Creating Biochar from Hedgelaying, Jeremy Weiss, Devon Hedge Group

Learn the basics of making biochar for garden use in this video with Jeremy Weiss. Jeremy runs Proper Edges in Devon, specialising in rural skills.
Making biochar is a great way to make use of organic waste material from hedge laying; usually this material is just bonfired.
Seven top tips for a successful burn...
1) Always keep the fire going well and don’t choke it by feeding to much in at a time.
2) Try and get the materials as dry as possible before a burn so you don't produce much smoke - so not after the brash has been rained on!
3) Try and burn small pieces under 3cm diameter - not wood which could go in a woodburner.
4) Quench it carefully, trying not to saturate the char but ensuring you put it out!
5) Use the char as you would a carbon/air source in your compost heap where that massive surface area of pores will be invaded by all the micro-organisms living in your compost - Albert Bates likens it to putting a coral reef in your soil.
6) Other ways of doing it on a smaller and larger scale - you can make that shape by digging a pit - or you can make small batches with a metal bin or bath tub.
7) Be sure to site your burn well away from flammable materials such as thatched roofs, poly tunnels, etc. Have plenty of water on hand for emergencies.
More information...
Contact Jeremy here: properedges.com/
The Royal Horticultural Society has an information page on biochar: www.rhs.org.uk/soil-composts-...

[@Wornout1]

Interesting but after very many years of burning my brash after hedging I now have a total no burn policy. Find room somewhere for pushing it up in piles,birds nest and gain much protection from predators and when you see half the world burning you feel your doing something positive. Think hedgehogs, toads and so much more.

[@jackwheatley8]

Cool, also woodchip for Johnon Sue compost bioreactor, some freinds have just created the most biodiverse compost ever recoreded with this method, they also added seaweed and bassalt i believe, i beleive hedgerows could be food corridoors as well as more traditional uses, great edge effect for many miles, could also inoculate woodchip in hedgerow and inoculate logs, hedge is a good place i reckon for mushrooms

[@MessyTimes]

That was great I am jealous. I haven't been part of a good farm burn in ages.

[@mirleydamazio628]

Prática totalmente errada! 😢

[@tracy419]

​​@@mirleydamazio628just curious what you prefer?
Edit: I just read your other comment and generally agree.

[@devriescustomleather1109]

well done

[@4pintfoss]

Informative video. Can I ask where you got your kiln from? Or did you make it?

[@simonreeves4511]

Patience is a virtue……….

[@benjamindejonge3624]

It helps maybe when you shredded it before to compound it, what do you think about it?

[@mirleydamazio628]

Queimar matéria orgânica é um erro. Você pode triturar a matéria orgânica e por sobre o solo, para que com a decomposição, se forme o adubo para as plantas ou triturar e fazer compostagem.❤❤❤

[@aenorist2431]

Its a good video, all the right ideas and intentions.
But can we, for the love of whatever, stop calling it "biochar" like it is some magical thing?
Its charcoal. Its made by the same process (if you go down to chemistry), from the same feedstock and afterward is 100% indistinguishable from charcoal.
If you pour compost liquid into it, its inoculated charcoal, but charcoal nontheless.

[@GlynisDance]

Yes, I thought biochar was made by heating at high temperatures (compared with charcoal) in the absence of, or very limited, oxygen. That's (so I've read) is supposedly what makes it more porous, containing more minerals, more environmentally friendly and much longer lasting than charcoal. I've seen quite a few "biochars" that look like charcoal to me.

[@barkershill]

Doesn’t sound nearly so posh though does it ?