/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
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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
Using a kon-tiki kiln
Hi all, I'm looking to start producing my own biochar using a kon tiki kiln, could anyone that knows (preferably who has one) tell me how much operation time it requires through the day? Do I need to sit watching it all day? Load it once an hour?
12:12 UTC
Night 3 of Being the Neighborhood Weirdo
First time working on making my own charcoal. I usually buy my biochar filled with humic acid - until I learned my neighbor needed to offload a cubic yard of wood chips from woodworking.
I’m currently planning on preloading for my lawn with:
- Liquid Lawn liquid fert
- Chelated Iron
- Humic Acid powder
Finally started a compost pile and will start layering there, too, once it matures a bit. It’s nitrogen-weak, at the moment.
Also, yes, I clearly have a toddler helper :) she collects the sticks. I’m having fun getting into this!
23:45 UTC
