Our Most Powerful Homemade Fertilizer | Chicken Manure Biochar

[@danielnaberhaus5337]

The chicken roost over the biochar is genius!

[@matthewkauffmann982]

I do something similar but we have 5x10 PVC coops. Fill the whole bottom with char and let them crap for months. Load the char into 55 gal drums, add piss, coffee grounds and compost. Stir and soak awhile. So far so good trees look healthy.

[@danielwalker7169]

Definitely gonna have to give this a try! Thanks for all the knowledge, love how you guys work together. Will be on the lookout for that tasty Rollinia! Mahalo from lower Puna!

[@staticchair]

excellent transmission. thx

[@r.wood.s]

Super helpful!

[@amyleader5147]

I bow my head to my four prong rake❤

[@Sssanbo]

How do you crush your char?

[@wanjohiwamaina3792]

Waiting for this answer too

[@MistressOP]

for a second I thought you were making biochar from chicken manure lol like some of the Uni's where pushing in the south. good vid.

[@OffGridHawaii]

I’ve heard of that. Seems like a waste of fertilizer 🤔

[@MistressOP]

​@@OffGridHawaii basically it's nuts. Biogas should have been what they were pushing. But leave it to southern univ to push for the chem / big pharma solutions lol. I know a lot of people don't want compost from these big producers anymore because of forever chems they barely pay attention to. ruined a lot of land.

[@minhducnguyen9276]

@@OffGridHawaii It's not a bad idea as it's seem depending on the context. Manure from Industrial farming contains a significant amount of heavy metal, antibiotic residue and even steroid making them unsuitable for composting. Burning chicken manure into biochar destroy these residues and makes the heavy metal hard to dissolve meaning they won't leach into the soil. You will lose a majority of the nitrogen but the phosphate and potassium component will remain the same.

[@thomasreto2997]

Pretty cool. I wanna use some guava wood to make it. Gotta dry it under house. Also it isn't a hardwood Any wood you recommend.

[@OffGridHawaii]

We use mostly ohia

[@jamesfolsom7994]

Awesome video!

[@tworkstuffs]

This is great and I have most of these ingredients just lying around. 😁 Cant wait to test with my fruit trees. Can this be spread on top of the soil if the tree is already planted? What percentage would you apply in a veggie garden? Thanks much gor this video! 👍

[@OffGridHawaii]

Yes, just cover it with mulch. It can also be injected into soil by making a 1-2 ft deep holes 1 inch in diameter and filling them with the biochar.

[@tworkstuffs]

Nice. I appreciate the reply. What about using this on veggies? How would you measure it out?

[@OffGridHawaii]

You can use it at the same ratio 5-10% definitely do more research about how it works with the veggie crops you want to grow.

[@tworkstuffs]

Will do! Thanks a bunch!

[@wanjohiwamaina3792]

How do you crush the char into smaller pieces?

[@222mmax]

Thank you God bless you Maranatha

[@dudeleboski2692]

What do you guys do about insecticide? Have you tried Diatomaceous earth diluted with a drop of dish soap and spraying it. ?

[@OffGridHawaii]

We don’t really do anything. I’ve heard of using those things but haven’t really tried it.

[@minhducnguyen9276]

The biochar would absorb the insecticide. So it's actually benefits for the soil. If you are concerned about insecticide coming from the feed material, most insecticide are organic chemicals and will break down at high temperature during the pyrolysis process.

[@annchee1329]

Can one still use this Biochar on existing or older trees ?

[@OffGridHawaii]

Yes, of course 😊

[@Soilfoodwebwarrior]

Love the video. I agree with you that bio char does not function the same in all soils. In tropical areas the nutrient holding capacity is key, as it was used in south America in the tera preta. In denser clay soils i still think it can be useful but for different reasons. I still use on my dense soils in a similar fashion as you but i think the bio char is helpful to adsorb toxins, not hold nutrients or beneficial microbes. Activated charcoal is known to adsorb toxins, heavy metals etc and used in emergency rooms for anti poison procedures. Used in conjunction with manures and compost it can bind to heavy metals and chemicals making them less bio available to our plants.

[@dudeleboski2692]

Mike, what is bio char?

[@OffGridHawaii]

Biochar is made by burning wood in low oxygen.

[@taylortseu2960]

Could you use Alaska fish emulsion instead of the fish hydrolysate powder? Reason being that it is cheaper😅

[@OffGridHawaii]

I don’t think it would work as a fungal food because the fats and oils are removed with emulsion, but it would still have the benefit of adding different nutrients.

[@taylortseu2960]

Thanks for your expertise - great videos!

[@AdvExplorer]

I like to add my urine to the biochar to make it wet and full of minerals!

[@dudeleboski2692]

You guys still Vegans?

[@OffGridHawaii]

No more vegan