Finally Making Biochar
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 พ.ค. 2024
- Biochar is a soil amendment that I have wanted to try in my gardens, but figuring out how to make it was a bit of a sticking point. But sometimes when you wait long enough, a simple low tech method will be developed, which makes it much easier to start.
Videos referenced:
How To Make Your Own Charcoal • How To Make Your Own C...
Charcoal Retort Kilns and Bio Char • charcoal retort kilns ...
How to make a small smoke free biochar retort • Video
Kon Tiki Biochar Kiln Introduction • Kon Tiki Biochar Kiln ...
Cone Pit Biochar in 15 Minutes • Cone Pit Biochar in 15...
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I remember when scientists first discovered the amazing Amazon soil that the ancients had made so fertile, even after hundreds of years. It was such a mystery as to how they had accomplished this. Thank you for your interesting and informative video.
I heard about that... what did they find?
Black Soil Amendment sounds like a sweet metal band name.
Yeah, but what would their hit song be called?
This side of the dirt
@@salazarpayne3784 Nice one!
six inches below
@@REDGardens Diamonds in the dirt or in this case , Nutrients in the dirt .
This is the BEST presentation I've seen on making biochar. Most other videos have you making a kiln of one kind or another, which is simply not practical for many of us. He shows that all you need is the fuel and a pit in the ground -- the rest is just a matter of how you feed the fire.
Thanks!
But still too many Oxygen for this method.
This man is my gardening spirit animal.
:-)
Nice description here. I've been enjoying making biochar in cone pit for 5+ years and this method truly is ideal for diverse feed stock... One trick to offer up, in regard to getting a finer texture in your charcoal AND increasing efficiency... If you use the long stick you have for moving material around to really poke and agitate as the charcoal is being produced, you can pre-crush a lot of charcoal in the pit, help reduce ash formation, and speed up the whole process. Over time I've found I spend quite a bit of time poking/crushing/shifting material in the fire and at the end, the quenched material is often already a texture I'm happy with for inoculating and garden use.
Thanks for the suggestion about using the stick. I'll definitely give it a try on my next burn.
Dude! ^2 of my favorite youtubers!
Thanks for the videos RED Gardens! I love your thoroughness.
@@kdogg040 Hey, thanks! Glad you value my work.
i use a spade to crush the char while its still burning, to event out the surface before adding the next batch
i think this way, there layer of crushed char will prevent oxygene from reaching underneath as easily
i avoid the extra step of crushing it
@@zazugee Sounds like a good process, thanks.
You could use a cement mixer and some rocks to crush the charcoal up. It should beat it to a powder fairly quickly.
That would work. I have read mixed advice about how fine is best, and it seems that a variation between the size of pea and coarse sand is thought to be best.
@@REDGardens Great video! My recommendation would be a good little wood chipper. I used to have a chipper and it would made processing garden refuse much easier. The wood chips would be perfect for suffocating the fire during the charcoal making process. I am interested in the scientific reason why biochar is such an effective agricultural method. It would require some research, but many forests like the amazon exist in areas with nutrient poor soils. All the nutrients and carbon are sequestered in the vegetation, and once that is removed the soil has little residual productivity. Slash and burn agriculture in these areas rapidly depletes the soil because of nutrient runoff. Biochar captures these nutrients and locks them in place where roots systems can still access them. Just like nanotechnology surface area to volume ratio is of critical importance. Smaller particles have a much higher surface area and thus activity. The charcoal itself is fairly inert and long lasting, it does not break down quickly like wood, but can act as a PH buffer as well as a nutrient reservoir. It may also provide some protection against soil pathogens and promote a healthy soil microbiome. Have to go but you get the just of what I am saying.
@@thegeneralist7527 That is an interesting comparison between biochar surface area and nanotechnology.
You can use a concrete mixer to crush to a defined size. Fill it, mount a fitting fitting screen across the opening and then run it with the opening facing slightly down. The particles will stay in as long as they are larger than the screen width. A little work upfront, but you can screen and crush a lot of material this way.
@@REDGardens The Generalist is spot on. High surface area hard carbon made from pyrolyzed cellulose nanofibers is currently being researched for use in improving sodium ion batteries. Your backyard biochar should contain a fraction of these high surface area pyrolyzed cellulose nanofibers as well.
If you are interested in the battery research, these sodium ion batteries have the potential to replace lithium ion batteries in certain applications such as stationary renewable energy storage. This is important due to the environmental issues caused by lithium extraction and the global shortage of lithium driving up battery prices. Sodium ion batteries have the potential to make renewable energy storage much more feasible and affordable and pyrolyzed cellulose nanofibers could become a critical component in these batteries.
You need to watch gardening like a Viking. He’ll show you how to make biochar. Thanks for your video. God bless you and yours.
Thanks to this video, the burn pile will now be made into biochar. Thank you.
I like this technic because it is very simple and eco friendly
🙂
FOR ONCE,i enjoyed this video....the man talked ,but precise and clear with much démonstration
Contrats.
Yay!
I'd love an update on how you think biochar has affected the parts of the garden you've used it on
As would I... and what changes you may have contemplated along the way. THANKS!!
Update please?
Yes please I have found no other video on the subject in your channel
Burning dried tree branches in a pit is a good way to make biochar. To prevent them from turning into ashes, I recommend placing the branches on elevated soil and digging a pit to ensure that the smoke can escape, and the fire remains controlled, preserving the charcoal without it turning to ashes. This is the method we use to create charcoal: we start with freshly cut wood branches, add rice hulls, and burn them gradually until they turn into charcoal without any ash residue.
You might be able to use a cement mixer to break up the charcoal into smaller pieces. Rock is broken in mining operations like this using mills. If the material breaks on its own or can break other particles, it's called an autogenous mill. You could also try adding grinding media, like steel balls, to the mix to help break the material down.
I watched this a year ago, and forgot about it until now... Rewatched, and got me doing my own. Thanks Bruce.
Best video on biochar
Thanks@
Can't wait for the results.
Recently in Zambia ~ central Africa, i was able to access fine charcoal in good quantities, which I added to 200 liter drums of pelletised chicken manure soaking in water. No exact figures for pellets, about 10 liters, and from under trees and shrubs decomposing leaf litter. The idea is to produce char with all the components that symbiotically produce plant growth and health.
Extremely informative with a bit of wisdom and a perfect touch of passion. Thank you for creating this.
Thanks!
I can suggest you two things to improve your biochar making: the first is to put a metal pipe rght down the burning charcoal and using a funnel, pump all the water from bottom to top untill water gets on the surface and let it cool. This will ensure you to stop any burning.
Second tip is about grinding the char. I use a meat grinder and even if it's a bit slow it works. Also it can be automatized (big funnel with more biochar on top and a drill connected to the crank).
Hope it can be helpful.
Thanks for the suggestions!
I'm so glad I just found your channel. I'm going to join your patreon.
Here in SE Michigan, I take as much finished compost from my pile as I need for all of my spring plantings. Then I spend the rest of the growing season rebuilding the pile, mainly with alternating layers of fresh grass clippings, and leaves that I had stockpiled the previous fall. I also make charcoal during the growing season, adding it to the compost pile. I run my small Mantis tiller through the pile several times during the season, mixing the accumulated materials. I let the decomposing compost inoculate(activate) the charcoal.
Your pit method seems to be working well for you. I like the particle size you end up with, and your method of activation.
I've collected some small cookie (biscuits in UK) tins to use as retort chambers in making charcoal. I load them with sticks & twigs, wood chips, pine cones, make sure the lids are tightly in place, then set them atop a hot fire. Three small holes are drilled in the lids to allow escaping gases to burn off. When no more gases are seen venting from the holes, the tins are removed from the fire and allowed to cool completely. Like you, I crush the charcoal into smaller particles.
I think your method of adding charcoal to the compost pile as you build it up is probably the best way to get it into your soil. The cookie tin method is a cool one as well, especially if you regularly have fires for other reasons.
Great info, i just saw in another video that you can pee on the charcoal and its collect the nitrogen ;)
Thank you! Looking forward to watching more of your informative videos. 👍
🙂
interesting the way you explain this made it so much cooler!
Thanks for sharing!
Good idea.
Man I love these gardening experiments. Great channel I really appreciate your work.
Yaye, I'm gonna try the cone pit today! That makes sense!!! Thank you 💗
Great idea Sir
What a great video!!! Gonna try it in my backyard
Thank you for this very informative video!
I like the way you present your data. I hope you’ll follow up with a review of biochar. So far, there doesn’t seem to be anyone else willing to provide a comprehensive analysis of their experiences. I’ll remain open to the possibility of using biochar until that happens but not convinced.
Same
David the Good did an experiment and was very happy with the results.
Solid video, thanks. Thorough and well researched, yet still open and skeptical.
Thanks for the helpful video!
thank you,
Skillcult has a good video series on biochar. Worth a watch
Skillcult is great!
Really cool idea thank you
Excellent video, simply explained Great to see you back.
Thanks.
I’ve watched so many guarding videos before this and I never understood the point of bio char or a practical way to make it until I watch this. Thank you so much!
Glad you found my video useful!
very interesting video.
mantab ,ini simple banget
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EXPLAINING IT VERY EASY! Congrats on your successful experiment! Hoping to hear more updates soon!
Nicely informative with a bit of wisdom and a perfect touch of passion. Thank you for creating this.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Pleasing voice and intelligent research, thank you.
:-)
Very keen to see how this goes! I'm so grateful you're testing this out.
Cool. I hope to have the first initial trials done by late spring.
Great use for Willow especially in areas where not many other trees grow well due to the waterlogged conditions.
Yes. We have a lot of them growing around, and I have gotten into the routine of coppicing them (cutting them back knowing that they will regrow.)
I really like this approach...self-help, no expensive equipment. Use the wheel-barrow as water and biochar containers, using his body weight to stomp on the char, etc.
I will put in urine, fresh vegetables, some rotting fruits, etc. No proteins. Nature will bring in the microbes and multiply as the organic material decompose. I may add farm manure too. Seasoning the biochar in ground pits will be another idea.
I am surely going to try and innovate when I get to Tunisia...my destination for farming. Not need to aim for perfection. Even if it is partially unburnt, they can all go into the ground. Nature completes the decomposition over time and the char stays there for a long, long time.
As for breaking the char, I will use a big pounder to smash them. Everything can be done on hard ground. Okay to mix some soil into it as it is entering the soil eventually.
I saw a TH-cam video where they ground up their biochar using a heavy duty kitchen garbage disposal mounted in a hole in a table & draining into 5 gallon buckets. Smart idea, I thought!
Such a straight forward and informative video. Thank you.
:)
This is so great. Thank you for sharing.
Glad you appreciate my efforts.
Great video. You make great instructional and informative videos. Thanks alot.
Thanks. Glad you like them.
Great work. I like that you're using a simple, low-tech method. I will have to try it myself.
Thanks. I figure it is better to start simple, rather than jump straight into more equipment.
I appreciate the concentration of knowledge. Well done
Thanks.
Thanks for the good information breakdown.
:)
very enjoyable and informative video - thanks for sharing your experiences with us!
Glad you like it.
Love it. That's my winter weekends booked in then
Have fun!
Brilliant
Great video.
Thanks.
I'm really glad I found your channel! It is very educational. This is just the second video I've watched, but I can already tell that I'm going to end up starting from the beginning of your catalogue and viewing every one while taking lots of notes.
Very cool! Hope you enjoy(d) my other videos!
Great experiment, looking forward to seeing what results you get.
Thanks.
Subscribed immediately.
Thanks for the detailed information. I am starting my own biochar right away.
Awesome! Thank you!
@@REDGardens Please very quickly, I have already 5ft by 7ft space dug for refuse by the fence side in my farm garden.
Can I use same to burn my biochar as it's also 5ft deep and plastered round. Hope the fire won't have effect on the fence?
Thanks
Yeeeah! New season! Glad to see you back!
Good to be back into the production of videos, and work in the gardens.
Thank you! Gonna do it the same way!
Hope it works well for you.
Well...it sure looks beautiful!
Yep, I love watching the fire transform during the whole process.
you made it seem so simple ... definitely gonna give it a try..
It is pretty simple, once you get the hang of it.
great video, thanks for sharing
Glad you liked it.
Amazing
Great trials...I´ll wait and see the results of your testing....it sounds good...
Thanks.
Really interesting and informative, thanks for showing
Glad you liked it.
Thanks for the video!
Glad you liked it.
Hello from Co Leitrim. We harvest rainwater for household use, presently I buy in biochar to use in the filtering system so this method will be helpful for us, thank you.
Hope it works for you.
Power Biochar!!
Thanks for posting this vid! I have been looking for efficient ways to produce charcoal!
Great - I was also really glad when I discovered this method.
Thumbs up. Thanks.
Very informative really like how you explain 👌
:)
Thank you so much , it is very helpful for me as a beginner 🙏🤝
Glad it was helpful!
I just love watching this guys’ videos. Well said well made and shows what he is talking about with results,
Thanks!
Good job on the video. I’m learning about it too.
Thanks for watching!
YES!!!!!!!been waiting for this.
Yay!
Me tooooo! Yessss
@@REDGardens Hii Red,
try a good effective way to make biochar while making wood vinegar.. wood vinegar is very good, it can dischourage pest thinking fire (get away) and i found out plant sprayed with very diluted wood vinegar (after filtering tar away), make healthier plant.. very obvious. as i believe these wood vinegar has got la lot of plant "essence" in it.. or even hormone (guessing)..
andrew ysk It would be interesting to explore the possibilities of using wood vinegar.
You sound like mixed Canadian and Irish accent! Very cool voice!
Yep, that is the mix! Glad you like it!
You are a man with a lot of energy! Just like the Energizer Bunny.
Excellent video, thank You!
:)
great job, man
Thanks!
I think one of the best uses is for adding garden area where the soil is crappy to begin with. If the soil is already good, it's not so effective. My way would be to make and inoculate the char, spread it and till it in, then grow cover crops to break it down further and add organic matter plus nitrogen. Do this over a few years, let nature do the work to make awesome garden space. The hard part is waiting...we all want results right away.
A safety concern with the outside pit is that looking at the fire can fry the eyeballs, all that radiant energy I guess. Be careful! I really like using an 18 inch piece of stovepipe in the wood stove, since the heat is put to use. Another method might use the heat to boil maple syrup. I don't worry too much about crushing the stuff, I put it in a galvanized bucket and take the spade to it, drive the spade down into it. Also what's nice is that it happens over the winter, like a daily event that is part of the routine and not something that takes too much time.
I did the trench method too and it was quite smokey. It does produce quite a bit, but the can method (if hardwood sticks are used) makes premium stuff. It really should be combined with coppicing.
I think I agree with you about it being much better at helping poor soil to begin with. i suspect that if soil is decent or good already, the benefits are not so much from a fertility standpoint, but by benefiting the soil organisms. That takes time, and the method you mention of growing green manure for a while first makes a lot of sense. I have fairly decent soil to begin with but there are some improvements that can be made of course. I am going to try to charge with a balance of fertility that can help shift the mineral balance in my soil, but adding more phosphorous, sulphur and zinc, for example. To be more targeted with the fertility amending process.
I'm looking forward to your trials and updates on using this biochar in the garden.
Yeah, sorry, I didn't get to those last year. Hopefully this season.
always interested in your low tech approach to gardening methods.....keeping it simple is usually the best way......
I really like the lower tech options, at least to start.
A retort can produce biochar more efficiently than the method shown, and with fewer emissions. There are also questions of economy of scale. Can enough biochar be generated from waste cellulose for a small site doing what is shown in this video? I don’t argue with small scale efforts that are less efficient. There is value in doing what is currently possible rather than waiting for large scale production of biochar using a retort. I believe, however, that a retort designed for the needs of multiple gardens is the end goal.
@@DovidM Good questions and ideas. I think that this pit method is suitable for people with small scale gardens or explorations. And it also fills that gap that you mentioned about waiting for the large or more sophisticated equipment to be developed or become affordable. That was a big benefit for me. It also allows people like me to produce some char without any upfront costs, so that I can do some explorations about how useful the biochar could be within my context before I start to upscale. I imagine if things go well I will transition to using a retort of some kind, just as you mentioned.
It’s a huge effort - it’ll be interesting to see its effects on your crops..
Yes, it will be interesting!
Yes...YES!!!!!!! Keep us informed on the trials please!
I will!
Exilent video, really well explained 👍
Thanks. glad you liked it.
looking forward to seeing the results from the trials!
Yeah, so am I ... haven't been able to start them yet, though hopefully soon.
@@REDGardens LOL
So informative. I have a conical fire pit my sons built for me from stone that will work perfectly for this. Thank you for sharing I will try this soon.
Hope it works for you.
Thank you for a very informative vid 👍
Glad you liked it!
Fantastic
Thanks!
I have just recently found you and have really enjoyed your videos! However, I quite like THIS one, especially 😊 I have used an old roaster in our fireplace to make biochar following the method EdibleAcres used in his videos. But I have never tried his method of the cone pit. After watching this though, I might re-watch this one a few times and his videos again and give it a try! I like the amount of charcoal y'all are producing!
Glad you found my channel. The method that EdibleAcres uses is great, especially if you already regularly use a wood stove. This cone pit method is great for bulk material and lighter stuff.
Any update on how well it helped the soil?
Benefits of adding biochar into garden bed will increase your plant air intake upto 400% and it also increase water holding capacity of your soil it's magical gift to your plant my brother 🇮🇳🙏
@@Broad-Spectrum or it’s all bullshit and clickbait, who knows ?
@@superresistant8041 it's not you little measley rat, look up terra petra
Nice
awesome, good content thanks
:)
Brilliant dude! I was wondering how and what i needed to make this. I was pretty certain the amazonians didn't go through the fancy systems i see people making. Great explanation
Thanks! Yeah, they probably used a simple method, but not sure it would have been this method.
@@REDGardens how has it been working for you? Is there a follow up video?
@@brianalt3912 Sorry, no follow up video yet. Hopefully this year.
Thanks for sharing this video.
You are a very hard worker Bruce.
It seems like you need a lot of wood to make biochar.
It takes a fair amount of wood, and I don't think it is really useful unless you have access to a lot of wood.
Good stuff! Here in indonesia we have lots of clay and volcanic sandy soil so finding good amendments are always a plus!
With other people's research and experiments, it seems like biochar may not be worth the effort if your garden soil is already rich in organic matter and fertility.
But it totally makes sense that if you have poor soil, it could greatly improve it over time. That is exactly what it did to the poor Amazonian soil.
wow!good creative. like your video. nice to know you. i am from Cambodia
Hi there in Cambodia!
I second skillcult, Steven had a few videos about this very subject, and some trials.