Hayron1088
Well-Known Member
Do you use bio-char? If you do what is your opinion on it? If not, what do you use instead of it? I appreciate the education.
Bio char
- Thread starter seaofgreen18
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- #42
seaofgreen18
Well-Known Member
That's AWESOME I feel the same way when I find stuff like that I think Free MoneyI too make 99% of my own “material” now. FFOF was my go to and at $35 a bag, let’s just say I’ve spent the equivalent of a new car in it. In another thread of mine I posted awhile back, I re-discovered my fathers leaf pile. And by leaf pile I mean a 25 ft tall, 80 yards long, 40 yards wide, over 40 year old pile of mostly oak and maple leaves. I dug down about 3ft and found dark dark black compost that looks much like Bio-char. I literally celebrated this finding like I won the lottery! To me and I’m sure many here it is like winning the lottery right?
Sorry if I’m rambling but this stuff excites me to learn. It’s changed my life as I’m sure it has for you. I want to send this leaf mold off to be tested as well as my own mix of soil being as I have unlimited access to every amendment needed EXCEPT aeration. Thanks for you interest and I’ll keep everyone posted once I send them off.
thanks for joining the thread I'm ALWAYS interested in what others are up to in the growing world keep us posted on the results- Thread starter
- #43
seaofgreen18
Well-Known Member
I love it it has saved me ALOT of money on water and amendment and it's sustainable Ron from Michigan
Yes.
For my 'super soil mix' I will add 1 part activated or inoculated biochar with 10 parts of my basic compost, peat-moss and Perlite mix. I have not done it any other way since I started growing weed so it is hard to compare to a soil without it, at least as far as my cannabis growing adventures.
However, I have mixed up a potting soil using the same basic soil mix but without biochar. This is then used for houseplants, summer flowering plants growing in pots, or for my kitchen herbs. Not exactly a real test of the difference since I have not done a side by side growing of those plants. But, I do think that all things considered the biochar soil mix would grow better flowers. My daughter has repotted her houseplants and outdoor flowers using both of my soil mixes and says the biochar is better and she can see an improvement within 2 to 3 days.
As a reminder to growers who want to try biochar it is not recommended to use it unless it has been inoculated ahead of time. Otherwise inoculate and wait.
This below is based on what was found in a website selling gardening supplies including biochar.
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- #45
seaofgreen18
Well-Known Member
B.O.B is produced specifically with the grower in mind with its capacity to improve soil structure and fertility, help with water retention and drainage and as a magnet for heavy metals and other water impurities. Major research centers and top institutions have confirmed the benefits of Biochar and our own research trials have shown an 8-9% increase in growth and yields using our KiS Biochar Soil vs our Water-Only Soil.
B.O.B has positively charged ions that attract fertilizers and nutrient minerals such as Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus. This attractiveness (called "cation exchange capacity" or CEC) keeps nutrients in the plant root zone, preventing them from leaching out with watering. CEC also helps make the nutrients bioavailable to the plants. Ultimately, with Black Owl Biochar in your soil, you need less fertilizer or compost for the same results. Along with your crops, you'll harvest savings in fertilizer costs, year after year. With a well-made Biochar in your soil, you will water less often and also save costs associated with both water and labor.
*Pyrolyzing means ‘decomposition with heat’ and is as simple as baking biomass in an oven in the absence of oxygen. Higher temperature pyrolysis produces Biochar with higher surface area, which helps to lock away harmful contaminates like heavy metals and sequesters carbon from the atmosphere. The baking process releases flammable gasses that provide heat energy- in essence producing an amazing soil amendment that stores stable carbon in the soil while producing clean, emissions-free energy for the Washington State energy grid.
SUGGESTED APPLICATION
The Biochar should ideally be placed near the soil’s surface in the root zone, where the bulk of nutrient cycling and uptake by plants takes place. In cases of new landscaping or construction areas, deeper placement is preferable. The likelihood of wind erosion is significantly reduced when pre-mixed with compost, watered down and thoroughly incorporated into the soil. Biochar can also be mixed with liquid manures and applied as a slurry.
For specific application rates of Biochar from Biochar Supreme, click here
If creating your own soil mix we recommend 5%-8% of your total media to maximize soil benefits. In field soils we can see application rates at 2%-3% with benefits.
Our Commercial Grower’s Mix (CGM) soil contains 5% biochar by volume and our biochar soil mix contains 8% biochar by volume.
B.O.B has positively charged ions that attract fertilizers and nutrient minerals such as Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus. This attractiveness (called "cation exchange capacity" or CEC) keeps nutrients in the plant root zone, preventing them from leaching out with watering. CEC also helps make the nutrients bioavailable to the plants. Ultimately, with Black Owl Biochar in your soil, you need less fertilizer or compost for the same results. Along with your crops, you'll harvest savings in fertilizer costs, year after year. With a well-made Biochar in your soil, you will water less often and also save costs associated with both water and labor.
*Pyrolyzing means ‘decomposition with heat’ and is as simple as baking biomass in an oven in the absence of oxygen. Higher temperature pyrolysis produces Biochar with higher surface area, which helps to lock away harmful contaminates like heavy metals and sequesters carbon from the atmosphere. The baking process releases flammable gasses that provide heat energy- in essence producing an amazing soil amendment that stores stable carbon in the soil while producing clean, emissions-free energy for the Washington State energy grid.
SUGGESTED APPLICATION
The Biochar should ideally be placed near the soil’s surface in the root zone, where the bulk of nutrient cycling and uptake by plants takes place. In cases of new landscaping or construction areas, deeper placement is preferable. The likelihood of wind erosion is significantly reduced when pre-mixed with compost, watered down and thoroughly incorporated into the soil. Biochar can also be mixed with liquid manures and applied as a slurry.
For specific application rates of Biochar from Biochar Supreme, click here
If creating your own soil mix we recommend 5%-8% of your total media to maximize soil benefits. In field soils we can see application rates at 2%-3% with benefits.
Our Commercial Grower’s Mix (CGM) soil contains 5% biochar by volume and our biochar soil mix contains 8% biochar by volume.
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- #46
seaofgreen18
Well-Known Member
tumbling composter, mix 10% biochar by volume and incorporate into the composting process. For pile composting shake a layer of biochar with each addition of organic material. The addition of biochar will speed up the composting process, reduce odors, and ultimate give you a higher-quality compost. Ideally, you would add the biochar early in the state of composting.
No, just fermenting them from dry grain.
The home mixed soil of my plant containers has been used for multiple grows and re-amended in each outdoor 'off-season'. While I have included charged bio-char in my soil, it is all mixed up. I wonder what, if any difference would occur if it was in a layer like the layers found in the Amazon, altho it's probably a lot easier for a layer to remain in the ground than in a pot!
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- #49
seaofgreen18
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure I would figure it would be fine as long as you don't tip the scale on % 's I do a 4x8 grass root bed in my basement had it for 3 years now In a no till and my char is in my casting and compost so double dig the bed I've never tried to layer it but I top dress during the run so I guess it's layered I usually keep a perpetual grow going I only use pots for outdoors or vegging in so I re ammend about every 3 months I have Great results that way
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- #50
seaofgreen18
Well-Known Member
I don't use any liquid fertilizer other than Pacific Gro fish it's all dry amendments for me had my experience with all the FANCY SHIT all's I did was waste money and pollute my soil
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- #51
seaofgreen18
Well-Known Member
I've seen fermentation mentioned here I do that as well I have a good recipe for a alfalfa meal fermentation I use 5% em-1 and 5% molasses (I usually don't use molasses it's a bacterial food I want to feed the fungi and the more complex critters but they have to eat to
) 90% water 1 cup GOOD QUALITY alfalfa meal in a gallon jug and let sit 4 -7 days in 65f to 75f. Man my soil LOVES it plants green right up nice a fluorescent pea green 
!
) 90% water 1 cup GOOD QUALITY alfalfa meal in a gallon jug and let sit 4 -7 days in 65f to 75f. Man my soil LOVES it plants green right up nice a fluorescent pea green !
Hayron1088
Well-Known Member
Wow all this education in one day! Thank you all seriously. This info on this thread is extremely valuable to me and will most definitely elevate my gardening. My wife buys/sells/trades plants of all types. We are currently trying to mix soil the cheapest and most effective way possible which I’m sure you all know is not easy. As it stands now I feel like her customers are definitely getting what they pay for because I’m using a custom mix of my own making which, at the end of the day is actually costing me more money to make then she is getting back in selling said plant. So hopefully I can take some of this info that has been passed here in this thread and make a “as free as possible” soil mix that will carry these plants atleast for a few weeks until they climatize to there new home.
If I am interpreting the photos of the biochar in the Amazon those layers of mixed char and soil are from 2 to 6 feet thick. The people did all that work with basic tools like hatchets, axes and shovels. None of the chainsaws or diesel powered end-loaders and bulldozers which are used today.
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Buy in bulk. Depending on where you live you can talk to suppliers even if it is a hobby purchase If you use compost buy a cubic yard at a time. I store the extra in 10 or 15 gallon pots. stacked up behind the garage. Talk to landscape supply yards about buying two bales of peat moss at a time and getting a couple dollars off. Same with the large bags of Perlite or Vermiculite.
I would think that the pots your wife uses for the plants she is selling or trading could be costing more than the soil mix.
A pick-up truck with a cubic yard of compost......
Hayron1088
Well-Known Member
In time yes definitely but for now no. We went to an estate sale awhile back and they had a truckload and I mean a truckload of pots. I handed them $60 and they said just take it all. Insane. They all vary from seedling pots to 1 gallon so big win for us.
Good find. Found decent looking pots at good prices at yard sales but not in quantity. Your find is almost as good as when they are on the curb on trash day.
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- #57
seaofgreen18
Well-Known Member
This week's Made in USA Finds
If you are trying to buy American more often, you are on the right track!"Stuff We Love, Made in the USA" means we don't include everything we find that's American Made - only the good stuff that we really are excited about and really would buy ourselves.
If you are looking for something specific, check out our Ultimate Source Lists or just try the Search Box in the upper right corner at USAlovelist.com.
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- #58
seaofgreen18
Well-Known Member
Garage sale season is just around the corner to and I'm READY For spring!
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- #59
seaofgreen18
Well-Known Member
Some of the grow stores here in Michigan are going outta business kinda stinks but they are liquidating stuff 4hydroponics better known as Grow Co is 1 store I know of in GR that's going under might be able to find some deals there on pots and stuff That stores been in business 25 years I remember sneaking in and out of there in cognito lol back in the 90's kinda crazy how it's gotten know with total legalization here in Michigan it's REALLY screwed things up! It's funny our state has the unemployment off in the same building as the Michigan lottery Wth?? I'll tell you our State knows how to get their money back!
Do you pre-activate your biochar? If so what method do you use? (compost, compost tea, flour, seaweed, etc) Thanks! Great post, we've been making bio-char out here in the islands for a LONG time to improve poor soils.
