4 Tips on how to buy Biochar
More people are showing interest in using Biochar as a soil amendment. Interest that Biochar is attractive, to know how to apply it, how to apply and under what circumstances apply it is not widely known or clearly understood. As NPK fertilizers and liming agent, Biochar can too have very negative effects on your garden or harvests when applied incorrectly.
To help you make a more informed decision regarding your purchase of Biochar, we have described 4 tips that should help to clarify some of these "unknown".
Tip # 1: Buy Biochar only in weight dry when possible
Biochar is hydrophilic, or in simple terms, has an affinity for water. It is said that Biochar may absorb the water up to as much as ten times its weight. It may even absorb significant moisture when exposed to moist air!
How do you avoid buying Biochar with moisture that it? Buy the "dry weight". For example, only purchase Biochar produced by the "dry pint". Although there may be moisture in the Biochar, compensation can be excluded its water content.
Tip # 2: Test the quality of your Biochar with the tap
Biochar is dusty by nature. You will notice that by picking up a handful of Biochar, your hands will become covered by a black powder. This is what we want to make our test with powder. The following steps.
Step 1: Pick up a handful of Biochar, leaving the hands become completely covered with black powder.
Step 2: Rinse hands under warm tap water. All the powder should rinse your hands without the use of SOAP. If she rinses off the coast, you have a good quality Biochar.
What happens if I use SOAP to rinse off the coast of my hands black powder? This means that the product I purchased is not Biochar? Not necessarily. Low of lesser quality, may be a little bold to the touch. The fat is called "mobile case." It is an accumulation of matter that remains on Biochar when wood, of which it was made did not correctly carbonize. Greasy Biochar is still usable, but can take much longer to run with good or high quality Biochar.
Tip # 3: Do not apply gross Biochar on your garden or crop land
As mentioned previously, Biochar is like a sponge. Very aggressive, it absorbs water. Similarly, it can absorb nutrients or other components of your soil. This could be good or it could be bad. It really depends on your situation.
Disadvantages to the addition of the Biochar crus in your soil:
• Due to its aggressive absorption characteristics, it is in competition with your plants for water. According to the applied amount of Biochar, your plants may be deprived of enough water that they fail to produce as they normally would.
• Biochar readily absorbs nutrients as it water. Yet again, according to the applied amount of Biochar, your plants may be deprived of many necessary nutrients so that they develop or even survive!
• Application of enough Biochar could result in your garden becomes completely non-productive for one or more seasons until she can return to balance.
Benefit from the addition of Biochar crus in your soil:
• For the gardener and farmer alike, Biochar gross can be applied to absorb the excess of your soil. For example, it could washing-up excess fertilizer or accumulation of salt. Tempting to use Biochar in this way requires a thorough knowledge of works of Biochar. You should always seek the assistance of a professional while trying to go this route.
It is preferable to apply inoculated Biochar (combined) with compost. There are many reasons for this. The bottom line, biochar be "loan Garden", it must be inoculated.
Tip # 4: Know your soil
Addition of Biochar/compost to a garden that is low in ph and nutrients is the most common causes for the application. Something important, you need to know is that Biochar has effect liming, with a ph of 8 or more. If you have a concern about how it may affect your garden, you can do a soil test.
However, applying Biochar/compost to your successful low ph of plants may be not any negative impact to all. One of my friends has applies Biochar in its gardens for several years. He is also consultant in the area of Biochar. It applies Biochar compost to its plants blue berry (who prefer low ph soils). Yields have been remarkable! He concluded that the levels of ph, though important, are only a small part of the overall image.
Biochar research is still in its infancy. Feel free to experiment!
One last thing...
It is important to understand that these are just general rules. Each garden or harvest is different based on his history of gardening/farming, soil makeup and its use of organic and chemical fertilizers. If you are unsure as to how Biochar may affect your situation, you can try it in the test plots.
Mark a. Sisson is the owner of the Michigan Biochar, biochar Michigan producer. 4 Tips on how to buy Biochar
