlanetHealers I'm I northeastern California, would love your help, I have 40 acres that I want to regenerate the soil on. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
@@richardbellsr2345 Planethealer1@yahoo.ca to contact me directly. I'd need to know what you are planning to do, goals and objectives, soil test, googlemap location to "see" the property...
I've spent half of this very cold day in GA watching biochar videos. Yours has been greatly educational. I can't wait to get started. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Greetings from Maldives, I'm using it for my banana farm it's effective and tree's are healthy and happy , thank you for your knowledge. I'm using exactly your method. Again thanks.
Hello thanks for your reply to this video. How are you adding it to your trees? Just before planting I know but do you yearly add it around the base of trees also? Ty for your response here
Thank you Paul from NZ. Over the years walking about the hill country in my West Coast area I've often seen black burnt soils and old embers on our ancient Maori Pa. Believing it was there because of the way our early European forefathers burnt the land for farming. Since watching programs such as yours I now believe our Maori of old known about the secrets you are trying to re teach us on here. Once again thank you and I look forward to watching more of your programs. I always thought I was a pretty good gardener using tricks my mother taught me 50 years ago and nothing like what you have shown me.
+1 - current society demonizes stuff like burning wood but in reality the only problem earth faces is over population of humans. These techniques of creating biochar, liquid fertilizers, etc. are all natural processes that overpopulation & things like concrete have disrupted. In isolated environments these things re-create the natural biome of our planet it seems.
Easiest way I've seen to make the biochar. You a good practical way to gain the most benefit by mixing it with composting materials and bacteria. It makes sense that this material would create a great home for fungi to proliferate which is paramount to our soils. I'm inspired all over again to follow what really drives me. Thank you for creating this, oh and you seem like a gentleman which is refreshing.
Marie here, on a cold wet mountain on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way. Thank you SO MUCH for that clear, informative guide. I have piles of drying prunings from nuisance invasives which I now plan to turn into biochar to feed my 3 acres of newly-planted native deciduous woodland. Your TH-cam tutorial has been an important 'find' for me. Looking forward to watching your other/future videos. For now you have provided so much to work with.
Thanks for teaching us how to make bio-char. It is a process I need to understand. I was taking your Eco Restoration class but had to stop studying when life took an unexpected turn. I am still interested in learning what you have to teach. I appreciate what you are doing for the planet.
We are so grateful for what you have made available for us to get started! I prayed and asked HolySpirit for what to do with HIS back to Eden garden Hallelujah Hallelujah Praise Him forevermore
Thank you for this comprehensive video making something somewhat complex and with huge potential ramifications so simple to understand and providing practical guidance for a novice to take it on. Much appreciated!
Can I inoculate the char pile during winter months and freezing temps? I would only burn during the winter here in the Colorado forest. I could save the char for summer, I guess. And would it be wasteful to add the urine at the water soak time, if I do need to wait until summer to do the rest? Very helpful video!
Well, the urine soak is to start the charging. If stored dry the char will be more hydrophobic and needs to be rewet so the absorption and microbes can us it. You can mix the char with manure or compost and it will charge overwinter. Adding a tarp to help keep the heat in the pile. Adding a layer of straw would help insulate the pile also so that the microbes keep active and the char charges.
Thank you for the step by step and easy to understand walkthrough of how to create and use biochar! Looking forward to starting this up and getting this going to use in our raised beds.
Your welcome Brandon. Our goal is to get this out there so that it will be made with simple materials and used. We had little resources in the jungle so we created this simple system that anyone can do with little $
Fascinating and authorative piece on creating and using biochar. I to will be incorporating into my no dig gardening project in uk. Many thanks Regards
I dug a concave hole about 30" deep at center and 4' wide at top and filled with very dry small branches up to 1.5" with several up to 2" on top. It burned very hot and fast with some wind blowing and as I saw hot coals at bottom I started adding dirt around the edges to slowly smoother the deeper part fire. I kept filling in around the edges until only a few larger pieces were burning on top. When they were well charred I sprayed water to put it out. I had almost no ash and a full pile of char.
Terrific. We are surrounded by virgin bush. There is a huge hazard reduction over 323 hectares surrounding our entire property planned by our fire services. So I had been searching for a way to reduce on ground fuel to reduce the risk and the environmental impact. We have done two loads of biochar so far. We are so impressed how little smoke we have created and looking forward to using this resource. Thankyou for this video. I now need to work out how to knock off our horses urine to innoculate our biochar.:)
Yes, I understand it is a challenge to create a burn barrier while not "cleaning" too much so that you remove all biomass/nutrients needed by the forest and habitat for wildlife. I'm glad that the biochar process is helping you with that!
Very interesting, I built my own Hugo culture, now I want to make my own biochar, and I have good size of composting worms farm . I'm just excited about nature and how it works. I'm in Texas and my property is nothing but sand and moles. So I have to grow above the ground. I'm growing all kinds of goodies that Texas environment that will let me I've also Incorporated permaculture to get what I want. Thank you for the video.
Thank You for the great video w' the introduction to the use of biochar & for sharing your expertise & extensive knowledge w' others..it is highly appreciated⁉️😊 Stephen RAD frm Cape Town,South Africa
Good day, I live on a Caribbean island where the weather is good for growing all year round. I am moving to a new place with a large yard. I love gardening and I've had fair success in the past growing tomatoes, sweet peppers, corn etc. I am very interested in studying soil health and getting the best soil possible for my plants. I am keen on using your methods to do this, especially the activated biochar. I am basically starting my garden from scratch and plan to grow in raised beds. I would really appreciate any advice you can give me about getting started and some key things to get right from the start.
I like the no-till method we showed in the video. That was setting up a garden from scratch. Using no-till minimizes the disturbance to the soil microbiology and it is the soil ecosystem that we are focusing on building to then help us grow good food.
Thanks for this great video! How about suffocating the fire and letting it cool, so that the carbon pieces stay dry and could intake even more nutrients? To frame my question, I was thinking of an application to reduce sewerage nutrient leach to natural waterways by adding baskets of biochar into the last septic tank.
The char is hydrophobic when fully dry and is more difficult to wet. Then the nutrient will go in better. Most charcoal is made with the suffocation method but if any air gets in the whole lot turns to ash. The char is great for absorbing nutrients and toxic chemicals but in a septic system it would need to be renewed regularly as it gets fully charged or it would stop absorbing. Not sure how it would work as a bioreactor, just being a big surface for microbial action.
@@PlanetHealers Thanks for answering! I’ve heard they use biochar as a floating tap/coat on the open liquid manure silos to minimize ammonia loss and mitigate smell. That’s why this just came to my mind, since I’ve 2 septic tanks and I’m interested to reduce my family nutrient impact to local waters..
@@CountrySideways We use our biochar in the dry toilet here to keep down smell as well. Add a scoop...! Yes the biochar will float as it is lighter than water. As for capping the smell, it would probably work
@@PlanetHealers you can make charcoal hydrophilic by treating it with a mild acid. Look up "activating charcoal with acid". The choice of acid is obviously important :-) Also, putting your mix into an anaerobic environment with excess water will produce lacto bacilli, which will produce lactic acid. Etc. Addendum: found out that citric acid has been used to activate charcoal DIY. it has less capability than commercial activated carbon, but still worked to adsorb. They were unhappy with their results, but as an agricultural amendment, this could speed up your process. "Using Citric Acid to Activate Charcoal Obtained From Agricultural Wastes"
This is an excellent video. We are keen to start producing biochar for our cocoa farms in Uganda. I would like to get in touch with you. We are seeking training for our staff.
Hi Prosperity, We would be happy to connect. Maybe after the group watches the video we could do an online meeting if you have cell service or internet in the area? acoruspaul@yahoo.ca to contact us
What a great explanation Paul. Very garateful for your effort in uploading this great knowledge. Just the thing I was looking for. Looking forward to your super brew video. And another subject that you touched about mycorrhizae solution. Please do a video on that as well if possible. Much love from Pakistan. Thanks again!
Hi. I enjoyed your video and the way you described the different processes with minimal use of technical terms. One term you used was “inert”, to describe the carbon after being changed by the pyrolysis process. You were fully correct of course, but perhaps there are some in your audience who only partially understand the term in the context you are using it and why organic matter becomes inert after the charring process. A way of looking at this that I’ve found helpful is to go one step further to point out what being “inert” means in the context of this subject. Photosynthesis builds more complex molecules by converting radiant energy into chemical energy in the form of organic molecules, and it is this stored chemical energy that other life forms, ourselves included, break down to extract the chemical energy in it to fuel our metabolisms. But in straight charcoal,, there is nothing that can provide metabolic energy to any form of life.
To put it simply, the reason charcoal can remain in the soil for thousands of years is that nothing can consume it as food. .
Yes I always say to use what is locally available. Looking up the nutrient availability in different materials will help to get a full mix of nutrients and micronutrients and make sure they are in the mix by adding different components to round out your mix. Maybe adding some compost to get more nutrients as well. Diversity in organics gives more diverse nutrient options for the microbiome.
Hi! I just like to thank you for this very informative video, I enjoyed watching it and learned a lot. In preparation for my own garden, I'm almost finished with two, side by side, 4x20' Hugelkultur beds and I'm just wondering if there's any need to add biochar to them? And if so, how would I go about it? 🤔 Like, during what step in the process would I add the biochar?
Hi! Thanks so much for your response! I had a feeling it would be a great addition 👍 I'm just wondering though, the oil barrels you're working with, if they previously held oil, wouldn't there be residual chemicals burning as well as the wood? This seems like a real concern to me. Is it necessary to clean them first? Or maybe I can find brand new oil barrels? Or maybe I shouldn't be concerned with this at all? 🤔
Thank you for mentioning that it takes 3 months to properly brew! I see so many people wanting to rush through to the end result, and it always worries me that the premature biochar may actually rob their gardens of nutrients, instead of adding to the fertility. Carbon is a powerful sponge.. patience pays off!
We did experiments trying to cut the time until used. At one month you could use it with legumes because they fix their own nitrogen. Less time and the beans were stunted and had yellowing (nitrogen deficiency). So at one month we were able to get a bean crop off. Other non nitrogen fixing crops would need the full three months.
Did this time depend of how close we are from the equateur ? I am working in the Amazon in chaikuni institute at 3°south from the equateur, do you think we as well need to wait 3months or as with the high temperature and humidity in our region the process maybe quicker ? And by the way thanks you so much for sharing your experience and knowledge, it is deeply appreciated !
Idk. I think if you add biochar and then a large amount of old chicken manure or something with nitrates you're probably okay since you're adding a lot of nutrients. I added biochar to my garden and did like 3 parts charcoal and 1 part chicken manure. I soaked it for three days in water and then added it. If charcoal does soak up loads of nutrients maybe people can just add more to the garden if they don't have time to wait like if it's planting season.
Thank you so much for the nice and very knowledgeable presentation. It is full of amazing new innovative technology to restoration of our Mother Nature.
@@wilheln it always looks a lot more yellow when it's in a container. I was surprised the first time I did it just how yellow it actually is when it's not diluted in a toilet bowl full of water.
Thanks for the video. I’m very interested in this practice and will be trying my hand at making bio char this spring. From Northern Michigan. Where are you located in Ontario?
One of the best videos on biochar I have seen. Your single barrel method explanation has made it clear to me why I will adopt this method. You have made a comprehensive video covering even the charging process. Thank you for sharing. If I may say that the wind ‘blowing’ on the mic is understandable when filming outside.
Great video, very thorough! Does the barrel have any holes in the bottom, also do you keep the drain open in the bottom of the Kon-Tiki during the burn? I like the simplicity of a single container and not needing to fill a retort and add it to a burn barrel and use wood only to heat other wood (even though it might have advantages in other reagrds).
Thanks Brendan! No holes in the barrel and drain closed in the Kon-Tiki. We don’t want air to oxidize the charcoal to ash. Yes we get a lot more charcoal. The disadvantage is the ash formation on top but if managed well it produces little ash. Cheers Paul
Made my second batch of biochar the other day. Not only do I get a great amendment to my soil, I'm also cleaning up the tree trimmings around my house. I use a 55-gallon drum with 36 3/4" holes around the bottom. Burns very hot. Large metal bucket on the inside. Light 'er up, let 'er burn. 👽✌️
12:30 - I guess that a barrel could be safer, because it's possible to close the barrel and block air access so that the charcoal inside cools down. I don't really know if it'll work but I'd try rolling it back and forth, to crush the charcoal. (After that, the barrel could go to an outhouse for "charging" :D )
Some places will have biochar available, usually uncharged so you would need to charge it with nutrients. It is a process gaining recognition quickly but the infrastructure for producing good biochar is limited still. That is why I did this video on how to make your own! Cheers
Hi Paul, thanks! I attended a biochar presentation in VT several years ago with a visiting German scholar. One thing I recall is that you should be able to crush it in your hands and then just rinse them off to totally clean. If any tars remain on your skin it was not done correctly. A few recent videos talk about having buckets at the ready when time to quench it arrives. Do you do this as well, and is a helper important, or can one person pour it fast enough? Also, I wonder if anyone is connecting with Dr. Elaine Ingham to have her or someone trained by her check for "micro beasties" and all she knows about healthy soil to close the loop as it were in terms of which pre-charging strategies are most effective. Couple this topic with what they are doing in the Green Gold documentary and we have ourselves a garden of Eden once more! Assuming the looming space weather cycles don't set us too far back...
Hi Jesse, usually we quench having 6 buckets of water ready. One person does it careful not to get burned by the steam. Then fill the rest with a hose. Haven’t connected with Dr.Elaine but a good idea
ya it's hilarious everyone says oh carbon is the sole reason for global warming. No one cares about the grand solar minimum and the sun. Only a few people ever mention it was the sun that caused the mini ice age that forced the vikings out of iceland for instance. If sun cycles do matter you'd think people would talk about it and historically it seems like it does matter.
Congratulations! Your video is very clearly and helped me a lot! I have a question: in the system that uses two barrels, how long does the material become biochar? Can I use sugarcane bagasse in this system as biomass for biochar? A hug from Brazil!
Hi Bruna, Any high carbon material can be used to make biochar. I would tend to make compost with quicker degrading material and biochar with the slow degrading material as with the burn it loses the nutrients and leaves only the carbon. For something with a high water content like sugarcane, it would need to be dried first or you would waste a lot of energy burning off the water first (white smoke). The sugar cane is more fibrous so the barrel in a barrel might be better as it would probably burn to ash too fast in the other methods. As stated in the video though the barrel on barrel method wastes all the outer barrel material that could be turned to biochar in the other methods.
i wish i can come and live alongside you. amazing channel. and hardwork. and such beauty arround you. Nice to see this. Please grow this channel and maybe just add how you growing certain vegetables and adding animals into farming. Very beautiful.
Hi Paul! This is Michel from ERC, Community Desperto, Brazil. Amazing video, i just recall to saw it to learn the process and begin doing here! Thank you! Best regards!
For urban applications, I would compost and keep the nutrients. Biochar is like a sponge and holds water and nutrients in the soil and slowly releases them. Biochar is for high carbon materials like wood, corn stalks...
@@PlanetHealers Good point. It would be interesting if a community that had large amounts of wood available made biochar, and then gave it to people (or sold it inexpensively) to use in their yards. It would help with water retention, and soil fertility. Hmm, I may have a small community project on my hands. I am moving to an area that has these exact properties. Your video has been extremely helpful!
@@thisorthat7626 It is a fair bit of work to do this (the results are great) so if I was offering to others I would sell it to compensate for your time and materials.
@@PlanetHealers Of course. :). I was actually thinking out loud about starting such a program in the area I am moving to. All the requirements are there. It's a question of whether I want to put in the work for free, or for a small compensation. Your video was extremely helpful!!
I am Mano living in Windsor, On. Very lucky to see your video lately. Thank you for the effort taken. Im very interested in making Biochar my self and making the blend with all the required nutrients for my garden. Would like to know How the wood burning process go in line with the local fire safety rules. Which of the three types you recommend to use in the small gardens.
We were burning in the country, so usually ok, but I would check with the local fire department as to what burn permits you need, especially in the city.
With the soil in the mix, it would be hard to get past the border and I would be concerned about moving microbes from one area to another for disease reasons. Better to make your own and use local materials.
Great, informative video, and nicely presented. Thank you! I'm starting a garden this year, on a place that is a grassfield now. The plan is to plow it just this year, so it instantly looses up the soil and destroys some vigor from grass. But next years I plan on doing no till, just adding compost once a year. Also I don't have enough cardboard to put as a bottom layer everywhere. I would ask, what do you think would be the best method of incorporating biochar? Before I only wanted to fertilize the garden this year with spreading older manure, which would get plowed under, and that will happen in a next month or so. But now I'm thinking to add some biochar, too. Could I just soak the biochar now in urine, add it to the old manure, and plow both under? (the question is mostly focused on adding the biochar deeper underground, since next years I'll only be adding it on the top). And another thing. I make my compost just by piling up manure and some leaves, leaving it for a year, turning it once or twice in the process. Is it okay if I just add the urine charged biochar to the pile now, leave it for a year, and then use that entire mix, which will be a compost by then, for spreading over the beds (market gardeners style)? Will it be good as the main medium, for direct seeding into etc.? And yet another thing, is it okay to just add unactivated charcoal into the manure pile, leave it and not use it for a year or so? Will it get charged adequately that way too?
In the Yucatan, we dug the biochar into the soil to mix it with the native soil and in Canada we just added it to the top as a no-till system after solarizing the beds for a year. Both worked but I prefer not disturbing the soil and leaving the soil structure intact and letting the soil organisms and frost heave take the biochar into the soil. Adding to the top compost or a mix with biochar is best and not digging or stepping on the beds again after they are established. Both adding raw char to compost or to raw manure also works to charge the char during the composting process. We have added it to human manure also in our compost toilet. It helps with keeping the smell down and when finished can be used. Some people have added the activated carbon to animal feed to help detox and have less smell. I wouldn't do it too much as the activated carbon absorbs the nutrients from the animal as well.
You could keep adding it to the soil until the cabon component is 25-30% but usually 10% is enough for most soils. Our plots in the Yucatan had higher % because we wanted to hold more moisture in that fast draining soil. Yes you can just add more organic matter or compost to keep the nutrients up. we use our super brew.
Maybe if we all chip in a buck ($) on his patreon page he might be able to afford one. I'll start off with my donation right now! (just to make it easier for you to do likewise, go to Patreon page and find the 'Custom Pledge' button ... 100,000 (and who knows, in years to come maybe even 1 million!) small pledges of @$1 each is probs better than a handful of higher level pledges. Let's support those who support us to support the world!!!
In the Yucatan, we reuse the water again in the next burn especially because we do our burns in the dry season there and water is limited. To add it to a compost tea I would check the pH as it does produce some ash and that will make the water more basic.
How would you ever get a return on this investment. You don't have to spend that kind of money to have a very successful garden. No one online has shown any beneficial numbers on returns. In my opinion, biochar may not be a hoax but there is nothing out there that substantiates the cost or return. A recent study says that it increases your return by 10%. To me, that's not nearly enough.
In an already nutrient-rich high organic matter soil, the ROI will be less. We are using it to improve nutrient and moisture-poor soils so it is like gold to us.
I can only speak anecdotally, but I've been using it to amend God awful clay soil, and I went from having such bad run off, and an inability to sow seeds because of the density of clay, to now having some useable, plantable soil. Idk if it would be anything in good soil
@@SARJENT. I suppose if it is made with more ash in the mix it would be more basic and could imbalance the soil pH. You can test this and balance the mix you add to charge the char. In the Yucatan, the soil was already more basic with limestone so we collected orange peels to make our compost more acid before adding it to the char. Using wood with toxic substances in it could be transferred to the soil. The carbon part of the char is inert so if made well it should cause no problems. Always be aware of what you're putting in to burn and the amendments that you are adding to charge the carbon.
I know you made this video 4 years ago, hope your still able to answer a quick question. Where are you getting the urine and what is the type of animal's urine is it, or does it matter? Just learning about biochar and your video was simple and easy to understand, thanks. I've subscribed and excited to see the rest of your video's.
Hi orrfamily, Thank you, the urine we use is human which is easy to collect. We have a compost toilet that we designed to separate the urine but any container will work. Cheers
Excellent thorough info. One question. Is your 55 gallon barrel full intact accept for the open top? There is no holes in the bottom or side? Blessings on your work.
Dear Mr Morris Congratulation for the excellent video on you have posted 3 years ago. Could you give me the adresse where I could buy the burner you recomand in the video?
The oil barrels can be purchased many places that change oil inexpensively. The Kontiki you would have to make. From our video description:What is a Kon Tiki? - wiki.opensourceecology.org/wi...
Hi , i watched your video about biochar today, i found it very interesting, i have started to compost my horse manure here in n.ireland and was wondering if i could mix biochar into the layers as i was filling the compost bays, i turn the bays every week as i want the compost to be ready in about 4- months, do you think the compost would be enough to inoculate the biochar or would i need to add more minerals and compost teas. Thanks Martin
Yes compost on its own is fine for inoculating the biochar. I'd add a bit of healthy soil to inoculate with the microbiome. Adding just the carbon to the bedding will help with the smell.
You don't need any special equipment. I simply build a teepee shaped burn pile, taller than wide, it burns fast and clean that way with flames shooting up the middle. (also takes much less space in the yard than a random pile) In about 90 minutes my 8 ft diameter by 10 or 12 ft tall, dense pile is ready to be mostly quenched with just small pile of big chunks raked aside for continued burning. Quench with garden hose as soon as there is near zero woody material left. I get a couple big wheelbarrows of char each time twice per yr from my tree trimmings. My yields may not be optimal but time invested is minimal and no barrel required, minimal handling. Note of caution: check on char a few times for couple hrs and soak it completely or you might come back next day to a pile of white ash as the char can easily relight and consume itself.
Other languages?: Turn on CC, Settings - Subtitles - choose your preferred language ;) Apologies if TH-cam's auto-translate says something weird!
12:07 "What's the Best Nation? Urination" Beavis & Butthead 😉
Great video, Alot of work. Can i use this to spread over my pasture for cattle grazing? What about ph and other tests ?
Also what about putting it through a leaf/branch grinder ! Just wondering how to efficiently spending over pasture ? Thanks .
Have you compared your original soil and you bio char mix re plant and grass growth ?
@@roarkbjorn2389 pH is lower with the biochar depending the efficiency of your burn and how little ash you get. Spread on pasture works well, in our area they use a manure spreader or you can mix the biochar into the manure before spreading. Carbon (without the additives) in the feed also lowers methane production from cows. Carbon in the bedding reduces smells and the cows mix it in for you!
So its charcoal which is charged with goodness
@@saddammall3337 Charcoal made in high temperature burn. Most charcoal is made with a low temperature burn and is not as good.
I’ve been a professional gardener for over thirty years. This year I’m setting up a poly tunnel with “no dig” raised beds in my own garden (as part of my life long experiment and learning about growing). I now feel inspired to and knowledgable enough to create my own biochar and inoculate all the growing beds. Best authoritative lesson I’ve had on the subject and how to use it. Thanks for your time. Will definitely be listening to what else you have to say 👍
I would be happy to help virtually or in-person if that is reasonable. I'm in Ontario, Canada right now.
Thanks. That would be fantastic but I’m in the UK 🇬🇧. If you ever get to visit for any reason though, I’d be honoured to meet you.
@@PlanetHealers I'm I northeastern California, would love your help, I have 40 acres that I want to regenerate the soil on. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
@@richardbellsr2345 Planethealer1@yahoo.ca to contact me directly. I'd need to know what you are planning to do, goals and objectives, soil test, googlemap location to "see" the property...
please share your results.... you sound like a good person to make solid observations.
I've spent half of this very cold day in GA watching biochar videos. Yours has been greatly educational. I can't wait to get started. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Glad it was helpful!
Greetings from Maldives, I'm using it for my banana farm it's effective and tree's are healthy and happy , thank you for your knowledge. I'm using exactly your method. Again thanks.
Excellent! I’m amazed at how far and wide people have embraced this useful technique!
Hello thanks for your reply to this video. How are you adding it to your trees? Just before planting I know but do you yearly add it around the base of trees also? Ty for your response here
Thank you Paul from NZ.
Over the years walking about the hill country in my West Coast area I've often seen black burnt soils and old embers on our ancient Maori Pa.
Believing it was there because of the way our early European forefathers burnt the land for farming.
Since watching programs such as yours I now believe our Maori of old known about the secrets you are trying to re teach us on here.
Once again thank you and I look forward to watching more of your programs.
I always thought I was a pretty good gardener using tricks my mother taught me 50 years ago and nothing like what you have shown me.
+1 - current society demonizes stuff like burning wood but in reality the only problem earth faces is over population of humans. These techniques of creating biochar, liquid fertilizers, etc. are all natural processes that overpopulation & things like concrete have disrupted. In isolated environments these things re-create the natural biome of our planet it seems.
Easiest way I've seen to make the biochar. You a good practical way to gain the most benefit by mixing it with composting materials and bacteria. It makes sense that this material would create a great home for fungi to proliferate which is paramount to our soils.
I'm inspired all over again to follow what really drives me.
Thank you for creating this, oh and you seem like a gentleman which is refreshing.
Your welcome John!
Marie here, on a cold wet mountain on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way. Thank you SO MUCH for that clear, informative guide. I have piles of drying prunings from nuisance invasives which I now plan to turn into biochar to feed my 3 acres of newly-planted native deciduous woodland. Your TH-cam tutorial has been an important 'find' for me. Looking forward to watching your other/future videos. For now you have provided so much to work with.
Your welcome Marie!
Thanks for teaching us how to make bio-char. It is a process I need to understand. I was taking your Eco Restoration class but had to stop studying when life took an unexpected turn. I am still interested in learning what you have to teach. I appreciate what you are doing for the planet.
Your welcome Barbara!
You have explained very clearly, understandably and to my knowledge perfectly how terra preta is done. I greet you from Slovenia (EU)
Wonderful!
We are so grateful for what you have made available for us to get started! I prayed and asked HolySpirit for what to do with HIS back to Eden garden Hallelujah Hallelujah Praise Him forevermore
Glad to be of service Allen
I love how you explained the process of making biochar, clear and timely. I watched your video til lthe end.THANKS.
You are welcome 😊
Thank you for putting your steps into layman's terms. Very informative. Much appreciated.
Very welcome
The best and complete video about biochar, ever!
Thank you Enrique!
Wow! I need to persuade my husband to make it for me!! Ty I’m sharing this video.
Thank you for this comprehensive video making something somewhat complex and with huge potential ramifications so simple to understand and providing practical guidance for a novice to take it on. Much appreciated!
You're welcome!
I plan on instituting this in my garden and flower beds.
Can I inoculate the char pile during winter months and freezing temps? I would only burn during the winter here in the Colorado forest. I could save the char for summer, I guess. And would it be wasteful to add the urine at the water soak time, if I do need to wait until summer to do the rest? Very helpful video!
Well, the urine soak is to start the charging. If stored dry the char will be more hydrophobic and needs to be rewet so the absorption and microbes can us it. You can mix the char with manure or compost and it will charge overwinter. Adding a tarp to help keep the heat in the pile. Adding a layer of straw would help insulate the pile also so that the microbes keep active and the char charges.
Thank you for the step by step and easy to understand walkthrough of how to create and use biochar! Looking forward to starting this up and getting this going to use in our raised beds.
You're welcome Phillip!
Thank you for the information. I'm saving the biochar from my woodstove. I learned a lot from your video.
Your Welcome!
Most practical video on making biochar I have seen. Good job.
Your welcome Brandon. Our goal is to get this out there so that it will be made with simple materials and used. We had little resources in the jungle so we created this simple system that anyone can do with little $
Fascinating and authorative piece on creating and using biochar. I to will be incorporating into my no dig gardening project in uk.
Many thanks
Regards
Your welcome David!
This is very important and interesting, I now understand how to prepare biocher and it application.
Thanks God bless you
Glad it was helpful!
best biochar video yet! thank you
Your welcome!
OUTSTANDING presentation. Thank You
Thank you, this was very informative and practical, I appreciate your effort. I understand so much more now.
thankyou from Australia, I learnt a lot from you
thanks Paul, stay safe
You are very welcome
The Ultimate Guide to Biochar. Indeed it is! Thank you for making this video.
Your welcome!
I dug a concave hole about 30" deep at center and 4' wide at top and filled with very dry small branches up to 1.5" with several up to 2" on top. It burned very hot and fast with some wind blowing and as I saw hot coals at bottom I started adding dirt around the edges to slowly smoother the deeper part fire. I kept filling in around the edges until only a few larger pieces were burning on top. When they were well charred I sprayed water to put it out. I had almost no ash and a full pile of char.
Can you make a video abt it :)
appreciate your comment I dont want to buy the big system he showed yet! Ideally in the future tho lol - the dumping feature seems great
It can also be done with a rectangular dig of 1 meter by half meter with a depth of twelve inches and to be burned on top
Terrific. We are surrounded by virgin bush. There is a huge hazard reduction over 323 hectares surrounding our entire property planned by our fire services. So I had been searching for a way to reduce on ground fuel to reduce the risk and the environmental impact. We have done two loads of biochar so far. We are so impressed how little smoke we have created and looking forward to using this resource. Thankyou for this video. I now need to work out how to knock off our horses urine to innoculate our biochar.:)
Yes, I understand it is a challenge to create a burn barrier while not "cleaning" too much so that you remove all biomass/nutrients needed by the forest and habitat for wildlife. I'm glad that the biochar process is helping you with that!
Very interesting, I built my own Hugo culture, now I want to make my own biochar, and I have good size of composting worms farm . I'm just excited about nature and how it works. I'm in Texas and my property is nothing but sand and moles. So I have to grow above the ground. I'm growing all kinds of goodies that Texas environment that will let me I've also Incorporated permaculture to get what I want. Thank you for the video.
Excellent biochar will certainly help for growing in Texas soils. Worm casting are a great addition to the biochar mix with all its microbes!
Thankyou. Im having a go at making the bio char in qld wish me luck.
Dunno where you get all the piss but a really informative video that I enjoyed very much
I drink a lot of beer.
Thank you so much for a great video I have been trying to this on a small scale just great information❤
You're welcome!
I love what you are doing! I was kind of doing some of these practices but was really looking for some educational instruction... And it's super fun
Cheers!
Thank You for the great video w' the introduction to the use of biochar & for sharing your expertise & extensive knowledge w' others..it is highly appreciated⁉️😊
Stephen RAD frm Cape Town,South Africa
Your welcome Steven!
Good day, I live on a Caribbean island where the weather is good for growing all year round. I am moving to a new place with a large yard. I love gardening and I've had fair success in the past growing tomatoes, sweet peppers, corn etc. I am very interested in studying soil health and getting the best soil possible for my plants. I am keen on using your methods to do this, especially the activated biochar. I am basically starting my garden from scratch and plan to grow in raised beds. I would really appreciate any advice you can give me about getting started and some key things to get right from the start.
I like the no-till method we showed in the video. That was setting up a garden from scratch. Using no-till minimizes the disturbance to the soil microbiology and it is the soil ecosystem that we are focusing on building to then help us grow good food.
I have been saving all my hardwood from my fireplace and I have been adding it for years now. Great video thanks for sharing with us
Excellent thank you Coastal Redwoods!
Best comprehensive video about Biochar. Thank You.
You are welcome!
Thank you for sharing!! I’ll be starting this as soon as it warms up!!
Cheers
Thanks for this great video! How about suffocating the fire and letting it cool, so that the carbon pieces stay dry and could intake even more nutrients? To frame my question, I was thinking of an application to reduce sewerage nutrient leach to natural waterways by adding baskets of biochar into the last septic tank.
The char is hydrophobic when fully dry and is more difficult to wet. Then the nutrient will go in better. Most charcoal is made with the suffocation method but if any air gets in the whole lot turns to ash. The char is great for absorbing nutrients and toxic chemicals but in a septic system it would need to be renewed regularly as it gets fully charged or it would stop absorbing. Not sure how it would work as a bioreactor, just being a big surface for microbial action.
@@PlanetHealers Thanks for answering! I’ve heard they use biochar as a floating tap/coat on the open liquid manure silos to minimize ammonia loss and mitigate smell. That’s why this just came to my mind, since I’ve 2 septic tanks and I’m interested to reduce my family nutrient impact to local waters..
@@CountrySideways We use our biochar in the dry toilet here to keep down smell as well. Add a scoop...! Yes the biochar will float as it is lighter than water. As for capping the smell, it would probably work
@@PlanetHealers you can make charcoal hydrophilic by treating it with a mild acid. Look up "activating charcoal with acid". The choice of acid is obviously important :-) Also, putting your mix into an anaerobic environment with excess water will produce lacto bacilli, which will produce lactic acid. Etc.
Addendum: found out that citric acid has been used to activate charcoal DIY. it has less capability than commercial activated carbon, but still worked to adsorb. They were unhappy with their results, but as an agricultural amendment, this could speed up your process. "Using Citric Acid to Activate Charcoal Obtained From Agricultural Wastes"
Fantastic video - thank you for your important work!
My pleasure!
Thank you for the teaching.
You're welcome Eddy!
Excellent Content! I love how detailed, hands on and thorough this is! Subscribed!
Thank you!
Very well explained. Ty I feel better can manage making it now.
Your welcome Janice!
wood vinegar , another by-product of biochar has a lot of beneficial use for the garden too.
This is an excellent video. We are keen to start producing biochar for our cocoa farms in Uganda. I would like to get in touch with you. We are seeking training for our staff.
Hi Prosperity, We would be happy to connect. Maybe after the group watches the video we could do an online meeting if you have cell service or internet in the area? acoruspaul@yahoo.ca to contact us
@@PlanetHealers Thank you very much. Will send you email.
What a great explanation Paul. Very garateful for your effort in uploading this great knowledge. Just the thing I was looking for. Looking forward to your super brew video. And another subject that you touched about mycorrhizae solution. Please do a video on that as well if possible. Much love from Pakistan. Thanks again!
Gracias, por compartir su sabiduría, I'm from Chile, I Want to learnt more , my english is so bad, but gratefull for you videos and experiencie!!!
De nada Maria. Es un placer
@@PlanetHealers Gracias a ustedes!!!
I will share that on facebook. Greetings from Cancún.
We've had a burn barrel sitting in the back rusting away from the bottom up... How fortuitous! Thanks for a great video.
Your welcome, good luck!
Hi. I enjoyed your video and the way you described the different processes with minimal use of technical terms.
One term you used was “inert”, to describe the carbon after being changed by the pyrolysis process. You were fully correct of course, but perhaps there are some in your audience who only partially understand the term in the context you are using it and why organic matter becomes inert after the charring process.
A way of looking at this that I’ve found helpful is to go one step further to point out what being “inert” means in the context of this subject. Photosynthesis builds more complex molecules by converting radiant energy into chemical energy in the form of organic molecules, and it is this stored chemical energy that other life forms, ourselves included, break down to extract the chemical energy in it to fuel our metabolisms.
But in straight charcoal,, there is nothing that can provide metabolic energy to any form of life.
To put it simply, the reason charcoal can remain in the soil for thousands of years is that nothing can consume it as food.
.
Unless the particle size is small. Then it will degrade and be taken up by the natural composting process.
Thank you very much sir you have done great i will try it this year ,but can l add rice husk and chicken waste
Yes I always say to use what is locally available. Looking up the nutrient availability in different materials will help to get a full mix of nutrients and micronutrients and make sure they are in the mix by adding different components to round out your mix. Maybe adding some compost to get more nutrients as well. Diversity in organics gives more diverse nutrient options for the microbiome.
Where do you get the urine?
Hi! I just like to thank you for this very informative video, I enjoyed watching it and learned a lot.
In preparation for my own garden, I'm almost finished with two, side by side, 4x20' Hugelkultur beds and I'm just wondering if there's any need to add biochar to them? And if so, how would I go about it? 🤔 Like, during what step in the process would I add the biochar?
Yes, add the biochar to each of the layers like a lasagna. Or mix it into the substrate used for each layer.
Hi! Thanks so much for your response! I had a feeling it would be a great addition 👍
I'm just wondering though, the oil barrels you're working with, if they previously held oil, wouldn't there be residual chemicals burning as well as the wood? This seems like a real concern to me. Is it necessary to clean them first? Or maybe I can find brand new oil barrels? Or maybe I shouldn't be concerned with this at all? 🤔
Thank you for mentioning that it takes 3 months to properly brew! I see so many people wanting to rush through to the end result, and it always worries me that the premature biochar may actually rob their gardens of nutrients, instead of adding to the fertility. Carbon is a powerful sponge.. patience pays off!
We did experiments trying to cut the time until used. At one month you could use it with legumes because they fix their own nitrogen. Less time and the beans were stunted and had yellowing (nitrogen deficiency). So at one month we were able to get a bean crop off. Other non nitrogen fixing crops would need the full three months.
Did this time depend of how close we are from the equateur ? I am working in the Amazon in chaikuni institute at 3°south from the equateur, do you think we as well need to wait 3months or as with the high temperature and humidity in our region the process maybe quicker ?
And by the way thanks you so much for sharing your experience and knowledge, it is deeply appreciated !
Idk. I think if you add biochar and then a large amount of old chicken manure or something with nitrates you're probably okay since you're adding a lot of nutrients. I added biochar to my garden and did like 3 parts charcoal and 1 part chicken manure. I soaked it for three days in water and then added it. If charcoal does soak up loads of nutrients maybe people can just add more to the garden if they don't have time to wait like if it's planting season.
Thank you so much for the nice and very knowledgeable presentation. It is full of amazing new innovative technology to restoration of our Mother Nature.
Your welcome Sujit
Excellent vid and info but in filling those bottles with urine, I must congratulate your marksmanship also.
Sorry I don’t share that technique ;)
you need to drink more water bud. that pee is really yellow
A lot better than Dr. Rick Marshall.🦖
@@wilheln it always looks a lot more yellow when it's in a container. I was surprised the first time I did it just how yellow it actually is when it's not diluted in a toilet bowl full of water.
Simple is better easier faster and cleaner. Good job at teaching more than the obvious.
Thanks for the video. I’m very interested in this practice and will be trying my hand at making bio char this spring. From Northern Michigan. Where are you located in Ontario?
We are near to London
One of the best videos on biochar I have seen. Your single barrel method explanation has made it clear to me why I will adopt this method. You have made a comprehensive video covering even the charging process. Thank you for sharing. If I may say that the wind ‘blowing’ on the mic is understandable when filming outside.
Thanks, some days you just have to work with the weather!
Great video, very thorough!
Does the barrel have any holes in the bottom, also do you keep the drain open in the bottom of the Kon-Tiki during the burn?
I like the simplicity of a single container and not needing to fill a retort and add it to a burn barrel and use wood only to heat other wood (even though it might have advantages in other reagrds).
Thanks Brendan! No holes in the barrel and drain closed in the Kon-Tiki. We don’t want air to oxidize the charcoal to ash. Yes we get a lot more charcoal. The disadvantage is the ash formation on top but if managed well it produces little ash. Cheers Paul
Made my second batch of biochar the other day. Not only do I get a great amendment to my soil, I'm also cleaning up the tree trimmings around my house. I use a 55-gallon drum with 36 3/4" holes around the bottom. Burns very hot. Large metal bucket on the inside.
Light 'er up, let 'er burn. 👽✌️
Awesome! Glad you are getting great results.
12:30 - I guess that a barrel could be safer, because it's possible to close the barrel and block air access so that the charcoal inside cools down. I don't really know if it'll work but I'd try rolling it back and forth, to crush the charcoal. (After that, the barrel could go to an outhouse for "charging" :D )
Give it a try for my small garden... small bags of biochar available at your/my local gardening store?
Some places will have biochar available, usually uncharged so you would need to charge it with nutrients. It is a process gaining recognition quickly but the infrastructure for producing good biochar is limited still. That is why I did this video on how to make your own! Cheers
Hi Paul, thanks! I attended a biochar presentation in VT several years ago with a visiting German scholar. One thing I recall is that you should be able to crush it in your hands and then just rinse them off to totally clean. If any tars remain on your skin it was not done correctly. A few recent videos talk about having buckets at the ready when time to quench it arrives. Do you do this as well, and is a helper important, or can one person pour it fast enough? Also, I wonder if anyone is connecting with Dr. Elaine Ingham to have her or someone trained by her check for "micro beasties" and all she knows about healthy soil to close the loop as it were in terms of which pre-charging strategies are most effective. Couple this topic with what they are doing in the Green Gold documentary and we have ourselves a garden of Eden once more! Assuming the looming space weather cycles don't set us too far back...
Hi Jesse, usually we quench having 6 buckets of water ready. One person does it careful not to get burned by the steam. Then fill the rest with a hose. Haven’t connected with Dr.Elaine but a good idea
ya it's hilarious everyone says oh carbon is the sole reason for global warming. No one cares about the grand solar minimum and the sun. Only a few people ever mention it was the sun that caused the mini ice age that forced the vikings out of iceland for instance. If sun cycles do matter you'd think people would talk about it and historically it seems like it does matter.
Thank u sir may bless in ur great work
Congratulations! Your video is very clearly and helped me a lot!
I have a question: in the system that uses two barrels, how long does the material become biochar? Can I use sugarcane bagasse in this system as biomass for biochar?
A hug from Brazil!
Hi Bruna, Any high carbon material can be used to make biochar. I would tend to make compost with quicker degrading material and biochar with the slow degrading material as with the burn it loses the nutrients and leaves only the carbon. For something with a high water content like sugarcane, it would need to be dried first or you would waste a lot of energy burning off the water first (white smoke). The sugar cane is more fibrous so the barrel in a barrel might be better as it would probably burn to ash too fast in the other methods. As stated in the video though the barrel on barrel method wastes all the outer barrel material that could be turned to biochar in the other methods.
@@PlanetHealers thanks ❤
sugar cane , before you extract
the sugar out,.
Excellent instruction!
Your welcome!
i wish i can come and live alongside you. amazing channel. and hardwork. and such beauty arround you. Nice to see this. Please grow this channel and maybe just add how you growing certain vegetables and adding animals into farming. Very beautiful.
Thank you Adnan. We will be adding many videos over the next while with a variety of topics!
Hi Paul! This is Michel from ERC, Community Desperto, Brazil. Amazing video, i just recall to saw it to learn the process and begin doing here! Thank you! Best regards!
Glad you enjoyed it! It is very useful in tropical soils!
Good luck with all you are doing fixing ,our mistakes
Excellent video, very helpful for Garden lovers
Thank You
Wonderful video, thank you. Do you see any possibilities for using biochar on a large scale, specifically in urban green waste recycling?
For urban applications, I would compost and keep the nutrients. Biochar is like a sponge and holds water and nutrients in the soil and slowly releases them. Biochar is for high carbon materials like wood, corn stalks...
@@PlanetHealers Good point. It would be interesting if a community that had large amounts of wood available made biochar, and then gave it to people (or sold it inexpensively) to use in their yards. It would help with water retention, and soil fertility. Hmm, I may have a small community project on my hands. I am moving to an area that has these exact properties. Your video has been extremely helpful!
@@thisorthat7626 It is a fair bit of work to do this (the results are great) so if I was offering to others I would sell it to compensate for your time and materials.
@@PlanetHealers Of course. :). I was actually thinking out loud about starting such a program in the area I am moving to. All the requirements are there. It's a question of whether I want to put in the work for free, or for a small compensation. Your video was extremely helpful!!
hi,very interresting video !!! thanks for sharing all those great informations. greetings from the azores !
Your Welcome!
Great video thanks Paul, I wish you could show the results once you have them
Will do
So cool. This is gonna be my winter project.
Spring is coming! Subscribe to our channel to be alerted when we make our Super Brew fertilizer video!
Hello!! Did you already broadcast the super brew fertilizer video???
I am Mano living in Windsor, On. Very lucky to see your video lately. Thank you for the effort taken. Im very interested in making Biochar my self and making the blend with all the required nutrients for my garden. Would like to know How the wood burning process go in line with the local fire safety rules. Which of the three types you recommend to use in the small gardens.
We were burning in the country, so usually ok, but I would check with the local fire department as to what burn permits you need, especially in the city.
Do you sell your activated carbon/biochar in the U.S. ?
With the soil in the mix, it would be hard to get past the border and I would be concerned about moving microbes from one area to another for disease reasons. Better to make your own and use local materials.
Lots of education, Thanks you .
You're welcome!
Great, informative video, and nicely presented. Thank you!
I'm starting a garden this year, on a place that is a grassfield now. The plan is to plow it just this year, so it instantly looses up the soil and destroys some vigor from grass. But next years I plan on doing no till, just adding compost once a year. Also I don't have enough cardboard to put as a bottom layer everywhere.
I would ask, what do you think would be the best method of incorporating biochar? Before I only wanted to fertilize the garden this year with spreading older manure, which would get plowed under, and that will happen in a next month or so. But now I'm thinking to add some biochar, too. Could I just soak the biochar now in urine, add it to the old manure, and plow both under? (the question is mostly focused on adding the biochar deeper underground, since next years I'll only be adding it on the top).
And another thing. I make my compost just by piling up manure and some leaves, leaving it for a year, turning it once or twice in the process. Is it okay if I just add the urine charged biochar to the pile now, leave it for a year, and then use that entire mix, which will be a compost by then, for spreading over the beds (market gardeners style)? Will it be good as the main medium, for direct seeding into etc.?
And yet another thing, is it okay to just add unactivated charcoal into the manure pile, leave it and not use it for a year or so? Will it get charged adequately that way too?
In the Yucatan, we dug the biochar into the soil to mix it with the native soil and in Canada we just added it to the top as a no-till system after solarizing the beds for a year. Both worked but I prefer not disturbing the soil and leaving the soil structure intact and letting the soil organisms and frost heave take the biochar into the soil.
Adding to the top compost or a mix with biochar is best and not digging or stepping on the beds again after they are established.
Both adding raw char to compost or to raw manure also works to charge the char during the composting process. We have added it to human manure also in our compost toilet. It helps with keeping the smell down and when finished can be used.
Some people have added the activated carbon to animal feed to help detox and have less smell. I wouldn't do it too much as the activated carbon absorbs the nutrients from the animal as well.
Thank you Paul, it's a great video. Will surely practise it.
Excellent Thank you RAOT
So once you add the bio char, do you need to keep adding it? Or just add the bio to replenish the microbes in the char that is in the soil?
You could keep adding it to the soil until the cabon component is 25-30% but usually 10% is enough for most soils. Our plots in the Yucatan had higher % because we wanted to hold more moisture in that fast draining soil. Yes you can just add more organic matter or compost to keep the nutrients up. we use our super brew.
Thank you for this excellent and informative video!
I love the vid. Looks like you need a better air pump/stone eh.
Maybe if we all chip in a buck ($) on his patreon page he might be able to afford one. I'll start off with my donation right now! (just to make it easier for you to do likewise, go to Patreon page and find the 'Custom Pledge' button ... 100,000 (and who knows, in years to come maybe even 1 million!) small pledges of @$1 each is probs better than a handful of higher level pledges. Let's support those who support us to support the world!!!
Thank You Irene for supporting our work and encouraging us to share our work!
You’ve done your homework. Great tutorial sir.
Thank you Arjuna
I would have caught the water to put into the compost tea.. Waste not Want not.
In the Yucatan, we reuse the water again in the next burn especially because we do our burns in the dry season there and water is limited. To add it to a compost tea I would check the pH as it does produce some ash and that will make the water more basic.
Thank you for sharing . Great stuff !!
Your welcome Jerry
Wonderful video. Thank you for sharing this sacred knowledge!
Your welcome!
How would you ever get a return on this investment. You don't have to spend that kind of money to have a very successful garden. No one online has shown any beneficial numbers on returns. In my opinion, biochar may not be a hoax but there is nothing out there that substantiates the cost or return. A recent study says that it increases your return by 10%. To me, that's not nearly enough.
In an already nutrient-rich high organic matter soil, the ROI will be less. We are using it to improve nutrient and moisture-poor soils so it is like gold to us.
I can only speak anecdotally, but I've been using it to amend God awful clay soil, and I went from having such bad run off, and an inability to sow seeds because of the density of clay, to now having some useable, plantable soil. Idk if it would be anything in good soil
Thanks again. I've watched this video many times. Great information!
Awesome, thank you!
@@PlanetHealers in your opinion, is there ever any negative from using char?
@@SARJENT. I suppose if it is made with more ash in the mix it would be more basic and could imbalance the soil pH. You can test this and balance the mix you add to charge the char. In the Yucatan, the soil was already more basic with limestone so we collected orange peels to make our compost more acid before adding it to the char. Using wood with toxic substances in it could be transferred to the soil. The carbon part of the char is inert so if made well it should cause no problems. Always be aware of what you're putting in to burn and the amendments that you are adding to charge the carbon.
I know you made this video 4 years ago, hope your still able to answer a quick question. Where are you getting the urine and what is the type of animal's urine is it, or does it matter? Just learning about biochar and your video was simple and easy to understand, thanks. I've subscribed and excited to see the rest of your video's.
Hi orrfamily, Thank you, the urine we use is human which is easy to collect. We have a compost toilet that we designed to separate the urine but any container will work. Cheers
Excellent thorough info. One question. Is your 55 gallon barrel full intact accept for the open top? There is no holes in the bottom or side? Blessings on your work.
Perfectly put my friend,
I'll tell every one 👍🌴👍
I can't believe you don't have
five million views already ! 🌴
Dear Mr Morris
Congratulation for the excellent video on you have posted 3 years ago.
Could you give me the adresse where I could buy the burner you recomand in the video?
The oil barrels can be purchased many places that change oil inexpensively. The Kontiki you would have to make. From our video description:What is a Kon Tiki? - wiki.opensourceecology.org/wi...
Super video thanks, best Ive seen on making bio char.
Your welcome Simon!
Love you guys thank you, from Seattle!
De nada!
Hi , i watched your video about biochar today, i found it very interesting, i have started to compost my horse manure here in n.ireland and was wondering if i could mix biochar into the layers as i was filling the compost bays, i turn the bays every week as i want the compost to be ready in about 4- months, do you think the compost would be enough to inoculate the biochar or would i need to add more minerals and compost teas. Thanks Martin
Yes compost on its own is fine for inoculating the biochar. I'd add a bit of healthy soil to inoculate with the microbiome. Adding just the carbon to the bedding will help with the smell.
Great video. Thanks a lot!
Your welcome !
I love this! So easy to follow, simple step by step.
I'm new to gardening and this has helped immensely since I'm doing organic planting.
Cheers!
You don't need any special equipment. I simply build a teepee shaped burn pile, taller than wide, it burns fast and clean that way with flames shooting up the middle. (also takes much less space in the yard than a random pile) In about 90 minutes my 8 ft diameter by 10 or 12 ft tall, dense pile is ready to be mostly quenched with just small pile of big chunks raked aside for continued burning. Quench with garden hose as soon as there is near zero woody material left. I get a couple big wheelbarrows of char each time twice per yr from my tree trimmings.
My yields may not be optimal but time invested is minimal and no barrel required, minimal handling. Note of caution: check on char a few times for couple hrs and soak it completely or you might come back next day to a pile of white ash as the char can easily relight and consume itself.