How I Make Biochar - Easy Methods - And How I Inoculate or "Charge" the Charcoal with Compost

[@freedomfighter0011]

I'm about to give you the best tip of your life for making this stuff. When you think its burnt enough, throw a sheet of roofing iron or such over it and cover with dirt, it will starve it of oxygen but continue to smoulder for a while giving you the best char you have ever seen. Thanks not needed.

[@BudgetPhil]

That's a great tip. Water is hard to find in some places. Plus with the steel sheet method ,or similar, the charcoal would be dry and could be used right away for other things besides biochar if needed. Thanks for stopping by

[@Bizarreparade]

Hey thanks! You're a hero.

[@BudgetPhil]

Thank you

[@john5712]

I was thinking this would work

[@gokulankoormanthara2805]

Great

[@jeffcole1914]

If you go by the areas that have been destroyed by wildfires you notice where it regrows it’s lush and beautiful.

[@BudgetPhil]

I've seen that also. I bet the biochar naturally created during that process plays a role in the fertility.

[@saltybildo9448]

@jeffcole1914 ,yep controlled burns all the time here in north Central Florida

[@Frog13799]

You can also soak your bio char in an organic liquid fertiliser followed by jadam microbial solution (easy to make with leaf mould and potatoes) this will inoculate it way faster than a compost pile and avoid the charcoal leaching nutrients from the soil initially

[@BudgetPhil]

Thank you for the advice.

[@1049662]

Mum uses a method of a ten gallon drum inside a forty gallon drum, she ties newspaper around the smaller drum and places it upside down inside the larger drum which has some vent holes cut around the bottom, then builds a fire inside around the smaller drum and lights it, the stuff inside the smaller drum is pyrolized. She linked me this because she found it interesting and I do likewise!

[@BudgetPhil]

It sounds like your mom has a good method for producing some high-quality biochar. I think I'd like to make something like that someday. Thank you for sharing that information.

[@grasshopper7760]

I love your presentation, and your attention to detail is phenomenal. Thanks for the great content! And now I'm going to go make me some bread on a stick

[@BudgetPhil]

Thank you

[@marktretter2602]

Excellent video, it answered many of my questions!

[@BudgetPhil]

Thank you

[@lauras5312]

great video

[@BudgetPhil]

Thank you

[@B30pt87]

Subscribed. This is a great biochar video! I've been watching a lot of them, as I'm going to move up to my property next month. I loved the amount of information you put in - it's obvious you know what you're talking about. P.S. I have the match to your cat.

[@BudgetPhil]

Thank you

[@patricknorton5788]

Awesome video. Much thanks.

[@BudgetPhil]

Thank you

[@patricknorton5788]

@@BudgetPhil We are lucky to have a decent-sized lot to have a garden in. Too shady for much vegetable growing (we do a little peas and potatoes) but is great for naturescaping, which is a complete bonus for us people too. Our soil is classified as "excessively well-drained", so building the organic material is very important, for both retaining nutrients and moisture. I have a nice big compost bin, and we get a lot of wood chips from local arborists, but the carbon breaks down within about two years of application, and we only get one load each of compost and wood chips every year. Carbonizing a small portion of the wood chips (and branches etc) we get, and mixing them in the compost to give them nutrients and inoculate them should help the soil health and resistance to our summers in northwestern Oregon.

[@BudgetPhil]

If the wood chips are turned into biochar, the carbon in that charcoal should remain stable and not break down for a long time. I've read that there is soil in parts of South America, known as Terra Preta, that was made by an ancient people using biochar. It's said to be thousands of years old, and the carbon is still present in the soil and stable. It's a remarkable achievement, and a very interesting subject. Adding that carbon to your excessively well draining soil should really help to retain soil moisture

[@johnfitbyfaithnet]

Great tips thank you for sharing this important information

[@BudgetPhil]

You're welcome

[@TheDrunkenBBQ]

Fantastic my friend 🔥🔥👍

[@BudgetPhil]

Thank you

[@Gardensiren24]

Amazing how renewable it is bc can use the wood from trees if pruning from garden and old dead plant matter then just activate or inocculate with microbes.

[@BudgetPhil]

Yep. I gather brush and dead branches into piles during the year and then convert it to biochar when the piles get big enough. I love cooking over the fire also.

[@georgecarlin2656]

Since you seem to be dealing with branches imho you should use the trench method so that you work less on cutting them into little pieces.

[@BudgetPhil]

Sounds right to me. Thank you for the tip.

[@davidhurley2656]

Agreed, I use the trench method and it is pretty easy and productive.

[@the26local96]

i'm gonna start doing this and selling it near me. awesome video man

[@BudgetPhil]

Thank you

[@The_Need_for_Speed]

@the26local96 Did you start the business ?

[@The_Need_for_Speed]

Did you start the business

[@karan25535]

Great video.... between the 1st two pit methods, which one did u find better....where u keep adding wood slowly and building the fire or where u add all the wood together and burn from top?

[@BudgetPhil]

Thank you. I usually prefer to start with a little wood, or whatever feedstock I'm using, and add more as it burns because it's easier for me to control the fire. But if I want a big fire, I'll fill the pit with wood then light it.

[@totopolo2379]

hey was that some bread at the end? that was fantastic

[@BudgetPhil]

Thank you. Yes that was some basic yeast bread dough I wrapped around a stick and cooked over the fire.

[@stephenmckay7954]

Thanks for this Phil. 👊🏼

[@BudgetPhil]

You're welcome

[@abc_cba]

Thank you for this experiment. Subbed! Best wishes from India 🇮🇳

[@BudgetPhil]

You're welcome, and thank you

[@abc_cba]

@@BudgetPhil please post more videos for Winter tips, especially if you have Citrus plants if any. Thanks.

[@BudgetPhil]

Thank you for the suggestion

[@abc_cba]

@@BudgetPhil I would greatly appreciate that if you did videos on citrus care as just everyone searches for those online. Thank you in advance.

[@BudgetPhil]

That's good advice, thank you. I added those topics to my list. I don't have much experience with growing citrus trees but I love eating citrus fruit of all kinds and would like to try growing some dwarf varieties again. Winter can be cold and harsh where I live, so I need to bring citrus plants inside during that season.

[@benjaminreinhardt259]

Interesting. I burn most of my combustibles for disposal, rather than hauling them down to the dump. We don't have trash pick up out here - have to haul it ourselves. I use a burn barrel and sometimes get biochar (didn't know that's what that is) out of the barrel. I have just been throwing all of the ash and biochar behind the shed and letting the grass grow over it. Would it be good for the lawn to throw that biochar and ash across it with a spreader? Thanks for the interesting content. I enjoy your channel.

[@BudgetPhil]

Yes, I think crushing the biochar charcoal and spreading it over the lawn could be very beneficial for that soil and the grass as long as the biochar is from non toxic organic material. Charcoal tends to absorb quite a bit of nutrients from the soil if it's not prepared first by adding some nutrient content. There's lots of ways to add fertilizer to the biochar. I usually just mix it with compost but I've had good results by pouring some liquid organic fertilizer on it a few days before spreading. I've also let a pile of biochar sit outside on the ground uncovered for a month or two before spreading and that seemed to work okay. But inoculating it with microbes from fresh compost (or a compost tea) makes it a real powerhouse of fertility. Wood ash tends to be very alkaline and can raise the pH of the soil when applied too heavily. It does have some potassium and other nutrients to offer, but should be used carefully. I usually try to extinguish the hot coals early to prevent much ash formation. That way I can just ignore the ashes when processing the biochar. So far I've been very impressed with the results in my garden. In part two, I'll go into much more detail of what biochar is and how it works.

[@BudgetPhil]

Some people use a top lit updraft gasifier ( TLUD ) made from a steel barrel to make biochar and it doesn't produce much if any ash. I haven't used one yet but they look quite effective.

[@sumakwelvictoria5635]

If you want to improve water retention - grind it to powder. It then becomes a bit like clay but still reduces clumping like clay. Earthworms can easily move around in the powdered biochar. It will keep down the worm population drastically though if it goes 40% and above soil composition.

[@B30pt87]

@@sumakwelvictoria5635 Thank you for that info!

[@nobuckle40]

This is the first time I have ever heard of biochar. Very fascinating. If I understand correctly, the goal is to not let the material burn to ashes, right Some surface ashes are okay because they can be washed away? Also, when ashes begin to appear, do you put light weight, fast burning material on them so that the flame is drawn away from the area that is turning to ash? I have so many questions when I learn new things.

[@BudgetPhil]

That's correct. The goal is to maximize charcoal production and minimize any ash formation. Ashes have some nutrient value for plants but their pH is usually quite high and can raise soil pH when applied too heavily. The ashes form when the red hot charcoal reacts with oxygen in the air and burns up, leaving ash behind. But interestingly, if the hot charcoal is completely covered with fire, the oxygen can't get to the coals and chemicaly react with them. The fire consumes the oxygen in the air and doesn't allow it to reach the hot coals. When fast burning material is added in places that are ashing over, it quickly begins to smoke and combust which helps to consume the oxygen entering that area. Charcoal has been used for thousands of years to build soil fertility but I believe the term biochar came about in the 2000's. Enriching my garden soil with carbon has never been so easy. I still have a lot to learn about all the benefits it has for soil, there are so many.

[@B30pt87]

@@BudgetPhil Thank you for explaning that!

[@craigmatheson2736]

Rather than rinsing the good stuff from the charcoal on the top why not smother it with dried Russian Thistle (tumbleweeds) letting the flaming wood be smothered with ash then cover that with a non-aluminumized metal lid and or light layer of soil there by allowing the remainder to smoulder and "finish" the process even more?

[@BudgetPhil]

Sounds good to me. We don't have tumble weeds where I live but soil is pretty easy to come by

[@Bizarreparade]

Isn't Russian thistle anything you can't positively identify?

[@kentoi7956]

Just cover it with soil Ang banana leaves and you can have a quality charcoal.

[@lautanasrifishing8138]

Very² amazing....👍👍

[@BudgetPhil]

Thank you

[@KimikoMaui]

This guy sounds extremely excited about all of this😂

[@BudgetPhil]

I tried to hide my excitement.

[@kathys7283]

Hey, I subscribed because of how excited he is!! I can't stand the videos where they jump around and talk in b really loud voices where they are so fake excited! Excited to learn more on this channel!!

[@KimikoMaui]

@@BudgetPhil please don't hide it

[@BudgetPhil]

@@kathys7283 Thank you, more to come.

[@BudgetPhil]

@@KimikoMaui I probably should show a little more of myself. Thank you for the advice.

[@GfarmKhetibadi]

How to use this in farm now??

[@vaughan7835]

Cook up some old dry wood & watch & tend to it until it's almost fully cooked & glassy when tapped together. Then Quench it with, preferably rainwater with something like fertiliser or Pee. After that, Break it up into small ish pieces, Chuck it in with compost, or anything else that you put on your garden, then watch what happens with your plants.

[@BudgetPhil]

I'm probably not qualified to advise on large scale use of fully inoculated biochar. However, I do recommend starting off small scale, like a test patch here and there, to get a feel for how it changes the soil. For instance: It may increase erosion or even cause soil to dry out faster in some cases. It really helped the clay soil where I've used it. I'm still experimenting and learning how to use it though.

[@jarvisparsons4709]

I have been making birchar a number of years now and I am well versed in making it inoculation using it. This guy gives good information. There are many ways to inoculate the biochar from putting it in compost, to soaking it in a nutrient solution. So many different nutrients you can use to inoculate it organic, synthetic if your into that. I recommend organic. I like to use free inputs to make mine, local dynamic accumulaters soaked in a bucket already like yarrow, comfry, dandelion etc.. worm castings, kelp, rock dust, a little sea water, some knf inputs fpj, lactobacillus, some spent coffie grinds, some people like cow manure, hourse manure, there own urine all these inputs break down and get absorbed into the billions of tiny porus of the char as well do good microbes the char holds them on a long long time slowly releasing to the plants when used as needed. Biochar is probably the best input one can use.

[@BudgetPhil]

Thank you for sharing all of this info.

[@sofakingphat8087]

I don’t believe there is any difference between charcoal and what is marketed as biochar, except for that biochar has been inoculated with organics. I don’t mean the stuff that has synthetic in it or chemicals that help it ignite but the stuff that is marketed as all natural charcoal or lump charcoal. I think the only differences that biochar is marketed so that people feel that they can spend their money on some thing that is better or harder to obtain than their charcoal that is natural that may be available and their local supermarket. I think it’s all that marketing. I haven’t found anything that is conclusive to tell me different. Except for marketing. This wouldn’t be the first time that something was marketed at a higher price and the same thing was available at a lower price without marketing.

[@BudgetPhil]

From what I have read, biochar is a grade of charcoal that is more porous than fuel grade charcoal (lump charcoal), but less porous than activated charcoal. It's a little complicated but I'm working on a video to help explain the differences. I have inoculated lump charcoal and used it in the garden, and it worked well.

[@Rocketman0407]

My takeaway is that Biochar can store more bacteria and nutrients. It has a larger surface area

[@sofakingphat8087]

@@Rocketman0407 i’ve seen a few other channels that have used lump charcoal as biochar, and one in particular boogie brew has a super soil recipe where they use lump charcoal for their biochar. I have used boogie brew products for years now and I trust their analysis and I follow their recommendations. I have built my own super soil two years ago, and I am still using it with minimal to no fertilizer at all. This is soil that has been created, so it doesn’t need any added fertilizers. I only had compost. I keep adding biology and fungus to my super soil and it always works. This is just my personal experience. Maybe some lump charcoals are not adequate, but I found that the one I get at the local supermarket for one dollar per pound, and sometimes on sale for as low as $.40 per pound is all I need. like I say it’s probably marketing. You know how corporations will name a product and then call similar products and adequate just so they can sell their products at a higher price. when I was very young in fact, my first job was at a tomato factory. Many people believe that when they buy a name brand tomato product like hunts or Heines. They are getting a superior product, but in fact the same tomato product that is priced very high is the very same. That is the generic. The only difference is the label. I purchased some biochar this year, paid an arm and a leg for it and it wasn’t even inoculated. How disappointing. So I had to inoculate this stuff that looks exactly like the charcoal after you soak it in water and I will do some analysis myself over the next few years. maybe it will just break down to how it’s inoculated but I’m very happy with the lump charcoal. I paid a fraction of the cost for.

[@BudgetPhil]

Yep, and it has other benefits as well, like storing water and improving the cation exchange rate of the soil medium. I'll talk much more about it's benefits for the garden in some upcoming videos.

[@cbngncb]

Open burning is illegal where i am

[@Tony-ky4my]

Consider looking into using a retort as it burns in an enclosed barrel with a simple pipe chimney. Good luck

[@DJ-uk5mm]

I add 5 to 10% in my mix 😊😊😊

[@BudgetPhil]

Thank you for sharing that information.

[@craigmatheson2736]

I, also, would not use anything with aluminum in it as that is classified and a heavy metal -not good for your body.

[@brofessormex]

I've been doing everything wrong. Thanks

[@BudgetPhil]

You're welcome. I had trouble finding consistent information about biochar on the internet years ago, when I first heard about it.

[@user-ep3ck5re4o]

Let’s add some more CO2 to the atmosphere 🤨😖

[@BudgetPhil]

I had similar thoughts a few years ago, but it's not that simple. Compost releases CO2 faster than stable, sequestered carbon. The microbes eat both labile and stable carbon and release CO2 during the process. But stable carbon takes a lot longer for them to consume. That's why compost disappears so fast when in use, but biochar stays in the soil for much much longer. Labile carbon is still needed though, as a readily available source of carbon for microbes. I'll explain this better in some upcoming videos.

[@patricknorton5788]

I think the same thing every time I have a campfire, but BudgetPhil is correct. In our garden, we have "excessively well-drained" soil (the official soil description) and a lot of trees that send their roots everywhere and take a lot of what little remains for the (mostly native) plants we grow. So we add a lot of wood chips and compost, as the carbon will help retain moisture through our hot, dry summers. But we have to add more every year. Why? The carbohydrates in the wood chips and compost break down the CO2 goes into the atmosphere. By making biochar, some CO2 is released immediately, but the majority stays in the soil in a stable form, instead of all of it going into the atmosphere in a year or two. Charcoal in the soil can last for thousands of years, that's why it can be used to radiocarbon date archeological sites that have hearths, etc.

[@KimikoMaui]

​@patricknorton5788 Ok so burning releases co2. Uptake and use of nutirents in soil by roots increases co2 production as well as microbes eating in soil. But carbon hold co2 and releases slowly so in the end the amount of co2 release from charcoal production is really offset by the co2 sequestered charcoal eventually creates

[@BudgetPhil]

Yes, the sequestered carbon should offset the carbon released into the air as CO2 during charcoal production. Biochar is mostly stable carbon, which can stay in the soil for a very long time because it's a form of carbon that is difficult for microorganisms to breakdown.

[@markroberts7001]

Do you know how many volcanoes are active at any given time and the magnitude of their emissions. How could people think they significantly impact global emissions in their back yard 😂😂😂