Biochar in 19th Century America and Europe, Historical Accounts

[@redwolfwoodsman726]

Never forget Big Ag has no interest in how things can be done right, and ALL the research money. Men like you, your experience experiments and desire to educate is all we have. Then guys like me remember how Grandpa did it. He made his own charcoal and everything went in the non-junk junk pile. Then it went in the Garden. Composting was a way of dealing with garbage so you did not have to pay someone to drag it off. And you keep all you can that you earned.

[@SkillCult]

There is a lot of research around the world on char right now, but it's definitely still on the fringes. But, there are young science and ag students doing a lot with it, so that will help legitimize it. The big ag money interests aren't going to want higher fertilizer and crop health efficiency, because they are all about products to ostensibly solve those problems. But, while they have huge influence on policy and research directions via politics and funding, they don't have a complete stranglehold and good research is always slipping through. Biochar is unstoppable. How widely it will be adopted on a large scale who knows, but I think it will be. It really benefits growers, even large scale ones.

[@David-kd5mf]

These testimonials have re-inspired me to try biochar. Was thrown off by folks saying it is a waste of time. But no longer. Time to get some first hand trials under way!

[@SkillCult]

Yeah, it's worth a try. Who knows in different soils, but we won't know 'til we try it everywhere.

[@CountyLifeMedia]

I really enjoy your videos and it just so happens that soil is one of my more nerdy interests...KZbin needs more channels like yours! Fascinating stuff! Keep up the good work!!

[@SkillCult]

Thanks! I'm fascinated by the idea of modifying soils for permanent improvement on a large scale.

[@johnshearing]

Thank you. It's good to hear honest accounts of regular people doing science. We've been programmed to believe only what the sponsored academics tell us and to think that science is out of our reach.

[@SkillCult]

well just experience too. Simple observation can be very useful.

[@mollyannemirameyn2432]

That was great bedtime reading!! Cept it kept me awake. THanks that was really compelling.

[@SkillCult]

Hi :) I know right? That information is so interesting. I wish I could get it to more people.

[@Michael-vp4zt]

Great to hear the stories from the 17/18 hundreds... we all know why this isn't being used- there is too much money in chemicals. I've been using bio-char in the home garden and it does get better over time.

[@crazysquirrel9425]

I made my biochar out of oak heating pellets. They turn out to be just about the right size and no smashing needed! I haven't seen benefits though. Could be low rainfall and high heat with winds causing provlem. That or the kazillion Japanese Beetles devouring everything....

[@Michael-vp4zt]

@@crazysquirrel9425 seems to me that it does take some time to really make a difference.

[@dannyhughes4889]

Well researched and presented.

[@HolyCrudCakes]

Hey I've been watching a lot of your videos. Mostly about your apples. Anyway, just wanted to say thank you so much for uploading all of this. Love the videos and great information. Keep up the good work.

[@SkillCult]

Well, thank you for that, and you are welcome :)

[@elizabethyates5933]

I have had this video in my watch later list for a bit. I have been curious for a short time about biochar, and upon searching came across the video you have on burning a brush pile from the top.... I became entranced... I have not done much research o nthe matter, however, I have experienced firsthand improvement upon the land due to accidental forest burning. About an acre caught fire in early fall several years ago. The soil was decent due to it being woodsy, and despite it being a bit sandy (much sandstone), there was a nice ecosystem well established. After this area was burned, we began to clear cut the property and in the meantime, had a few hogs in the area of the burn. Time went on in tis way and we had that section cleared. There have been many animals and much growth of various native species here. In my experiences since, I have gathered that livestock enjoy nibbling on the charred stumps left to them to have access to, and the soil has become rather rich and very dark, almost black. If I need soil for small things, I will use some of this soil. I have not done this yet, however it has been on my to do list. I shall have to remember to take pictures for you to view probably on facebook, if you do not mind. Now I want to burn some wet wood.

[@SkillCult]

The minerals from the ash are good, but transient and it's easy to shift toward a higher yield of char than ash. I think the char cultures in amazonia and africa must have been doing that on purpose, whereas slash and burn they purposefully try to burn to ash. Would love to see pics.

[@urbanlumberjack]

This makes perfect sense. Potash was a major source export from the colonies to England hundreds of years ago. To think that it was cheaper to chop down and burn wood in North America and ship it overseas then to simply make it domestically in England. Wild.

[@terrybouffard6165]

Potash isn't quite the same a biochar (charcoal). Potash is hardwood burned right down to grey dust. It raises the PH of the soil (K, potassium). Biochar is wood cooked and not burnt to dust. You crush it up to smaller dust if you want. I've seen a study that says it raises the PH of the soil but that might not last too long until it finds neutral ph. I'm trying to figure out if you activate your biochar and let it 'compost' for months or a year if it will be a neutral PH or if it will up your PH. Potatoes don't like high PH soil and prefer acidic soil. I've seen many reports now (such as the old one mentioned in this video) of potatoes doing very well.

[@mdwdirect]

I have really enjoyed every one of your videos since I first saw you on reddit early this year (last year?) and I want to thank you for making the extra effort to produce them.I don't know how you manage everything but it appears you are doing so expertly. Well done!

[@SkillCult]

Hey, thanks. It's nice to get positive feedback. My life is pretty discouraging much of the time, so it helps :)

[@mdwdirect]

You are inspiring men and women all over the world. This video alone will change lives. It can prevent starvation and famine all because you put it out there. Be encouraged!! I'm Mark.

[@deanhoward3212]

@@SkillCult bro! Thankyou so much, for your research and the effort to share with us this wisdom. You said that the rest of your life is discouraging. How so? Can i help?

[@drason69]

Great information! I have been ditching my leftovers from the grill on a small bed nearby. I burn hardwood in my grill, as I hate the cost of king ford, even at Walmart. Between the compost and charcoal added to my little salsa garden, it is no wonder that the four dollar Roma/grape hybrid tomatoe plant, virtually took over an eight foot by four foot section of the bed.

[@SkillCult]

Yeah, that stuff is fascinating. The ashes contain a lot of nutrients too.

[@charlescoker7752]

How is your garden doing in 2020? Read where the Char needs to be inoculated.

[@2222Incomplet]

Thanks for the video. Extremely interesting!!!

[@galkema]

Great video Sir!

[@Pay-It_Forward]

I've been there done this. It works, however, table sugar & chopped up steel wool works 5 times as good as your 10% charcoal. Steel wool has Molybdenum, Nickel & Cobalt, which with sugar causes nitrogen fixating bacteria to fix nitrogen on to the roots

[@SkillCult]

So my leeks will be like 6 feet tall and 4 inches in diameter? Hyperbole works best on dumb people lol. Also, charcoal is permanent and as far as I can tell, makes better use of soil amendments that are applied. I'm sure that doesn't apply across the board, but it appears that way from the outside. I hear a lot about sugar/starch and bacteria re: koreah natural farming. Interesting stuff.

[@georgecarlin2656]

This is the most weird suggestion I ever heard. Of course no sane person would do that as first you have to figure out if your steel wool isn't leaching some minerals that will be excessive over time and become poison.

[@oldhighwayhomestead378]

men thats awasome information! I am gonna try it!

[@SkillCult]

Yeah, right?!

[@albertbierstadt1190]

Clearly lots of research with great information resulting in this video. Thank you! I wonder if satellite photos show "Fenwick" written in the grass somewhere.

[@SkillCult]

Ha, yeah, Fenwick was here.

[@galkema]

I started making charcoal a few years ago, the issue I had was getting the char in the ground because of the lack of rain. I live outside Phoenix Arizona and in a good year we get 5 inches of rainfall. I have done some digging into the soil and covering with soil as well as top dressing. The largest amount of char actually gets deposited into gopher holes/ burrows. I had have a large number of earth burrowing critters on the property so taking this opportunity to get the char directly into the soil and possibly be a deterring factor as well. I have not heard of anyone doing anything similar.

[@SkillCult]

That seems like a good idea. I tend to dig it in deep systematically, but it is a ton of work. For gardens and trees not a big deal, since it's only done once. There is a guy using beetles that bury it. He feeds the char to cattle and the beattles eat the dung and bury it really deep in the ground. Super cool.

[@TJHutchExotics]

Very interesting! Thanks

[@tortugabob]

Very interesting readings.

[@zeideerskine3462]

In the German speaking world making terra preta is a very ancient tradition. That is why names like Köhler (charcoal maker), Förster (forester), Gruber (ditch digger), are all ancient professional names for people who made soil "urbar" or arable. For reasons beyond my ken modern agribusiness has lost its understanding of how and why to make Schwarzerde (black earth) and Hügelkulturen but the practice and tradition is ancient. I noticed that several African countries are collaborating in The Great Green Wall of Africa and China is also pushing back its deserts. China is using the old Italian method of first planting poplars then pulling them down when they are big enough, digging out a trench, making clay patties from the deeper layers, and then half firing the clay patties in the pits while charring the poplars, and filling up the gap with fully and partially composted leaf fall. The new bleach earth rows can then be planted with fruit, nut, or hardwood trees. That is how humans have build soil and gardened since Neanderthal days. Actually, that's how rainforests came about in the first place.

[@SkillCult]

Interesting stuff about the german char-culture. Also the italian clay patty thing. I have a plan something like that for larger scale soil improvement. If you have any interesting references, post them. I know I'm interested and I'm sure others are too.

[@zeideerskine3462]

You can find some literature references under the Wikipedia articles on Köhlerei (the German name for the industry of charcoal making) or the Italian version "carbonara". The latter is a little harder to find because of the pasta dish. This is a traditional practice going well back into the mesolithic and it largely changed into serving the iron smelting industry about three thousand years ago. However, at least in Germany, it remained the profession of choice for outlaws including witches until the latter part of the 18th century.

[@FT4Freedom]

Soil biome is usually dense within the first 12 in due to O2 availability. Microbial wastes trickle down. And by the way it's been tested. You may find it beneficial to visit your local agricultural station. University kids play with this type of investigation all the time. Classes in soil micro and horticulture have been very useful for me.

[@asqirl8425]

This video is now posted at Stopthecrime.net under solutions heading.

[@ImHibby]

Awesome stuff as always. Thanks for doing what you do. Quick question. Quoting the video at 4:28 "...These pit bottoms were always clothed when in pasture with luxuriant covering of grass..." and quoting you in Soil Banking With Biochar "Once I thought about it for a bit, I realized it doesn’t make a ton of sense to keep digging new pits just to burn the charcoal in. it’s not like I’m probably doing the soil any favors by cooking it anyway." If the first account is to be believed, you are doing the soil favors by having multiple burn areas. Do you currently burn in multiple burn pits, or does the effort of digging make a central burn area more sensible?

[@SkillCult]

Well, I'm not sure if I am or am not doing the soil any favors really. It seems bad on the surface to cook it, but then again, fired clay is toted as a good soil amendment in some of these accounts. Regardless, I'm doing something really different than they were. In those days, the goal was to produce lump charcoal for things like smelting and smithing. I think they didn't want the little bits and powder that was left behind. I scoop everything out, even if it's full of dirt, and move it onto other areas. I have done a couple pits where I left the charcoal in the pit, and that's fine, but it's not always easy or convenient or efficient to burn in the same pit you are planting in anyway. At this point, I just don't worry about it much either way. I do think it might be a good idea to break up the bottom of the pit after burning in case the firing had a hardening effect, but typically I'm adding a lot of organic matter and dead things to the pit too, so the microbes should come back pretty quick I would think.

[@jakobgrunstein1092]

i think you are right. do you know would it be suitable to put it in soil rich with lime? soil with a shallow limestone bed?

[@SkillCult]

I don't. My soil is very acid. some would say no, because it raises ph, but I would just try some small experiments. It either works, or it doesn't.

[@bobbrawley2612]

Interesting. Particularly the Richmond farm

[@SkillCult]

Yes, I find these really fascinating still!

[@urbanlumberjack]

That soil at the end blew me away. I grew up along the Missouri River Valley and South Dakota. And boy did I take that good black dirt for granted. Now I am in Georgia and find that the Clay is hard as a rock, and totally unsuitable for growing without amendment. My dream is to take several semi trailer loads of dirt from back home and transplant it here

[@SkillCult]

Try using 10 and 15% char in a small test patch and see how much the modifies the soil texture. But yeah, red Georgia clay sounds like not much fun :/

[@David-kg1hc]

So how would this do if mixed with compost? I make compost constaintly but have never heard of using biochar, so very interesting found this watching your axe videos! Thanks

[@SkillCult]

It's a good way to precharge it . My only issues are that it is very hard to know how much you are adding to the soil and you end up putting very small amounts all over the garden, v.s. building up enough in one area to make a real difference. Over time it will work though.

[@jeffreydustin5303]

I want to dig a cone similar in size to the Kon-Tiki kiln to create lump charcoal out of dead trees so I have fuel for a blacksmithy. Any good vids on that or tips? I want it in a cone pit to get the vortex thing and not annoy my neighbor who is an old pothead and cranky.

[@308dad8]

So in another video you said you don’t precharge the charcoal but in this video you said it detrimental not to precharge the charcoal. Which is it and what’s the process you’re using to get a good result from your biochar? How long should I let it age before putting on top of a garden bed?

[@SkillCult]

It does suck up a lot of nutrients, so you have to do something. That can be just leaving it alone for a while until an equilibrium is reached. Most precharge. Unless I'm making it up for potting mix, I usually just add extra nutrients when I bury it and also usually use extra soluble fertilizer for the first year.

[@crazysquirrel9425]

Can you simply mix worm castings into wet charcoal and mix into garden soil in the wintertime and work come spring in about 3 months? I dumped red hot charcoal right into a solution of rain water, a little molasses, some apple cider vinegar with mother, and some comfrey tea (40 ounces to 5 gal bucket). Let it sit a couple of days until saturated then strained it and smashed it up into small granules and a little sludge. I will mix in some worm castings (about 20%), some organic fertilizer (chicken feathers and poop?), sprinkle some wheat flour on it, and then mix into my garden. Garden soil was replaced with 50% oak leaves and 50% yard waste soil (awful dirt too). (had to dig out Johnson grass and toss the soil to prevent it's spread). I will water with well water when I can this spring. I can also top dress with used coffee grounds if needed. Your thoughts please? My biochar is very waterlogged.

[@SkillCult]

You may need to add a little more nitrogen that just worm castings in the first year. I don't really do anything specific. I just add a lot of extra fertilizer when I dig in the char and usually some extra liquid fert for the first season.

[@crazysquirrel9425]

Will some blood meal be ok? I want to avoid chemical fertilizers if I can.

[@kinemorken6474]

@@crazysquirrel9425 Urine is high in nitrogen. If you have used animal bedding, that might be a good source.

[@crazysquirrel9425]

@@kinemorken6474 There is more in urine than just nitrogen. I also mentioned you mix it with water.

[@snookmeister55]

I use steel mortor and pestle, then sift through hardware cloth to 1/4 inch. The mortor is a piece of 24 inch steel standing up with steel bottom. I pound with the pestle, rather than grind. It works but it's a lot of work. Shredder/grinder might be the way to go but they are expensive so I won't. Thanks.

[@snookmeister55]

Steel pipe, that is. The short piece of pipe stands up on a steel bottom. I use this to produce charcoal by flame cap method (same as burning in a hole) and then crush the charcoal in the same vessel.

[@SkillCult]

I was thinking that it may not take much of a chipper shredder to do charcoal since it is so soft, so you might be able to get by with a cheap one or free fixer upper. The one I have was free, but it needs a motor. it is nice though. I have thought of setting up some kind of mortar and pestle with a spring pole for the pestle. It would probably beat what I'm doing now, but I'm more inclined to invest in some efficient solution because of the quantities I plan to do. I'd like to be producing a lot for some years if I can.

[@zacknow]

Would the burn out method of making charcoal work with wood chips?

[@zacknow]

Burn pit *

[@SkillCult]

I'm not sure. I think once you got going it would probably work okay if you managed it well, but I really haven't tried small stuff enough to say. I think the bigger they are, the better it would work. If you try it, let me know.

[@ratatoskr1069]

What would you say about regular coal for heating? I heard burned, mined coal would be toxic to the soil. But I have a powdery mix of coal remains and firewood remains in my fuel shed which I wonder how it would effect my soil if I applied it as fertilizer.

[@SkillCult]

I think the concern is heavty metals I wouldn't use it

[@ratatoskr1069]

@@SkillCult Even unburned? Thanks for answering!

[@Lawman212]

Do you plan to "age" your charcoal above ground before incorporating it into the soil? I wonder what the best practice is. Also, I wonder if it's a practical amendment in this day and age when we don't have access to tons of aged charcoal like past farmers had.

[@SkillCult]

The general recommendation now is to charge it with nutrients from things like compost, urine, manure and manure teas. Mostly I've been adding nutrients with the charcoal rather than pre-charging it, because it's easier. It seems to work as far as preventing the nutrient drain seen with raw charcoal, which is temporary, but significant. I also plan to do more with raw charcoal, just to eliminate the confounding factor of more added nutrients, although in some instances the same amount of charging substance, like compost etc, could be added to comparison plots. I think we are in a much better position to use charcoal now. We have much better technology for making it and can also utilize the heat produced for making electricity, or the wood gas to fire things. There is no shortage of carbon to char if it is approached with conservation in mind. The other interesting concept is that once the soil is improved with char, it will produce more biomass than it did previously, creating more char stock. Just the stuff like wood and food processing leftovers that we waste right now is significant and some crop residues could be charred and returned to the field which would add up over time. Back then there was waste charcoal to be had from industry, but we'd certainly have to be making it intentionally now for the most part. In some cases that might be in small amounts, but it would add up over time.

[@fakechecknumber1198]

Pretty awesome video if I do say

[@SkillCult]

I'm always glad when people appreciate this video. There is so much compelling information in those accounts . I put links to a lot more of the same accounts in the description, and the full accounts and links to the original sources if you want to nerd out more.

[@philsexton70]

Alright, adding charcoal to compost piles and barrels.

[@SkillCult]

Right? such compelling accounts.

[@frankyboy4409]

So, uhm, why would that surprise anyone? I mean after all you basically take a plant, remove some carbon and water (which is in the atmosphere and ground anyhow), and put it back where plants can suck it up. It's just logical that "all the stuff that former plant sucked up to grow" is great for a new plant.

[@SkillCult]

There was a debate about availability of the components of charcoal in this literature. Some people poo pooed the entire idea because it was already known that the carbon in charcoal is sequestered and not available for plants or soil organisms to use. The nay sayers rejected the idea on that principal alone. But information was also already available then on charcoal's capacity to adsorb plant nutrients and that no doubt is at least part of the reason it works. How much of the non carbon components of wood are available I'm not sure. Just the ash could have a significant effect in the short term, but ash doesn't have a long term effect. I know, I use it all the time and the effects are transient. Just what all the mechanisms are is being investigated, but everyone seems to agree that the carbon is not readily available and the long term effect isn't from the plants up-taking anything that is available from the original plant, otherwise it would have only a short term effect like any other fertilizer, and not yield great benefits over a space of decades. It can't be ruled out that some of the short term effects in the stuff I present here could be due to an admixture of ashes, but not the long term effects. Charcoal holds water like organic matter, can have a high cation exchange capacity, can modify soil structure and can help the soil warm. Some people claim that it is a great substrate for organisms to live in and others downplay that. The reason people are surprised is that nothing else traditionally used seems to have this kind of long term effect of modifying the soil to be permanently more conducive to plant growth. There is some indication that burnt clay may have some similar properties, but I haven't researched that much yet and have only used it a little.

[@christurley391]

I would suspect both elements potassium and phosphorus are responsible for any immediate plant nutritional effects while the charcoal has a lasting effect on soil texture much like pearlite or vermiculite does in potting soil. It does make sense that texture improvement and moisture retention aids beneficial bactieria in releasing chemically locked up nutrients as well. Are you burning in your growing beds to destroy possible pathogenic organisms?

[@SkillCult]

I think immediate effects would have to do with nutrition and also ph changes in some cases, but all due to woodash. Not just the macronutrients, but also trace minerals and lots of lime. The char is certainly doing more than soil texture modification. There is quite a bit of information on that, but even back it was already known that it captures nitrogen. and yes, there is also the microbe theory. I've not studied on it enough to have strong opinions about the mechanisms, but I know it can work wonders sometimes.

[@christurley391]

SkillCult Certainly a complex subject and I am by far no expert. My grandfather as a patternmaker had access to mountains of saw dust. He used that in his cow stalls and chicken coop. The added nitrogen quickly broke down the wood in a few months when composted. It would be hard to break down solid wood near as fast except by burning. Best guess, you have to get the most from the form of matierial you can get.

[@asqirl8425]

Thanks Steven , this is a great video. Stopthecrime.net will post this on their solutions page for global dominance and the tryrannical forces destroying the planet. I know it's the best thing to do. Just get char in your garden. Another book I love is the Carbon Connection by Leonard Ridzon and Charles Walters Jr. We know more about the stars up above than the soil underfoot- Aristotle right?

[@snookmeister55]

How are you crushing the charcoal?

[@SkillCult]

That is my biggest hurdle right now. I've crushed a lot of it by grinding in on a piece of plywood with boots. Tons of time and energy and it doesn't work very well. I've also put a lot through an antique corn, bone and shell mill. It worked great, but it's very slow. For a while I was putting clean charcoal through a 1 hp garbage disposal, but it stopped working. I'd like to experiment with tumblers. I tried a compost tumbler, but it was too weak to take the stress. I have some other ideas, but it is a big hurdle for a lot of us. There are ways to do it by human power for sure, but I have a limited amount of energy and probably close to 400 gallons of charcoal to crush. I think some kind of tumbler is going to be great. You'll definitely hear about it if I figure something out. I was also thinking that for small amounts a cement or mortar mixer with some rocks in it might work. Also, similarly, a metal drum with a sealing lid could be rolled around with a few rocks or chunks of wood in it.

[@snookmeister55]

Here's an experiment to try: Prior to a winter hard freeze, saturate char with water and see what effect the freeze has. Possibly the expansion, especially when repeated, will break down the particle sizes. I've tried the crushing by automobile method and found it lacking.

[@SkillCult]

I tried to think of some way that you'd walk or drive over it repeatedly as a matter of course, but it just seems messy. Possibly a large long bag set up like a walkway on a frequented path, but out of what? It would have to be to tight to leak the powder and durable. I like the freezing idea. It seems like it would have to be really saturated though and probably spread out since it's not very cold here. I've seen some apple and grape crushers that could work. Someone has a video on building a roller type of crusher with concrete rollers, but I have rocks and dirt and don't want to have to clean the charcoal first, so I don't think that works for me.

[@snookmeister55]

I charred some bamboo yesterday and it crushed very easily, much easier than hardwood charcoal. Something to think about.

[@odalaigh]

I'm too am looking for a fast way to crush charcoal. Currently I put it in a electric cement mixer with water and rocks. Works ok but would like something faster.. perhaps a ball mill or something?

[@Yotaciv]

Charcoal encourages soil biology and holds nutrients. Under such condition soil life population and diversity might be much higher and might include nitrogen fixing bacteria.

[@SkillCult]

yes, that bit about nitrogen fixing bacteria is an interesting possibility. It seems to work, whatever the mechanism.

[@paulbraga4460]

😇wonderful really. but charcoal per se cannot be fertilizer. it must be the ash and i have seen analysis of hardwood ash and it contains a whole lot of goodies. ash when used in gardens could bring disastrous results because it is basically water soluble like your NPK fertilizer packed with potassium. but combined with the charcoal which has a very high nutrient holding capacity, one of the highest among common soil amendments, it would be great. will do some trials in our place here in the Philippines and will let you know results...also, the moisture holding capacity is great...mygreathanks and blessings

[@SkillCult]

I agree that pure charcoal seems to have very little nutritive value, but it is also never pure and may contain some, though it is very unlikely to be adequate or in any way balanced. I have used a lot of ash in my gardens for many years though and it is great applied straight. If there is a problem it is that ash is very transient and easily washes out. The basis of slash and burn agriculture which has been practiced all over the world for millenia is to burn biomass into white ash and plant immediately. How's life in the Philippenes? Top of my list of places to look for a partner, but I'm pretty attached to living here.

[@jeffreydustin5303]

Get a cow to walk on the chunks and break it up?

[@SkillCult]

Or you can feed it to animals in small amounts. It is said to make them healthier and grow better.

[@matthew-ww6vs]

Both sounds good

[@WhiteWolfeHU]

Synthetic fertilizer is just charcoal! Right I mean crude oil is just old plant matter that gets processed into fertilizer. So burning wood Into charcoal is the same concept type....

[@CraigOverend]

Great stories. Of medieval charcoal pits I've seen pictures of, all form an anaerobic charcoal layer at the base of the pit where soil below has been fired (petrified?), or more recent charcoal pit digs show anaerobic layers from burns over multiple seasons. I'm picturing those farms in the stories with tilled soil, dust bowls and nutrient run off when it rains, that the pits would likely filter and absorb nutrients and then become filled with organic matter and growth. A recent avocado tree study showed very positive results compared to a trial when pits were spread with a biochar base layer, then filled with topsoil. The electron microscope study I read also did spectrum analysis of the nutrient availability in biochar and found high levels on the surface of the less volatile nutrients and made those available to plants. It may look like coal and carbon but it certainly still has many other minerals some soils may be deficient in. Spreading the charcoal on the surface tells a different story and you can potentially see it in soil profiles like terra preta. Keep in mind that rainforest soils like those in the Amazon in regions with high rainfall struggle to hold nutrients and that carbon does build up in areas of run off. A filter material that doesn't break down quickly is likely to help hold nutrients on slopes and organic matter in the soils, something the Jungle Atop A Desert in the Peru episode of The Brain Scoop could certainly use! kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZqGvioOHgsyrl68

[@SkillCult]

Interesting stuff. I thought of that idea that the pits may collect organic matter accumulated from the surrounding area. I'm assuming though that the sites were flat like the rest of the field from time, ploughing and harrowing. That certainly would be preferable to a farmer. I could see though using it in swales and such to further adsorb nutrients from run off and the stuff that naturally blows or rolls into a depression in the landscape. Any initial nutrient input from the fresh char would probably be short lived. I use ashes a lot and they are very transient in effect. My most obviously positive results are from the leek bed where the 10 % and 5% sections are doing much better than the control section. For good measure, I dug the 0% end exactly the same as the others and even added some ashes. I even sifted it in the same as the char ends. This charcoal was raw and on a flat bed. I'll show that in a video soon. It is also amended only 12 inches deep. I'm very curious about amending deeper and have an idea about the next experiments in the garden along those lines, probably a bed divided into two sections both at 10%, but one only 12 inches deep and the other 24 inches deep. I have a similar bed already set up that is the same total quantity of charcoal, but one half is dug in 12 inches and the other dug in 20 inches. I'd also like to do one that is amended with charcoal in the bottom 12 inches only v.s. sections amended in all 24 inches and in the top 12 only. So many experiments to do! It seems there could be a lot of reasons that charcoal works, as it obviously seems to.. It may just be several factors operating at once. Hopefully research into the nitty gritty of it will lead to better application over time. For now, my interest is mostly in two areas. One is setting up things like my catch pits where I throw everything in there with the intent to create super soils and proceed on the faith that the char is doing something. The other is setting up raw charcoal experiments with nothing else, except maybe some comparison spots with just ashes added. That way there is nothing much confounding the results. At least not if control areas are provided that are treated the same in every other way. None of that is to see how it works of course, just that is works or doesn't. And of course that is what matters to me as a grower. there is this great letter from Wendell Berry on the idea that the complexity of our world is beyond human understanding and approaching it that way is basically safer and more realistic. This article had a lot of influence on the way I think, but I think I was already headed there. I could never bring it into focus or articulate it like that though. landinstitute.org/library-post/toward-an-ignorance-based-world-view-lr81 I'd also like to do some trials with burnt clay only. I've meant, since doing the biochar research, to do the same on burnt clay. I also keep meaning to burn clay in my charcoal burns as some of these early accounts call for, but I always forget. The plan is to dip wads of grass in clay slip, and fire them to simulate my kiln wall. I think also saw dust mixed in might be good. My friend Kiko Denzer says that is how light fire bricks are made, with a high proportion of wood flour or similar that burns away. These would leave some nutrients, but mostly provide more pore space. I'm assuming that if fired clay is useful it will be more useful with more surface area, whatever the effect is.

[@CraigOverend]

Adding it to the bottom of swales would be an interesting experiment. I've just been browsing Google Maps/Earth looking at areas in the Amazonas marked as having found terra preta. What's interesting to me is the VAST amount of silt in the river systems along where it's found that then lead out to ocean. All of their topsoil from the surrounding hill sides look to literally be being washed into the streams and ocean, even in areas that don't appear to have been logged. Whether it's the burning practices of the people or the build up of organic matter in these regions forming the rich soil is still a question for me, however it certainly seems plausible that a medium that lives in the soil for an extended period in high rainfall areas that can hold onto nutrients and organic matter, could well prevent further erosion. I just googled and found a study claiming "Soil erosion rate significantly decreases at least 50% after biochar application." and "The increase of macroaggregates is a primary factor to reduce soil losses." So if those soils in your stories were tilled and biochar added to their surfaces, that could have helped with erosion control and soil density thereby improving water infiltration. Those 12" deep amended beds growing leeks will likely benefit from ash amendment at 24" if it helps at 12. At about 3 months leeks send down tap roots to 24" according to soilandhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/01aglibrary/010137veg.roots/010137ch4.html Leaks have a decent amount of potassium, which has a boiling point of 758C(1398F) which is higher than the temperature biochar is usually made at, so should be a source of it, same with calcium and magnesium if they were in the feedstock, however it probably has little phosphorus (whereas animal manures have a lot of it). When I'd compared boiling points of elements to a spectrum analysis of biochar, there was a pretty good correlation so I use boiling points as my "what's in biochar?" rule of thumb. Ceramic water filters can be made from a mixture of clay and sawdust fired at relatively low temperature. There's an electron microscope picture and description here: www.appropedia.org/Ceramic_water_filters

[@SkillCult]

I'm very interested in the erosion control stuff, specifically as relates to water infiltration. I see soil crusting as a major issue in every soil I've gardened in. 50% char in the top 4 to 6 inches seems to have stopped it completely and it doesn't appear that any errosion could occur in that situation except with tremendous amounts of rain and run off or flooding. I remember reading on a forum where a biochar researcher threw some clay and charcoal dust in to a blender and then let it dry. He was expecting a brick, but instead it was friable. I've been meaning to do some experiments like that. If it has the ability to modify clay that much it could be extremely useful for keeping soils open and workable while preventing or at least minimizing soil crusting. I think most of the nutrients originally put into the soil with the char would be gone by now several years later and with near constant cropping during that time. I probably will add ash and manure and possibly urine and whatever else. I'm pretty random with what I put on plants and it seems to work out pretty well. With leeks I grow through the whole winter, so I just keep piling and dumping stuff on them periodically. Cool on the ceramic filters. So I'm thinking we can make custom mixes of clay with available materials and fire them wherever heat is [produced like cooking and heating fires, charcoal and lime production etc. Probably saw dust or similar mixed in clay slip and then dip bundles of grass and dry them for firing. Some trials using that as a soil amendment would be very interesting.

[@CraigOverend]

I remember listening to an audiobook about Gardening without Irrigation by Steve Solomon that at first seemed counter-intuitive. He recommended repeatedly fluffing the top inch or two of soil to make it friable when it was dry to ensure moisture penetration into hydrophobic soils. His thinking was two-fold, that it helped water and moisture in the air seep into the soil and also that it also slowed the evaporation of water by effectively creating a dry soil mulch. My father does this in his vegetable garden with similar effect, but just thinks he's weeding when he does it! Steve's other tips were related to plant spacing and use of fertigation only if needed rather than watering, I thought the latter cheating based on the title and remember thinking that all his topsoil must also get blown away. :) Biocrusts are one way to ensure infiltration. Mixing in chopped straw is another. Growing into a shallow-root ground cover better yet if you have the moisture to support it. There are also spray on biopolymers being developed by the CSIRO here in Australia that let moisture in, but not out for our drier farming regions, especially to aid in germination and unpredictable rainfall. Clays can be a pain to amend to form macroaggregates and thereby reduce soil density making it easier to work. My approach is amending with organic matter and then getting things to grow in it to produce more organic matter to amend the soil until it can sustain a crop. I have a lot of compacted clay and organic matter. That's how nature does it with succession, I just like to think I'm helping it get started by digging and amending and planting and digging in. I remember calculating that based on the carbon farming study here that I've previously mentioned, that under crop farming bare soil one handful of compost per two square feet was required each season just to replenish the soil organic carbon lost.

[@SkillCult]

Dust mulching by cultivation used to be practically the only game in town from what I've gathered. In the old days irrigation was often the exception, so water had to be conserved. The classic text dealing with that is Dry Farming by Widstow. I think most of the other writings they often assumed that everyone already knew, but Widstow goes into detail as dust mulching is the hingepin of dry farming where rainfall is low or seasonal. I've used it in the garden and it works remarkably well. The problem is that it hammer the soil because you're digging it over and over again. And yeah, dust bowl. We have low wind here, so dusting isn't really a problem, but it was elsewhere. So you have to keep cultivating to let the water in and then cultivate again as soon as possible after significant rain or irrigation. It works, but pretty much the opposite direction of pasture cropping. I've had very little luck with really improving soil texture with organic matter. it's hard to come up with enough and it is very transient. In spite of claims to the contrary, when I tried bio-intensive, my soil texture went all to hell. After I had pest problems due to the very high compost additions, I went mostly no dig when I moved here. I have loam though, which may make it work better. Not sure. I think the trick with no dig is going to be inducing heavy growth and therefore heavy root growth. I'm hoping the charcoal will help with that. I use my compost on the surface to help prevent crusting and it works it's way down. Over time it can lead to a pretty high organic matter content in the top 2 inches or so, but as soon as it is dug, that all changes and I have to start over.

[@bushcraftbeats4556]

Briefly, what do you say to the anti-biochar people? Suggested vids next to yours here is full of vids that say biochar doesn't work.

[@SkillCult]

I've watched one. It was pretty retarded. Results and history speak pretty strongly, including my own.

[@bushcraftbeats4556]

I have no pony in this race, but: if it was historically recognized that bio-char was so effective in agriculture, why did farmers stop using it?

[@williamsmith3847]

@@bushcraftbeats4556 I'd call it laziness, entitlement based on Foreordination, and the availability of commercial fertilizer.

[@toffeebluenose7331]

Tera preta pits must have been a dumping ground for every thing, dead things pots of human waste,animal waste,maybe even cremations,even today urine is used on compost piles on allotments.

[@SkillCult]

seems likely.

[@Yaqeen2013]

As a verse in the Qur'an, God says He created this earth to serve us. All we need is make an effort and trust Him.

[@jeffreydustin5303]

I like a good fiction book to read, too.

[@Yaqeen2013]

@@jeffreydustin5303 I strongly recommend you to read the Qu'ran. By the way its not a good fiction book, its a blue print from God as a way of life.

[@Shaun.Stephens]

@@jeffreydustin5303 I take it you like the bible then?

[@thomasburns1516]

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