Q&A #2 - Why are you Anti-Biochar?

[@sly2kusa]

Bro this is good information. I too tend to concern myself more with microbes than any other amendments. Good talk. 👍👍

[@NorthernThaiGardenGuy]

👍👍

[@MotosAllotmentGarden]

😊👍

[@NorthernThaiGardenGuy]

👍👍

[@francus7227]

Boy O boy.... I am glad I saw this clip. I thought charcoal was "The way, the truth and the light." Now I'll NEVER use it. I don't want the slightest risk of PERMANENT damage. My Thai soil is PLENTY viable. I am only going to use compost and mulch (rice straw) as my amendments.

[@NorthernThaiGardenGuy]

Yes. The mineral rich clay soils we have here in the North are already pack with what plants need. We only need the microbes. 👍👍

[@francus7227]

@NorthernThaiGardenGuy I don't want to be a little chihuahua nipping at your heels...... But.... 99% of Thailand garden clips are either spoken in Thai or are commercial focused or are gardens that look nothing like mine in a rice village south east of Nakon Ratchasima.. I will probably make many comments or have questions. Since I have several days of travel ahead of me.... I am about to binge watch your channel because none of us is as smart as all of us. I want to see everything you have to offer. And then, filter through the stuff that pertains to me. BTW....I have that same "Wet Sports" straw hat. Indestructible. I ran one over with my lawn mower. It spit it out like a rag. Thanks again.

[@NorthernThaiGardenGuy]

@@francus7227 LOL!!! Mai mi payha! So glad you found my channel and ask away! Love to share and interact. I live up in the North (as the channel eludes to - Chiang Rai). 👍👍

[@oldmanfigs]

Can you demonstrate to us how best to apply wood charcoal like you described….awesome!

[@NorthernThaiGardenGuy]

Yes absolutely...my first video out here shows you it. Just go to my playlist - all episodes - Ep.1. It's demonstrated not in a direct sequence in the video but throughout it. Let me know if you have any questions.

[@PrintrBear]

I wonder if it could be that biochar can contain phosphorus , which lowers the activity of Arbuscular Mycorrhiza fungi

[@NorthernThaiGardenGuy]

It doesn't appear to be a nutrient issue. Even more recent studies are finding that it's more related to the feed stock of the char and the temp it was made at.

[@glen.simpson]

properly made bio char should be void of any significant P..... it is literally 99.9% carbon....... no N, P,K or anything else.

[@glen.simpson]

@@NorthernThaiGardenGuy where is that science?

[@NorthernThaiGardenGuy]

@@glen.simpson Check out my first episode's links in the description box.

[@kofrass5730]

I’d like to speak to you on this topic if you ever get a chance. Perhaps an interview type scenario.

[@NorthernThaiGardenGuy]

Sure, just let me know when.

[@kofrass5730]

@@NorthernThaiGardenGuy I’m in pacific time, morning afternoon or evenings work well.

[@NorthernThaiGardenGuy]

@@kofrass5730 I am IndoChina time (just now 8 minutes to 4am).

[@glen.simpson]

terra preta is a myth... if there were rich terra preta pits like they say they wouldn't be there... Here's why..... whenever I make a several yard pile of leaf mold, if I don;t move that pile within 2 months, the trees from 30 feet away start setting roots into that pile. Within 2 years those trees gobble up that pile... So tell me, if terra preta was so darn nutrient rich, how is it still in the jungle 500 years later? I will tell you how... it was there sewage dump, full of ash, charcoal, and clay from pottery. Trees didn't set their roots in those pits because of the excess ash and charcoal and clay inhibiting soil colonization of the medium, and the trees then too. When excavated, some of those trapped nutrients are liberated and oxygenated, thus bioavailable... thus the myth of terra preta.

[@NorthernThaiGardenGuy]

Amen!

[@glen.simpson]

ps. biochar making, when cooked and rinsed properly, is an environmental disaster.

[@NorthernThaiGardenGuy]

I would agree in cases of overuse.

[@glen.simpson]

@@NorthernThaiGardenGuy what I mean is, the act of cooking it makes tons of co2, generally...... and biochar should be rinsed after screening, and the water from this process is toxic.....do it sometime and you'll literally note syn gas and the like floating at the top of your bucket..... and where does that water go? Intentionally making biochar doesn't make sense in so many ways.

[@NorthernThaiGardenGuy]

@@glen.simpson That I also agree with (unless the burn is done oxygenless).

[@glen.simpson]

@@NorthernThaiGardenGuy yes, with a well thought out manufacturing process using renewable energy, stack air filtration, and water recovery and filtration system, sure.... it would be great for numerous millions of dollars...... One possible source is these biopower production plants... but they are set up to burn anything, and that they seem to do.... so who knows what is in char coming out of biomass electric plants. Not sure where there is a good source other than your wood stove, but these newer, double burn chamber stoves pretty much cook the char to ash.... and stove char really isn't prepared correctly in it's temp and duration of charring (thus, it's polluted). then there's the question of wood type for charring making.... so many options..... you got a few extra million to get something going?

[@glen.simpson]

@@NorthernThaiGardenGuy ps. I spent a winter making biochar in a double burn chamber system..... there are very clearly voc's and other syn gases that must be burned off correctly.... poorly made char doesn't smell right. I'd maintain that fungi don;t like biochar much.... try it on your counter with anything that likes to rot.... coat that cantaloupe rind in biochar and let'r sit in a dish on the counter. Hypha inhibition. Mix some with coffee grinds, do the same thing. the coffee grinds mixed with biochar bowl with mold up more slowly than just the coffee grinds. I'm a leaf mold soil maker...black gold.