BioChar --- Double the Yeild?

[grapeman]

While I admit to never using biochar, I do have an opinion on the title of the thread.

From experience, the only thing that can double yields in any growing crop would be water when there isn't any.

If you want quick carbon, use ethanol or methanol as a foliar spray on the leaves in full sunlight. It's just carbon.

 

[Bionic]

I wonder if you could add this to Hempy Buckets? Hmmm. LOL!

 

[JackTheGrower]

While I admit to never using biochar, I do have an opinion on the title of the thread.

From experience, the only thing that can double yields in any growing crop would be water when there isn't any.

If you want quick carbon, use ethanol or methanol as a foliar spray on the leaves in full sunlight. It's just carbon.

gelatin seems to be a nice quick soil carbon..

LOL

 

[JackTheGrower]

I wonder if you could add this to Hempy Buckets? Hmmm. LOL!

What is a Hempy Bucket?

 

[Bionic]

Pure perlite or 3:1 mix of perlite:vermiculite in a 3-5 g. bucket with a hole drilled in it. Passive hydro.

 

[jaykush]

While I admit to never using biochar, I do have an opinion on the title of the thread.

From experience, the only thing that can double yields in any growing crop would be water when there isn't any.

If you want quick carbon, use ethanol or methanol as a foliar spray on the leaves in full sunlight. It's just carbon.

you get a lot more than just carbon with biochar/char. give it a try sometime im more than sure you will like the results.

 

[h.h.]

I like char because it's cheap and easy to make while bulking up the soil. I believe it also helps to stabilize the ph as well. It acts as a sponge for nutes as well as microlife. It gives the roots something to cling to and makes my pots lighter. I used char last year along with planting twice as many seeds as last year and yes my harvest doubled.

 

[grapeman]

you get a lot more than just carbon with biochar/char. give it a try sometime im more than sure you will like the results.

I intend too in my on going quest to fuck with my soil in search of perfection.

My post was not to dismiss the benefit of carbon along with other beneficial elements and activities, it was just that expecting double the yield would be unreasonable.

Other then that, I think it is rather obvious that it would help build a soil. Just an observation of the rapid re-growth of a forest after a fire is all the proof I need.

 

[NUG-JUG]

Other then that, I think it is rather obvious that it would help build a soil. Just an observation of the rapid re-growth of a forest after a fire is all the proof I need.

That gets me thinking..we have some areas devastated by forest fires maybe I could collect some big pieces of free char...

 

[MrFista]

Guys, read the Terra Preta thread, this thread is disinformative.

Grapeman, the char claims are mostly right when applied to marginal soils. Some have shown 700% gains. Great soils are much harder to get results from. Go read the last couple of posts in the Terra Preta thread for my brief on the brief from the scientist who meta studies all the char information.

All soil carbon is not equal.

You could create a permanent and basically free supply for yourself with poplars or similar as shelter belts. This is a technology that WILL help your farm. (from a hysterical fucking greenie to you the working man).

The sawdust was feijoa SS. We have since used wood chips for similar results. The sawdust offers more protection but is harder to come by than larger chips. The larger chips do however take longer to break down. Thing is, when you want volume, unless you live by a mill that mills untreated wood.... chip the stuff.

Fungi can be trained (saprobic fungi anyway) onto different wood substrates given time and patience. Use stem butt culture (re: Paul Stamets) and add sterilised chips of what you hope to train the fungi onto to the cultures then wait and hope. I trained a fungi here to eat deadwood of a few of my trees but the wood I really want to rot down is thus far resistant - so that's the wood I char.

 

[grapeman]

Guys, read the Terra Preta thread, this thread is disinformative.

Grapeman, the char claims are mostly right when applied to marginal soils. Some have shown 700% gains. Great soils are much harder to get results from. Go read the last couple of posts in the Terra Preta thread for my brief on the brief from the scientist who meta studies all the char information.

I see now in the #1 post that the claim of doubling yields has a lot to do with water retention. There's that pesky water again, since marginal soils usually do not retain water or retain too much water. LOL

 

[h.h.]

All things being done correctly, the only way to double the yield is to double the planting or change genetics. Char is simply a tool in building and maintaining healthy soil. It works well for that.

 

[doctor76]

thats about the hardest part using store charcoal. its always in big lumps

Not allways. I buy biochar thats very fine dust.

 

[doctor76]

this is funny cuz the other day i was reading in this book my mom has https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Storeys-Gardening-Skills-Illustrated/dp/1580170080 and it says in the composting section
"What to avoid and why"
Material / Reason
Charcoal / Does not break down in compost
Coal, coal dust, coal ashes / May contain levels of sulfur or iron that are toxic to plants

shows how much they know haha

Biochar isnt post to break down in compost. Its post to charged with nutrients, thats why you puy it to compost at the first place

 

[conradino23]

I've seen few studies done on biochar and although it's great organic amendment (I've been using it for few seasons now) it works best in soils which are not fertile (carbon and nitrogen poor) and acidic in the first place and only if used in very small amount. Typically plant's productivity increases only with certain ratio of biochar in soil and when limit is reached benefits end. Bottom line is that if you use very rich soil for cannabis (anything over 1-1-1) biochar is not gonna give you any real edge except water retention and nitrogen adsorption in the first season, which later leads to N immobilization though.

 

[DocTim420]

The ratio of biochar I am working with is: 90% Malibu Compost, 10% Biochar (wet charged before mixed with compost). It seems that particular ratio produces excellent levels of Ca and Mg from a few studies.

Last summer I experimented with a 50/50 compost/biochar blend on a small section of my outdoor veggie garden and was blessed with disastrous results.

Soo, imo too much is no bueno--as illustrated with your observations of "N immobilization" in the seasons following biochar application.