/r/BioChar
For articles & discussions relating to biochar and its many benefits.
The Biochar Reddit
Biochar - charcoal used as a soil amendment. Biochar is a stable solid, rich in carbon, and can endure in soil for thousands of years. Like most charcoal, biochar is made from biomass via pyrolysis. Biochar is under investigation as an approach to carbon sequestration. Biochar thus has the potential to help mitigate climate change via carbon sequestration. Independently, biochar can increase soil fertility of acidic soils (low pH soils), increase agricultural productivity, and provide protection against some foliar and soil-borne diseases.
Terra preta - a type of very dark, fertile manmade (anthropogenic) soil found in the Amazon Basin. It is also known as "Amazonian dark earth" or "Indian black earth". In Portuguese its full name is terra preta do índio or terra preta de índio ("black soil of the Indian", "Indians' black earth"). Terra mulata ("mulatto earth") is lighter or brownish in color.
Terra preta owes its characteristic black color to its weathered charcoal content, and was made by adding a mixture of charcoal, bone, and manure to the otherwise relatively infertile Amazonian soil. A product of indigenous soil management and slash-and-char agriculture, the charcoal is very stable and remains in the soil for thousands of years, binding and retaining minerals and nutrients.
Slash-and-char - an alternative to slash-and-burn that has a lesser effect on the environment. It is the practice of charring the biomass resulting from the slashing, instead of burning it as in the slash-and-burn practice. The resulting residue matter charcoal can be utilized as biochar to improve the soil fertility.
Also see /r/BiocharVideos for videos on biochar
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Rice U scientists: Cooking temperature determines whether 'biochar' is boon or bane to soil
/r/BioChar
4,471 Subscribers
Help please - Chinese company ripping off my kiln product, copying wording, designs etc.
Hi everyone, I'm stuck with an issue and interested to hear your opinions. When I launched our original biochar kiln in 2018 under our brand Earthly Biochar, a company called Biochar Station popped up and ripped us off, they produced exactly the same looking kiln, even copied our website images and wording. We managed to shut them down because they used a Shopify store, and as we also setup on Shopify (a couple of years before them), Shopify kindly closed them down. Fast forward to 2024, and they're still operating, still using our wording, and copying our designs and customer comms - but now on a different website platform. What can I do? I've heard China is notorious for copying IP.
Biochar Station make cheaper versions of our kilns in China, not even welded fully and therefore won't last long. Ours are made in the UK, from thicker steel, and seam welded to last 10 years. It's frustrating seeing customer reviews for Biochar Station rip-offs when I know the kilns these people buy from them will fall apart within a year.
Please - any pointers would be amazing. Thank you, Lottie (Earthly Biochar Co-Founder).
11:27 UTC
A Little Backyard Biochar Making: Stacking Functions Sunday
Had to clean the basement area where my son likes to split wood. And had to clean up all the sticks in the yard that fell during the storm the other day. Had more leaves to pick up too. Time to make some char!
I filled a barrel with small wood bits from the basement cleanup, and threw it into the fire pit with a bunch of sticks from the yard and some scraps from the basement cleanup.
My son and I probably got a bit overzealous adding wood to the fire, so ended up with a lot of coals. Doused them with some rain water (and ice) from one of my leaf barrels I'd left out.
So, ended up with a bunch of good char IN the barrel, AND in the fire pit! Score!
This char will get used in the chicken coop...where under my nesting boxes I've been layering hay I got for free to catch the poop and cut down on drafts. The char should help absorb some nutrients and help keep smells under control.
Also raked up a bunch of leaves and added them to my "slow compost" chicken run deep litter system. Come spring, the chicken poop/hay/biochar will get mucked out of the coop and added to the leaf compost.
16:43 UTC
I made a small smokeless TLUD biochar kiln
Hi all, I made a small smokeless TLUD biochar kiln as I was getting requests from people for a smaller, more affordable unit. What do you think? It's made in the UK, shipped worldwide and I've made it as affordable as possible so that more people can make their own biochar. It's made of stainless steel and I've designed it to be modular, to increase lifespan. Would love your thoughts / questions. I've decided to sell it on pre-order to help with manufacturing. If you're interested in seeing more photos/videos of it in use, I'll share a link to the page for it. Thank you :) Happy biocharring
18:19 UTC
Biochar Survey - University of Reading
Hi folks! As part of my PhD at the University of Reading, I'm researching why biochar adoption is slower in the UK compared to other countries. Alongside my academic work, I run biochar workshops and design kilns through my brand, Earthly Biochar.
I’m looking for input from anyone who manages land or a garden—whether for work or as a hobby. You don’t need to use biochar to participate; I’m interested in hearing a variety of perspectives. Please take 15 minutes to complete my anonymous survey. Your responses will be incredibly valuable to my research, and they’ll help us understand how to better communicate the benefits of biochar.
https://readingagriculture.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3t0qY0VIAkaNivk
I’d also really appreciate it if you could share this with anyone else who might be interested!
Thank you so much for your support.
#Biochar #Sustainability #PhD #Research
10:34 UTC
Biochar Research Survey Continued... | University of Reading
As part of my PhD at the University of Reading, I'm researching why biochar adoption is slower in the UK compared to other countries.
I’m looking for input from anyone who works in ag, manages land or a garden—whether for work or as a hobby. You don’t need to use biochar to participate; I’m interested in hearing a variety of perspectives. Please take 15 minutes to complete my anonymous survey. Your responses will be incredibly valuable to my research, and they’ll help us understand how to better communicate the benefits of biochar.
Link: https://readingagriculture.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3t0qY0VIAkaNivk
I’d also really appreciate it if you could share this with anyone else who might be interested!
Thank you so much for your support!
#Biochar #Sustainability #PhD #Research
13:07 UTC
Worms and Biochar, Good or Bad?
Hello! I make biochar kilns and biochar, and I had a customer reach out saying the biochar I sent them killed off all the worms in the compost bin. I was shocked and wanted to ask if anyone else had encountered a similar thing? I've popped links below which suggests biochar and worms should be fine - and only toxic to worms when temperatures get too high, or ammonia is too high.
I did do some reading and found the research paper below which looks at biochar’s effect on worm mortality rate. They found at very high application rates (above 20 tonnes per hectare which is equivalent to more than 40% biochar) the earthworms started to die. The worst outcome was from biochar made from poultry litter and high in ammonia which is toxic to the earthworms.
I can’t imagine biochar made from wood, with no ammonia in it, and only applied at 10% application rate would result in the same outcome.
14:42 UTC