in my recent readings on biochar i
was hoping a few books published in the
past few years would have more actual
science and evaluation. alas the books
_the biochar debate_ and _the biochar
solution_ both could have filled more
of that gap.

not that there wasn't scientific ideas
in either of them, but that they both
lacked discussion of experiments, methodology,
or what you might expect while talking about
something as basic as biochar.

of the two the second book by Albert
Bates _the biochar solution_ at least
did have several ideas that i hadn't seen
before in the climatology debate. that
was that the Little Ice Age was partially
caused by the reforestation of the Amazon
jungle (as a result of 99+% population
decline after the European diseases were
introduced). i didn't think the carbon
ratio in the record had declined during
that period. i'll have to go find some
studies on that and see if it shows or
not...

in looking around on-line the topic of
biochar and evaluating it is still rather thin
with quite a few links to works of very
questionable value.


if you are looking into getting biochar
for a garden you can do some things to
make it more likely it will turn out ok.

- check the pH (both the soil and the
biochar) -- you don't want to make your
garden more acidic or alkaline

- make sure it has been processed under
low temperatures (300-600C)

- make sure it is from plant sources and
not soot or made from burned random garbage
(tires, plastics or even crushed coal)

- the resulting material varies by what is
used and the temperature and process and
might even vary from batch to batch if
the system or inputs are not consistent

- if it isn't already charged (by running
it through a compost heap) it's likely to
be a nutrient drain until it gets colonized
by soil organisms

- worms should thrive in it (once it is
charged up)

my own additions would be to make sure it is
handled carefully when damp and to bury it deep
enough to prevent it from blowing around or
washing away.


songbird