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Bio char active ferment ?

Bio boy

Active member
Got my biochar and it said to activate it as they ran out so it said soak for 2week in fert

I have done that with fish beet Tatos and em1 fulvic worm cast to almost 40%

The ppm 1700
The ph 7.5

I am concerned adding it to my soil mix at 6cup per cube ft as of the high ph ? It’s the classic soil notill recipie

But now my next concern is ,is it meant to be bubbling and fermenting fast ? Cause no smell due to carbon I guess but it furiously bubbles when I move it it’s like stars twinkling lol

So is the char gona mess me soil up? Do I need to add it i done years without it lol but the recipie calls for it maybe it helps the problems I’ve had in the past I don’t know

But now it bubbles and a dude said surely it’s gon anaerobic by now ? I don’t know if that’s good or bad or how to tell but he said soak 2 day max but all the vids online say ya need 2 weeks to 6month soaking

I feel I did it all right as they said I checked and yea just sat in water and sat in slop ,some add air some mix some leave it lol so I can’t get a definitive answer arrgh
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jokerman

Well-known member
Premium user
Got my biochar and it said to activate it as they ran out so it said soak for 2week in fert

I have done that with fish beet Tatos and em1 fulvic worm cast to almost 40%

The ppm 1700
The ph 7.5

I am concerned adding it to my soil mix at 6cup per cube ft as of the high ph ? It’s the classic soil notill recipie

But now my next concern is ,is it meant to be bubbling and fermenting fast ? Cause no smell due to carbon I guess but it furiously bubbles when I move it it’s like stars twinkling lol

So is the char gona mess me soil up? Do I need to add it i done years without it lol but the recipie calls for it maybe it helps the problems I’ve had in the past I don’t know

But now it bubbles and a dude said surely it’s gon anaerobic by now ? I don’t know if that’s good or bad or how to tell but he said soak 2 day max but all the vids online say ya need 2 weeks to 6month soaking

I feel I did it all right as they said I checked and yea just sat in water and sat in slop ,some add air some mix some leave it lol so I can’t get a definitive answer arrgh
View attachment 18927137 View attachment 18927138
another rabbit hole I want to jump in thank you
 

chilliwilli

Waterboy
Without aeration it's dev anaerobic and will have anaerobic microorganism in it. Not sure if it's bad but imo it's not good.

Can dry it before adding, that should kill the strict anaerobics. Maybe bubble it with some molasses and ewc for a few days so the aerobic microorganism get dominant again.

But i have seen recommendations to charge biochar in a bucket by peeing in it for months. I bet that will also get anaerobic.
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
Biochar is full of holes, and when they get filled with water the bubble goes somewhere. Those are big chunks of char, so I would plan to let it soak until the middle of the largest pieces are saturated.
 

Timj

Well-known member
I make my own biochar. This is how I do it. What you don't see pictured is the rinsing process I use to clean all the ash from the charcoal first. I use this bio-char "as is" in my compost piles. My compost is then run through my worm bin eliminating the need to pre-charge it in any other way. I have also run it in my no till mixes directly from the grinder with zero adverse affects.

Outdoors. This is my garden grinder. I also use it to grind the hardwood charcoal from our fireplaces. It takes some work. But, I like to recycle as much as I can. Matter of fact. I just finished a 5 gallon pail tonight. Here's what I start with.
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This is out of the grinder.
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40degsouth

Well-known member
Hey Bio Boy and everyone else.
I’ve been playing with anaerobic mixes for a long time and have fed straight to plants with no ill effects, I’ve diluted it down with the same results and even let everything level out until there’s no smell and fed it that way as well.
My thoughts on it is that anaerobic bacteria, when they are placed in an aerobic medium, such as soil, will rapidly die off and be outcompeted by the beneficial microbes, such as aerobic bacteria that feast on the dead bodies and turn them directly into plant available nutrients and of course, proliferate with the excess of nutrients.
As for the bio char it’s good stuff, the carbon molecule has the largest surface area out of all elements Smash it up as fine as you can get it, l drive over it with the car a few times in a bag and activate it, as you have (never for two weeks but it can’t hurt). The reason it needs to be activated is because it sequesters nutrients straight out of the soil if you don’t.
Hopefully this helps you out a bit.
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Cheers,
40.
 
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