5 ways to incorporate biochar into your garden soil!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ค. 2023
- Learn five different ways to incorporate biochar into your garden soil!
Now that you've made your biochar, you need to incorporate it into your soil in such a way as to get the maximum benefit from it. You also will learn what is the right amount of biochar to add to your soil for the best results! I fully believe biochar to be the BEST soil amendment you can add for increasing and holding on to soil fertility! Certainly a MUST for intensive gardening!
Here's the link to Become a Farmgirl's video on growing abundant vegetables on your deck in plant towers: • Start Growing LOTS of ...
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MY OTHER BIOCHAR VIDEOS
If you haven't seen my earlier video that explains all the BENEFITS of biochar, click here to learn about this amazing soil amendment: • Perhaps the most impor...
Click here to learn how to make a FREE biochar retort (in less than a minute) to make thousands of dollars of Biochar for free: • How to make a FREE Bio...
Click here to learn about how to make Biochar in your woodstove and activate it for free: • How to make a FREE Bio...
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LINKS TO ITEMS SEEN IN THIS VIDEO
Here's a link for worm castings if you can't make your own:
amzn.to/3XCLPSk
Here's a link for Royal Oak Charcoal PELLETS if you can't make your own charcoal to turn into biochar: amzn.to/44niFeg
If you're looking to get into microscopy to analyze your soil life, consider this one that I bought which was recommended to me by Matt Powers. You get to see the beneficial bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes, as well as all the bad guys so you can make adjustments to your compost to correct them. There's lots of support online to help you interpret what you're seeing. This really is a great price for the quality of the microscope you're getting: amzn.to/3EmjVDj
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My chickens do most of the work for me.
I have five garden beds with concrete blocks around them.
My chicken coop fits down inside the blocks. I move the coop from bed to bed every few months.
I make charcoal by burning a pile of wood then hosing it down when the fire dies down a little.
I wait an hour then stir it up and hose it down again.
The next day I sift it through 1/2" rabbit cage wire to Remove the nails etc.
I store the charcoal in metal trashcans.
Before I move the coop over onto the next bed I spread about an inch of charcoal over the bed.
In a few months the charcoal has been pooped on, scratched in and broken up. My hens are the hardest workers around my place.
Here too... except for my wife!
I have never heard of biochar...so the first half of the video I have been wondering how it's made and decided to check comments and bam , second comment and now I know ! Thanks for putting that in here because I don't have time to go back and watch other videos today.This video and your comment taught me much .Happy growing 🌿🌱🍃
@@sharinnature And we're here to answer questions as well!
@@LiveOnWhatYouGrow I actually ended up watching your video on making it in your wood stove 😃👍👍👍 Inquiring minds want to know lol
@@sharinnature Next to compost, I believe it's the most important thing you can do for your garden!
Came to you from "David the Good' I have a 10K sq. ft. garden and live just south of KC, Mo. Thanks for your encouragement and inspiration. I have some worms, use compost, and do 'back to eden' no till gardening. I am 68 years old and keep learning all the time. I will be sharing your channel with others to help you grow. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us.
Awesome! Thank you!
10k square feet sounds like a farm rather than a garden. 😊
Is there a way you keep chiggers down? Moves to MO a year ago and they were horrid in the yard! Hoping I can reduce them this year!
@@inventor1214is this not dealt with chickens unless im mistaken chiggers are tics im sure i heard that chickens are the force to remove tics from a yard. Youd need to look into it bud here in scotland they enjoy long grass keep it short and they move away to find food else where
@@greencraftingandrecyclings2222 I'm not sure if chickens would be able to even see chiggers. I think chiggers are a species of ticks, but chiggers are nearly invisible to the eye.
I wish I had found these biochar videos sooner! Here it is, almost spring. I run two woodstoves all winter...imagine all the biochar I could have made! Well, I'll get started now anyways, to get a little bit, and be ready for next heating season. I have two sons that aren't so much into the gardening, but do love making all the things I need....a solar dehydrator, water catchment and storage, trellises galore etc. This will be another project they'll enjoy. They are learning a lot. Everything I learn, I pass on with action AND words and a prayer that it'll all sink into their minds and they'll be well equipped for whatever difficulties arise. Thank you for sharing your tips.
Make sure you watch Dr. Elaine's videos. I watch one a week at least. www.youtube.com/@soilfoodwebschool
I have watched Dr. Elaine Ingham for at least a year, Geoff Lawton too. The amounts of knowledge are immense yet practical.
I agree with you, to live on what you grow is a fabulous way of life, a bit of sweat producing work at times but well worth it 😊
@@vancamerawoman7399 And "well worth it" is an understatement!
Thanks again for giving us your time and knowledge! Like you, I am in a steep learning curve of seeking information and methods of improving all my growing beds/containers, to maximize our AND our soils long term health! I am 68, so my timeframe is a little more condensed than yours! Great health and good fortune to you and yours! 😊🙏🍀😊
Hi Keith, one of my secrets is that I take notes on every TH-cam video I watch. There's so much out there and without writing something down it seen gets forgotten!
Aren't we all. Autodidactic initiative. Personal ambition and Need for Essential Knowledge Search and Acquisition
Saving cans now to dive into your biochar teachings thanks to finding you via DTG. 😊
I can't wait to see your next post... that you made some! Thanks!
I'm older than both of you and still learning more each day.
I just built the retort using old wire cutters to crimp the edges of a tomato can.
I have a can opener that removes the rolled edges, so crimping is much easier.
The only 2 problems with removing the rolled edge are that It is sharp, and that the retort won't last as long!
The edge actually doesn't end up sharp, but you're right, it won't last as long. Thank you.
@@ninemoonplanet After you've burned it in the fire a few times and the metal gets thinner it does get ragged and sharp. I've done it that way.
I am off grid, although I have a small solar generator, I pretty much live like the system went down. Working from sun up to sun down is rewarding and it’s not back breaking. It’s the easiest work I have done in my life.
I don't know if you do it or not, but adding biochar to your beds and woodchips to your walkways will make it even easier! I don't have weeds. When I do go out to weed, it's to pick out 5 or 6 in my whole garden... and then they go to the chickens! Any weeds in my garden are the ones I WANT to have in my garden!
Biochar could be your most important asset because it helps your soil hold onto more nutrition like I talked about on the video. That way you can spend more time doing other things because your soil will require far less nutrients... and whether you like it or not YOU ARE going to get older.
By establishing regenerative soil, you'll hardly have to do anything at all on your homestead gardenwise, except start your plants, set them in the soil, harvest them, and preserve them! Your soil will get better each year... with less and less work each year!
I use urine charged biochar. With the Florida sand I have it’s needed. I also collect mushroom caps every morning and through them into my biochar. Not sure it helps but I am estimating that spores will get into the biochar that way. I subscribed to your channel to see how to apply it. I like the idea of mixing it into my mulch. Lately I have been mixing it with mushroom compost and storing it clay pots. Of all the amendments I have used I noticed that mushroom compost makes for the healthiest plant here in the Florida sand biochar will give it some staying power
That's great!
I want to add that I have some left over “potting soil” from a few years ago and I was watching half moon gardens who was turning his old potting soul into rich soil by mixing in biochar, so I tried it- not only did it turn that soil rich and dark but it is working great as a seed starter.
The other thing I noticed is that when I transplanted into the ground I added that mix and my transplants never showed any signs of shock- I attribute that to the biochar because I have never seen that before and the only difference is the addition of biochar
Fantastic!
my 1 acre orchard/garden/food forest soil was coarse sand with no organics. before i started planting, i knew i had to add a lot of humus and organics as the soil then was essentially a sieve. i would water plants in august and the soil would be bone dry in an hour! i did it with wood chips. i allow arborists to dump their chips and let them age for 3yrs. the birds love the bugs and they poop all over. after 2nd yr i plant deer food all over them and the deer come eat and poop. by 3rd yr i have the best composted wood chips. i rake the coarse chips for bio-char and have 2' of aged chips over my soil. took me 10yrs to change the entire acre but i did it in sections so i was able to start growing after 3yrs and kept adding area every year. that was 20yrs ago. i just add bio-char and compost as i have it each year. i grow most of what i eat. aged wood chips are far easier way to do large volume, then you can add the bio-char as well. i mix the char with my compost and top my beds each year. every year, i have better yields. i never buy fertilizers or sprays or other stuff. i make my raised beds out of reused discarded metal roofing or just piled compost. i have tons of fruit trees, bushes, along with beds of food everywhere. i wake at dawn and start working and grazing in the garden until it gets too hot. it is better than any therapy. it is better exercise than any gym membership. it is healthier than any exclusive club membership. and it is free. i have lived on less than $10K/yr and each year i become more independent. i cut off focil gas on 2011 and have heated with wood only. i hope to have my solar up fully soon and will cut most and eventually all electrical use as well (currently i use about $40/mo). but i started this whole thing in mid 80's. you can do things well, you can do things quickly, you can do things cheaply, choose any two! i am incapable of not doing things well so that option was not there and i was never rich so that left me with my project taking time. regards from n.idaho 🙂
I love your videos. Thank you for posting them. I live on a small suburban yard and my current goal is just to make biochar using our wood stove like you do and to charge it up with compost and then add it to our lawn. The goal is to make the soil in our lawn to be like your garden so that the ground will be ready if we ever needed to plant food. The other reason I want to do this is because before our home was built, all the previous topsoil had been removed. I want to deepen our current topsoil depth into the clay that is below us. Your videos have been extremely informative.
That's a great idea!
Thank you for sharing all of this know how with us!! You and your wife are greatly appreciated!!
Our pleasure!
Excellent Videos my friend!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
Thank you too
Thank you dear for good information 👍
Stay connected
You have a nice channel. You're spot on about learning to garden. It's something everyone CAN learn, but having experience takes time. I do the same, learn to grow something new all the time. Corn, or wheat, small scale grains, or even learning how to grow UP, it takes time to really learn it all. Nice job!
Thanks very much!
You are absolutely correct to say that it takes a while to be a good grower. I made 50 tons of compost last year. Biochar is next. Thanks for sharing.
Well said Louis. You must have found it to be as hilarious as I did when Bloomberg said that it was, "EASY to be a farmer, ALL you have to do is dig a hole and drop in a seed." What I'm trying to teach is, to get started now and learn how to build regenerative soil while you still can. If there's a food shortage, not only will there not be any food, but you won't be able to buy seed, or canning jars, or anything like that!
What's your large scale composting method friend?? I'm somewhat responsible for soil regen on heavy clay, heavily logged land that looks like bush now but I'm convinced it was tropical Forrest roughly 150years ago. We need bulk compost and I think doing it by hand is ... Questionable. ❤
@@milkymeats Here’s what I did and I hope it helps. I made friends with the tree trimming company that trims the power lines. I would often get 5 truck loads per week and if I had to guess how much that was, about 5 tons per load.
We always have to create a win win Relationship for something to continue. They brought me chips for years and until I had to tell them thank you for the last time.
Making compost- I am using a tractor to turn the pile once a week. The pile will immediately start to compost because there are green leaves and brown wood chips. You are turning the pile so that it stays aerobic, oxygenated instead of Anaerobic which has the negative pathogens.
Expect the process to take 3 to 6 months. You will know when it has fully composted because it will stop going through the heat phase.
Prevent anyone climbing and playing in the large compost pile. It will hit 160 degrees in the pile and people have had the pile collapse.
Your garden is going to love you!
@@louisbrentnell2551 Louis is the best!
Thanks Sir for your info about biochar. It is a big help for me for my small garden. Watching yout channel from Philippines here in Guiuan E. Samar.
Welcome!
Very good video. I appreciate your time and effort I do have a garden it is 100‘ x 30‘. I do have a knowledge about gardening like so many still learning been watching videos on bio char. You did a really good job. Thanks for your time. God bless you and yours. I hope people listen to you better than they listen to me
Hi Judy, thanks for posting. Biochar and Compost are the king and queen of soil fertility. I'm completely emptying all my half-finished compost onto my garden beds today. I'm just putting it on top... not mixing it with the soil! In the spring it will be perfect!
A LOT of people listen to me, unfortunately, no one that I know does! So don't feel alone!
Thank you. It is very clear.
I’ve been enjoying your videos and learning a lot. Thanks for making them! I find the clip transitions difficult though (the page turns, diagonal slides etc ) Don’t know if you could do those more simply, as I’m not a vidder. But anyway, thanks for all the biochar info.
Yeah, I hate that one too, but they can't be changed. if you notice all the newer ones don't have that.
Love your channel. Thanks for sharing your work. How do you manage voles? I find them difficult to control; they take a terrible toll on my root veggies. They love sweet potatoes!
The only thing I found to work was the Gopher Hawk. You can see it on Amazon here: amzn.to/3xYjPOE There's a video on that page showing how it works.
So clear and full of all the knowledge I need!! Thank you so very much, and God bless your young heart and gardening soul! I am a 73 year old veggie growing girl, and yes!! even though I am getting a bit dilapidated, one is never to old to learn and grow in all aspects of the word. Love your videos !! God Bless!!!
Thanks for encouraging all of us!
I reckon by utilising jadam fertilisers and bio char you can superboost your nutrients to your plants. So if you do the top dressing method but put JLF through the water it will turbo charge the nutrients available to your plants and possibly speed up the decomposition of your grass. Thanks for making the video bud its been good learning how you utilize bio char in your garden.
That's a good idea!
Thank you for posting . It was very educational. .
Glad it was helpful!
i just started using it ..i was wasting my char for years outa woodstove in winter as i screen the ash when need some for garden and end up with buckets of coals i didnt use . now i smack it a bit with 2x4 and soak it in fish fertilizer and alfapha tea. and add to soil in beds and containers when can work it
I think we all gardeners have had a moment just like yours. Thanks for sharing!
Enjoyed your content. I grow enough fruit and vegetables to feed me in tough times. I am carnivore, so unless things hit the fan, I feed my chickens, my family and neighbors, and even leave boxes of fruit and veg at the gate for passerby's to help themselves when is there is abundance. I think meat is the proper human diet, but it is great to build resilience into our lives and my soil is now unbelievable.
Good stuff! The best way to build resilience in your soil is to make tons of compost the way we do, and to incorporate as much biochar as you can to at least a 10% amount in the top twenty inches. There's lots more to do than that but those two things are the essential but time consuming ones.
Very good practice and routines. Gz!!
So glad to have found your videos. The knowledge and experience that you share is invaluable. I'm about to incorporate activated biochar into my raised bed garden for the first time. I hope to study all of your videos and convert the Yazoo clay in my back yard into a rich, living soil for growing better fruits, vegetables & herbs. Many many thanks!
Wonderful! I've got some new videos I'm working on that should be of great help! Thanks for subscribing, it helps out a lot, and I appreciate it!
Just what I needed to see today. Many thanks 🖖
Glad to hear it!
19:52 Have you tried using a reciprocating saw with no blade to crush the biochar? Legitimately curious. I haven't tried making biochar but have been watching all of your videos in preparation for it. I also just started my first garden this year. Love the videos!
I haven't tried it but it sounds like a great idea! You probably should wear a mask though because a lot more dust will be produced!
Great video :) I like the no till idea. You might want to check out Skill Cult's biochar experiment bed, he mixed in varying percentages, I think up to 50%, in a test bed. David The Good recomended seeing what he was doing with biochar, if I remember currectly.
Thanks for the tip! I'll take a look.
Hi thank you for your videos. Very interesting! I live in Grimsby, UK. I live in a semi detached house and my back garden is about 170 feet X 30 feet. Do you think that is enough land to grow most of what you would need to live on?
This is the most interesting question!
The answer depends on you, and specifically if you're willing to do a lot of work upfront... studying growing methods, learning how to build microbiological life, researching for the most productive varieties, learning how to succession crop, how to interplant, save seeds, how to start seedings in your house, how to preserve food for the winter, how to grow food in pots on your windowsill, how to grow vertically on trellises and in stacking planters, how to grow crops that will give you all of the food groups, growing plants that can feed you through the winter...
This is what this channel is about.
I personally think IT IS possible to grow MOST of what you need to live on, as you asked, but if you absolutely HAD to live ONLY what you could grow, you probably would have to be able to harvest some form of meat like chicken, rabbits, wild deer, etc.
And you'd have to grow things like LOTS of winter squash that could be stored all winter with no processing or electricity.
Hopefully, I'll be making a video this year about how to grow more than a hundred lbs. (45kg) of tomatoes on a single plant. If you had four of those plants, (which wouldn't take up too much space), theoretically they could produce 400 lbs. (181kg) of fruit in a year, (about a pound a day for the year), so you could consider that to be MOST of what you need to survive on. Of course you can't live on tomatoes ONLY because you need all the food groups-- fats, protein, carbohydrates, etc. So learning about growing plants from all the essential food groups can be added to the list.
What you're asking is exactly what this channel is about, so I'm always speaking from that point of view. So while I may have mentioned a huge list of to-dos, none of them are difficult, you just need to approach them one at a time.
I believe the first order of business for anyone wanting to survive mostly on what they grow would be to make compost... lots of it! Tons to be exact! I use six tons (5400kg) a year. One cubic yard, or meter, is about 1000 pounds or 900 kg. So I use about 12 cubic yards per year on my quarter acre garden. So get some fencing and form it into a rectangular shape, maybe 20 x 6 x 4ft high, and start filling it with compostable materials. Fill to the top and empty it completely every year onto your growing areas!
Of course you know that this post can't be comprehensive or tell you everything you need to do, and neither can this channel! But I hope that this will at least give you a starting point and a reference for what kinds of things you need to be thinking about if you want to live on what you grow!
So glad to find your channel!
Welcome!!
I'm almost out of biochar going to put the rest of it in my compost pile did a garden update video the other day check it out thanks
Enjoyed your video very much keep up the good work and God bless in Jesus name.
Great video! You know your stuff! Thanks for the tips! God bless
Thanks to you too!
I've watched your biochar videos but i must have missed the bit saying how long it takes the cans in the woodstove to complete the task - say using standard baked bean cans, how many hours would it roughly take? Thanks for the inspiration - I've been growing most of our food for a good 5 years, and getting the soil right is huge. Some beds do much better than others. We're coming into woodfire season here, so I'm keen to try this - it makes a lot of sense!
It all depends on how hot your fire is and the moisture content of your feedstock. I use woodchips that have some natural moisture still in them but have not been rained on and it take from 45 minutes to an hour to complete the process.
Great information; thanks for sharing! 🤗🇨🇦
Our pleasure!
Thank you for this video. A concern I have heard is that biochar will raise the Ph of the soil. Have you found this to happen and if so, what have you done to counteract that? Thanks.
I don't worry about pH at all. The measure of soil fertility, sustainability, and its ability to grow crops are less dependent on pH than thought, and more on the microbiological life in the soil. Our plants are getting better and more productive each year nd we analyze our soil with a microscope to see the amounts and kinds of soil life.
As long as all that is in balance, especially the fungal to bacterial ratio, I don't believe I need to be concerned with pH. But, we garden in northern New England in the US on heavy clay, mostly acidic, soil. The wood ashes provide lots of potassium, calcium, and trace minerals, raise the pH, and help to break up the heavy clay.
So as I stated, the garden is getting more productive each year and I'm not going to alter my methods unless I see a change in the garden's output or microbiological life.
Here's an article from a lecture done by Elaine Ingham on the science of soil that helps to explain it: sustainablefoodtrust.org/news-views/the-roots-of-your-health-elaine-ingham-on-the-science-of-soil/
Thank you for the knowledge! Watching from the central mountains of Portugal trying to live the off-grid way!
Our pleasure!
WoW! your comfrey plants! I usually put the Biochard with the compost right when is 80% ready.. and just mix it. Then I let it be for a month or so and then use the compost with the Biochard. What do you think?
Sounds perfect!
Love the video. Your delivery and inflections could get you on a Ted Talk.
Maybe one day!
David the Good showcased your video on Biochar, and I'm working through all your videos on the subject. I just moved to my forever home and this information is extremely valuable to me. My budget is tight after this move but I'm going to start making biochar, and set up a compost area. Not sure I can get a garden planted by spring but I'm sure going to try. New Subscriber.
Sounds great!
The tall comfrey is very different from mine, and from some of your other plants which have leaves like mine... very long and wide, often 18" long., but they do grow tall... over four feet. Monster fertilizer plants. I grow only Bocking 14 strain so as not to have it seeding all over the place. if I want new plants, I dig up an old one and take root cuttings. What variety is that tall skinny-leafed one?
Any idea why I can't grow dill? Yours is gorgeous! My daughter, an avid accomplished gardener, thinks I may have too much mulch for them to sprout through. I think I'll try starting them in pots.
I tried your carrot planting regimen and it's working very well. I did treat the surrounding area for slugs with my homemade remedy. I believe they were eating the seedlings as fast as they emerged.
Enjoying your videos very much... I'm 78 and still learning, after 68 years of gardening practice.
Hi Garth, I don't have any idea what kind of comfrey I have. But it doesn't spread by its seeds. The dill just comes up on its own every year. I think we planted it once about 16 years ago.
I'm not sure about your mulch theory. I spread about 4 inches of compost over that particular area last year and they still came up. Maybe you could try casting some dill seed on the ground in the fall and see if that works. It's worth a try!
Greetings!
This information is AMAZING!!!
I have question: If the charcoal isnt completelly black,does that mean that ut shouldnt be used because it maybe has some white spots on it?
Thanks in advance!
You can use it at any stage as long as you don't bury it in the soil. But you get the best quality charcoal when it has been heated to 1500°F
How long do you leave the biochar rest with the activator in it before you consider it charged?
I just do it as long as I can over the winter, generally 2-3 months. Because I don't mix it with the soil but rather put it on top and cover it with compost it really doesn't matter much if it's fully charged or not!
Thank you for posting . I agree that we must really learn how to survive .😎
Absolutely!
Great video! Thanks
You're welcome!
Here from David The Good as well!❤ My goal is to live off what I grow, fish and gather. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Awesome! Thank you!
I've got a worm farm (in the kitchen, believe it or not) and will make compost tea to charge the biochar once it stops pouring down rain.
I'm a renter so the small barbeque is my fire, and obviously I can't make a lot of biochar each time, but it's worth trying.
You would be better off making a fire on the ground and putting the retorts in that fire, if you can. you need temperatures of up to 1500°F and you will disintegrate your grill at those temperatures!
Thank you, I definitely hadn't thought of that extreme temperature.
I love your videos do you do a very good job on education that’s what I had to start off small see what you can grow once you start growing learn how to keep them healthy and use your pesticide correctly also, with pesticides, you need to learn how to make them worst case scenario if the grid goes down it’s also going to take down so much gardening supplies, and the bugs will still be active. stay away from petroleum based fertilizers and pesticides. If you start producing these yourself, you will not only benefit your health, but you’ll be taking. money out of big brother pocket Garden like a Viking is another real good video to watch. He teaches a lot about organic gardening, including making pesticides, bio char, amending soil, and I like to watch both of these guys work. They’re both great teachers.
Great video,thank you!!
You're welcome!
Thank you Sir. Found your channel through David the Good and I greatly appreciate your content. Your method for generating biochar will be implemented by me ASAP as I too am on a learning journey of intensive gardening. If you’re not already familiar with it, may I suggest that you look up Joseph Lofthouse and Landrace gardening.
Thanks for the recommendation and welcome!
What do you use to crush your bio char up into a even sized medium? Or is using wood chips better because it’s already at a smaller size before cooking ?
If I feel the need to crush it, I use the stainless steel pot and two-by-four that you saw in the video. But mostly, because I use woodchips that are exactly the size I want, I don't crush them at all! There is no need to.
I'm 70 and still doing this work, and it's getting hard. I'm struggling with a 50 lb (ca. 23 kg) bag of feed. I used to toss those around like nothing. Thanks for the great info.
I feel the same way! I'm glad to see that you're still doing what you can! That's what I'm doing at 63! I'm trying to build as much fertility as possible, because 10 years from now I won't be able to do as much, (but I'll still do AS MUCH AS I CAN at that age), because 10 years after that, I will be able to do still less! So I guess my goal is to always do as much as I can, whatever my age is. Seems like that's what you're doing too!
@@LiveOnWhatYouGrow Yes sir.
And I really enjoy your explanations, you are a good teacher. Made some more bio char this morning, I use the trench method, it's a lot of work, as you well know.
You can plant the sweet potatoes first and then the bio char and mulch
Yes
Wasn't the plant growing next to the bed you were working on comfrey?
yes
What do you think about charging the biochar with pee? I was thinking of using biochar in the pee bucket down at the barn instead of woodchips we use now. (we compost the pee/woodchips when the bucket's fullish) Im new to your channel and loving it, thank you for your quality content!
It's one of the best ways to inoculate biochar that no one wants to talk about!
@@LiveOnWhatYouGrow Thank you! Good to know! I just* heard you mention it (near the end of the video)😊. I mean I cant imagine an easier/faster way to inoculate the biochar, though I don't know a lot about biochar yet, just that it would also eliminate any odour as well. Right on, I'm glad it's a good thing to do. Thanks again.
Just found this channel & subscribed. Looking fwd to discovering your other 'how to' vids. Thanks for content!
Welcome!
How long do you charge your biochar with compost before you put it on your garden? I am a new subscriber.
At least thirty days.
I charge it for at least 30-days.
Did you put holes in the bottom of your compost bin?
I thought of doing it, but I'm getting great results already, as verified by my microscope. At this point I'm trying to do as little work as possible and get the same results. My compost is a no-turn fungal dominated one, if it were bacterial dominated it would be a different story and would need oxygen to prevent anaerobic bacteria from dominating the pile!
What kind of wood is good to burn for biochar, ex. is pine ok? Thank you!
Any kind of wood will work!
I saw in one of your videos that you don't use the banana stem in your worm bin. Can fleshy stems like broccoli or banana subs be used in the retort? They are living items
Hi Emgee, you can put all those in your bin, including the banana stems. What I was saying in the video was, that I didn't put the hard banana stems into my blender. And for the second part, you can put ANYTHING once alive into the retort to turn into biochar, including leaves, dead chipmunks and birds, and even cardboard!
Great. Thanks again
Thanks for sharing 👍👍
Thanks for visiting
Just found your channel bro, loved the info 🙃
Welcome aboard!
So what if you dug like a foot or 2 down and layered char and then compost and repeat?
You could do that if you want. but I prefer my method of putting everything on top and letting nature carry it down. I don't want to disrupt the mycelium network in the soil. If I was just starting out on heavy clay soil, I would probably dig down and do what you're describing. But I would only do it one year and from that point never dig, till, or turn the soil again!
Thank you for the interesting content! My property has lost almost all of the topsoil and is full of rocks. A friend advised me stop trying to revitalize the rocky soil, but rather I should bury it in countless tons of biomass! I tend to agree...
Add lots of biochar and keep us updated!
I am in nearly the same situation as you but with my case, the garden use to be where a house trailer sat so, lots of gravel and in my case very acidic as well. I have been working on the soil for the last 5 years putting all of my compostable material into the garden as well as having fires for evenings and gathering the rock, at first for my driveway, then to make piles for small zones to help moisture stay instead of evaporating off in the morning sun. At this point, I can finally grow corn that gets to around 5' tall and useable ears but am constantly making batches of " weed water" in 5 gallon buckets and feeding every 2 to 3 days.
question: i soaked my bio char for two weeks in grass clippings, some liquid kelp and bits of dirt from my yard. today I drained it. can I use the biochar water on my plants?
Sounds like a good idea, but I would test it on a few plants first to make sure it's not too strong!
@@LiveOnWhatYouGrow Thank you. After I posted this I read an article that said you could use it and should dilute 10 parts water to one part biochar "juice", but I am still taking your suggestion and using it first on an area that has some plants I will be getting rid of soon anyway.
Making Comfrey Juice
1. In a barrel with a spigot place three bricks in bottom spaced around and then place a grate on top of this.
2. Fill barrel to top with comfrey or nettles and then place a weight on top of this. I use a 5 gallon bucket with 3-4 gallons of water.
3. Place cover over top of barrel to prevent rain from entering. Allow to sit four to six weeks.
4. There is an odor but nothing like that if water is added. It’s a beautiful deep green liquid. Add one pint per gallon.
Thank you so very much. Would you like to tell our readers how you personally use it as well? I would appreciate it very much!
I inoculate my Biochar with the juice after making in my 7 gallon stove. I also use it as a foliar spray on my plants. This year I’m going to use more nettles as they are loaded with good nutrients.
Keep up the good work you are doing.
Fantastic, thank you! I love both those weeds comfrey for compost and mulching and we dehydrate nettles for consumption, mostly in my smoothies!
Do you use your wood ash in the garden or compost? Do you worry about PH?
I put ALL my wood ash into my garden beds, and I don't worry about pH at all. The measure of soil fertility, sustainability, and its ability to grow crops are less dependent on pH than thought, and more on the microbiological life in the soil. Our plants are getting better and more productive each year nd we analyze our soil with a microscope to see the amounts and kinds of soil life.
As long as all that is in balance, especially the fungal to bacterial ratio, I don't believe I need to be concerned with pH. But, we garden in northern New England in the US on heavy clay, mostly acidic, soil. The wood ashes provide lots of potassium, calcium, and trace minerals, raise the pH, and help to break up the heavy clay.
So as I stated, the garden is getting more productive each year and I'm not going to alter my methods unless I see a change in the garden's output or microbiological life.
Here's an article from a lecture done by Elaine Ingham on the science of soil that helps to explain it: sustainablefoodtrust.org/news-views/the-roots-of-your-health-elaine-ingham-on-the-science-of-soil/
@@LiveOnWhatYouGrow Thanks for your input! I've watched many of Elaine's videos.
I covered a new 40x40 garden plot a year ago with a foot of fall leaves and my plants were almost a total bust this summer. I'm afraid it was too acidic or low nitrogen. I got almost no tomatoes from 20 plants. All tomatoes (except grape) were diseased. Peppers were stunted
Thank you
Let us know how you make out with it!
I JUST DISCOVERED YOUR VEDIO , UPON LISTENING TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE I WAS REALLY AMAZED COMPARE TO THE OTHERS WHO ARE ALSO INTO GARDENING . I’M ONE OF YOUR NEW SUBSCRIBER . THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR EXPERTISE IN GARDENING. Watching from California.
Thanks and welcome
Thank you.
You're welcome!
Yes 'Do not disturb the soil' is a principle of permaculture
Amen to that!
Thanks, subscribed.
Awesome, thank you!
question? i heard one fellow say to put up to 40% bio-char. what's your take on that?
That’s hard to answer, not knowing the type of soil, whether or not the soil is teeming with microorganisms, and if so, whether it’s bacterial or fungal dominated, and the percentage of the biochar that is actual charcoal.
Another factor is the depth of the soil he's talking about. Is it the top 10, 20, or 30 inches? It's a fact not many seem to mention when they're talking percentages, and it drives me crazy! When people talk about 10% being the magic number, and _without_ saying what depth they’re talking about, it makes me believe that they’re just repeating _talking points_ that they’ve heard from the _experts_ and they don’t _really_ know.
I make my biochar to approximately 50% charcoal and 50% organic matter. As you saw in the video, when I spread 125 lbs. (57kg) on that half a bed it was barely 1 inch (25mm) thick. That equates to 10% of the top 10 inches of depth, or 5% of the top 20 inches.
When you count only the charcoal content, you cut those numbers in half again-125 lbs. of biochar equates to 5% of the top 10 inches or 2.5% of the top 20!
So you’re talking HUGE amounts of biochar to get to 40%!
When people do their "testing" in pots there is some value to the test, but I don't believe it's an actual representation of the same "percentages" in the garden, because plant roots, soybeans for example, can extend 25 feet into the soil.
So even if you had a mix of 40% biochar in the top 10 inches of your soil within a week the roots will be completely out of that growing profile.
Also missing, when testing in pots, is the vast bacterial and fungal network… the very reason for biochar in the first place!
Biochar’s tremendous benefits, in my opinion, stem mainly from three things-its ability to increase the cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the soil, (which is the soil’s ability to hold onto nutrients), its ability to open up the soil for increasing the water and air capacity, and what I believe is the most important, it provides homes for the bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and beneficial nematodes that make your soil alive and fertile!
For these three criteria, when you do your testing in pots, your results will NOT be the same as in your garden!
With all of this being said, I think the best approach would be to take whatever biochar you make and spread it evenly across your whole garden, _or mix it into your compost,_ as even small amounts of biochar have been shown to increase the three main benefits I talked about above.
@@LiveOnWhatYouGrow thanks for your info and answer.
Is that comfrey behind you?
Yes, it's anon-seeding type that I let grow for the mycorrhizal benefits, as well as being a great compost activator, and we also use it medicinally.
Saran anda sangat2 masuk di Akal 👍👍♥️💪💪
Terima kasih. Biochar luar biasa!
about urine i used t think in term of nitrogen, but i think more importantly it's s source of Phosphorous which usually is he limiting factor for most plants
plants can get nitrogen from atmosphere when they feed mycelium and bacteria in the soil.
it's better to not waste it.
i mostly use it to feed maize bc it's a heavy feeder an no matter how much compost i use it's not enough for heavy density maize beds.
Good to know!
Thx so much
You're welcome!
I put my humus on top of the soil due to my observation that the deeper it is the faster it breaks down into smaller particles. It will get down into the soil fast enough, especially if you are pulling up root vegetables
I agree, (as you already know!)
thank you.
You're welcome
You could also grow potatoes
We do. I just didn't do as many last year!
How did you squire your bio chars? Did you make it yourself. How?
I make all my own biochar, and it's really the only way you're going to know that you have the highest quality. I have a number of biochar videos on my playlist th-cam.com/play/PLIGRE9iMpAvUnnZEYR8nHvZwlHVFhleWV.html that shows how I make it, inoculate it, and use it in the garden.
Can you make biochar from charcoal briquettes?
If it is a brand that is 100% charcoal with no lighter fluid or other additives!
Biochar is not just charcoal as far as I have learned. It is made under low oxygen conditions. The giveaway is that it clinks when you tap it together.
It isn’t understanding that this particular type has an optimum amount of spaces within to hold all the nutrients and microorganisms within. That is why it is important not to crush it to a fine dust. It acts kind of like a bug hotel
@@kathynix6552 You're right! But it hasn't always been seen that way, and some very intelligent people still think you need to turn it into a powder! The current research proves exactly what you're saying. Here's one study that talks about this:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466324/
How do you "Activate" the biochar?
Watch this video on how I make it and inoculate it: th-cam.com/video/bNJ-Mon4TL8/w-d-xo.html
Thanks @@LiveOnWhatYouGrow
Hard to work the ground with a big belly
Wow, that swiss chard is tall!
I never grew it so big before biochar!
My cousin did a Dry Ject injection. The the data is coming back good. The cost is the problem
How do you make biochar?
If you go to the Playlist Section, I have a number of biochar videos showing you how to make and use it, especially this one: th-cam.com/video/bNJ-Mon4TL8/w-d-xo.html
This one shows you how to make the biochar "cookers": th-cam.com/video/ChVxPpnPT-I/w-d-xo.html
My soil is very sandy and loose. I do all my amendments from the top, cuz everything sinks through it. When I apply char, it goes between woodchips and chicken poop. I see no need to precharge it, personally
As long as you put it in the layers of chicken manure and woodchips!
I’m growing plants to feed the birds and the bees.
Sounds like a plan!
🙏🙏🙏🥰♥️
I thought you said that biochar should not be crushed?
I have three exceptions. I mainly use woodchips for the feedstock so that's already the perfect size for my garden, but I do pulverize them for use in my carrot beds, worm bins, and for water filtration.
I heard that it's good to inoculate fresh biochar with bacteria before dumping on your beds. Just soaking with water+cow/chicken manure added for few days. This should prevent biochar from initial "robbing" of nutrients and rather serve as a nutrient filled base. I reckon the 4th way somehow is the best then.
All the biochar you see on the video has been inoculated for at least 90 days. Watch this video to see how I did it: th-cam.com/video/bNJ-Mon4TL8/w-d-xo.html
Why can't I just regularly empty my ashes from my wood stove into my garden? Isn't that just as good???
Wood ashes are good, but they're not biochar and don't contain carbon. They are mainly minerals with a high alkalizing property. There are too many good things about biochar to explain here in this post. The best way to understand it is to watch my other video titled, What you Need to Know About Using Biochar: Here is the link for that: th-cam.com/video/9boXHuzMFsA/w-d-xo.html
New question we need an answer to...
Can Biochar filter NANO plastics from water?
I don't know about that, but I do know scientists are discovering bacteria that can decompose those plastics.
Chicken manure is to strong to add to biochar? Don't have rabbits. Have some leaf mold and store bought peat moss.
Peat moss is good but not necessarily to add to make biochar because there are very few nutrients. Chicken, cow, or rabbit manure are good if you incorporate it the way I do on the video, by putting on top of the soil and not mixing with the soil.
Fine powder can wash and blow away. 1 inch and smaller is great. The larger material that has water in it will hold better when things dry out, bigger mass holds longer
Thank you!
If you're going to do all your bio char before you get old, You sure better hurry up!😂
I'm hurrying as fast as I can!
So apparently his biochar is not inoculated. He is adding nutrients on top of it to inoculate it?
I charge my biochar _as I make it_ by mixing a variety of compost, leaf mold, fish extracts, urine, etc. for about 2-3 months. I charge it further by putting a layer of compost on top of it to allow the elements to carry it to the root zone.
I'm going to disagree slightly with you again.
1. Mycorrhizal fungi grow in association with plant roots. It is essential to have living roots in the soil for mycorrhizal fungi to thrive.
2. These fungi that form this sort of mutualistic relationship with the plant are relatively host-specific. If a bed has no plants in it then the mycorrhizal fungi go dormant because they don't have a food supply to tap into.
3. Fungi exhibit *fragmentation* as a form of asexual reproduction. If the mycelial hyphae are broken into smaller fragments, these fragments can give rise to new mycelium.
4. Mycorrhizal fungi can colonize plants via three pathways: spores, colonized root fragments, and vegetative hyphae. If there were mycorrhizal fungi thriving in the soil then there would be spores and vegetative hyphae, so all you'd need is to plant crops and as soon as the roots get in the vicinity of those sources of inoculation the mycorrhizal fungi will once again spring into to action.
Hello, you're not disagreeing with me. I agree with everything you said. But it's not best practice to break the hyphae through tilling or turning the soil, even though they can grow back. Plus a lot of your nutrients are lost to the atmosphere when you turn the soil according to Dr. Elaine Ingham. Plants and fungi grow best together in undisturbed soil. In any regard, I want the biochar on top to be in direct contact with the mulch-compost to absorb all the nutrition as it can so it doesn't absorb the nutrition out of the soil.
@@LiveOnWhatYouGrow Did you consider that your bed was empty so the mycorrhizal fungi were dormant because there weren't living roots in the soil to feed the fungal networks. Mycorrhizal fungi need roots and when there are roots growing in their vicinity again they will reestablish. Hyphae are not like plant roots. They are far more independent of the overall organism which is why they can reproduce via fragmentation. If you cut plant roots then they will likely die off. That's not the case with hyphae. They can even survive a couple of years in the soil without roots to feed them, but when roots grow towards them they come out of dormancy and rebuild a network and very quickly. Different mycorrhizal fungi are groups of fungi that work with different plants.
e.g. I planted Turnips in containers earlier this year with brand new homemade compost. So that is 100% disturbed soil that I was building from scratch and I did not add any commercially-bought mycorrhizal fungi inoculant. When I harvested the turnips (50 days to maturity) there was mycorrhizal fungi growing in association with the turnip roots. So the mycorrhizal fungi will grow back very quickly, literally in a matter of weeks if the fungi is present in the soil, and the soil is rich and protected on the surface from UV (i.e. mulched)
p.s. Note that you can incorporate the biochar when you harvest potatoes because you have to disturb the soil anyway. I'd recommend doing it in the evening the day before it rains so you limit UV exposure to the soil and allow rainwater to maintain adequate moisture. UV exposure and drying out are factors that will be detrimental and they can be mitigated by scheduling and mulching the surface.
@@omeshsingh8091 Just because they CAN grow back doesn't mean you SHOULD break them when they could already be tens, or hundreds, of meters long from the plants growing there last year...
like you said, *and dormant.*
Additionally, the hyphae in the bed are connected to those hundreds of mint plants you see growing in the same bed, so the beds are NOT empty.
That's also why I have other deep-rooted perennials like dandelions, horseradish, and comfrey growing in the beds, AND pathways, all year.
Plants grow better in undisturbed soil and will give you a bigger harvest, as proven many times by gardeners like myself, Elaine Ingham, and Charles Dowding.
Also, in regard to mixing the biochar after the potato harvest, I DON'T want to mix the biochar with the soil, but for it to be in contact with the compost I'm applying as a mulch to absorb the nutrition from it as it decays, as per the #1 method on the video.
But I did say in the video that there will always be exceptions, especially when you're creating a new bed on hard ground. In that case, I may dig the biochar in. That is the #2 method in the video.