The fire permission was granted and this was a project that we were exited about for a long time. We actually tried it before but this time on our own land with a different method. Making our own Biochar According to Regeneration International, Biochar is a “charcoal-like substance that’s made by burning organic material from agricultural and forestry wastes (also called biomass) in a controlled process called pyrolysis. However, Biochar is much more porous and therefore much more potent than regular charcoal.
Biochar has a lot of benefits
Decontaminate the soil and water
The same characteristics that make Biochar so effective as a soil amendment also make it great for decreasing the toxicity of your soil, also known as bioremediation. Biochar binds heavy metals like lead and cadmium, preventing plants from taking them up and removing unwanted chemicals from your soil. This is especially suitable for soil in polluted environments, which may contain higher concentrations of heavy metals.
Biochar can also be used to treat water as it can adsorb (stick to) harmful organic molecules and residual disinfectants such as chlorine. This is also why we are going to use Biochar in our own filtering systems.
Host beneficial soil biology
The porous structure provides a secure habitat for beneficial soil biology. It protects them from harsh soil conditions while providing the nutrients they need to flourish. These benefits can positively impact the soil in the long term.
Increase nutrient and water retention of the soil
Biochar binds to nutrients like potassium and calcium in the soil. This prevents them from leaching out into the soil and increasing their availability to plants. In comparison to normal charcoal, Biochar’s binding capacity is greatly amplified by its high surface area. This enables it to hold onto even more nutrients.
Because of its high porosity, it can easily hold a lot of water. This makes Biochar especially useful for soils with little access to water, those that are experiencing drought or poor water-holding soils like sandy loams.
Moderate the acidity of the soil
Biochar also binds hydrogen ions. This decreases the acidity (increase the pH) of the soil. The increase of soil pH can also decrease the levels of metals that are soluble in acidic environments and potentially toxic to plants, such as aluminum. These harmful metal ions can also bind to Biochar, further decreasing their concentration in your soil.
How to make Biochar
There are many ways to make Biochar, some with better results than others. For this occasion we’ve used a simple 200 liter (44 gallon) steel oil drum which we prepared for making Biochar. The technique is simple, you start with a small fire in the barrel that you will light on top. Once it has a visible white layer of ash on top you will add another layer. You basically continue doing this until the whole drum is full. The fire should be smokeless and very hot. You can use all kinds of organic material for this technique. The reason why we chose this technique is because it creates a lot of Biochar in one session.
The down-side to this technique is that it is quite a time-consuming process (it took us about 9,5 hours). We therefore changed our set-up and created a Moxham burner, we’ve made a separate project about it. We would definitely also like to try the barrel-in-barrel technique some day as well. With this technique you will fill-up the inner barrel completely with organic material, close it off and light a fire in the outside ring between the two barrels. After that you can mind your own business since it will burn on its own.
What we also would like to do is to capture the heat and redirect it to the greenhouse and use it for cooking at the same time. There are probably a million other creative ideas to use the energy created in the process.
How to use Biochar
Biochar is like a battery, and to get the best out of it it should be mixed with nutrients and microbes – a process known as charging (or inoculating / activating). If you were to add it ‘raw’ then it would steal nutrients from your plants for the first few months and then once it is charged it will start to give it back. There are many ways to activate Biochar, all depending on the time, means and goal of use. We’ve listed a couple of them below.
Many people claim to have had great success soaking the Biochar in a compost tea. The Biochar will soak up all the nutrients and microbes almost instantly and it will be ready to use after 24 hours. One of the future projects is therefore definitely to make compost tea. It is beneficial for activating the Biochar but also has a lot of different potential uses.
Worm castings mixed 50:50 with Biochar plus molasses to feed the microbes. Mix and keep warm (20ºC) and damp (not wet) for at least 2 weeks before use is also a good method but since we do not have worm castings yet we will have to pass on this one.
Another easy way to charge your Biochar is to add the raw Biochar to compost directly as it is being made. You can mix in up to 10% of the volume. This process is a bit slower. It will take about two weeks for the nutrients and microbes to enter into the Biochar.
We are going to soak the Biochar in urine for a period of 48 hours. The urine starts as a sterile, nutrient rich liquid which soaks into the Biochar and provides a feed-stock for the microbes who move in later. We will then make a slurry made out of horse manure and mix this together. We will also add some blackstrap molasses to feed the microbes.
One of our personal favorites that we will definitely use when we have chickens is to scatter the Biochar in the chicken coop. It will act as a deodorizer as well as charging. Potentially the chicken will eat a little, that is okay. It may have an effect against parasitic worms.
Also we’re going to add it to our compost toilet. Partly on the filter of the pee-divider and partly directly in the manure barrel. This should absorb the smell and provide a good base for bacteria to start the decomposing process of the humanure.
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Watch the video we’ve made about this project and get an inside in the world of Naserena.
