Biochar Questionnaire

[Conor Wright]

Without seeing lie of land Connor, soil ripper, as silty soils can be quite hard to drain, then what ever yr cropping or using will determine yr use of that chip which 'must' be rotted or it will pull nitrogen from soil whilst it decays. K

Surface drainage is the biggest issue but addition of plenty of om will help alleviate that, once broken, the soil is draining reasonably well
the lie of the land is on a gentle south facing slope, flattening out as one goes towards the rear of the site. Well aware of the risks of uncomposted woody material soaking nitrogen, but thank you for bringing it up! have worked in organics before and Iain tolhurst has offered much advice on various chip and mulch composting techniques in his book growing green.. I'm m not looking for organic certification or biodynamic.. just natural, low input sensible ways to restore abused land.. as I will be getting older and want to maintain the soil with minimal physical input from me or my better half, I would like to improve its general properties as much as possible in the short term, with emphasis on the long term gains

[Khriss]

On 28/12/2018 at 17:14, Conor Wright said:

Surface drainage is the biggest issue but addition of plenty of om will help alleviate that, once broken, the soil is draining reasonably well
the lie of the land is on a gentle south facing slope, flattening out as one goes towards the rear of the site. Well aware of the risks of uncomposted woody material soaking nitrogen, but thank you for bringing it up! have worked in organics before and Iain tolhurst has offered much advice on various chip and mulch composting techniques in his book growing green.. I'm m not looking for organic certification or biodynamic.. just natural, low input sensible ways to restore abused land.. as I will be getting older and want to maintain the soil with minimal physical input from me or my better half, I would like to improve its general properties as much as possible in the short term, with emphasis on the long term gains

Vin yard then ! ( nowt ti do with being in Chablis valley at the mo ;) ) k

[Conor Wright]

4 minutes ago, Khriss said:

Vin yard then ! ( nowt ti do with being in Chablis valley at the mo ) k

In the West of Ireland.... you like your grapes hard and your wine bitter?! Hops did cross my mind.. might try a few!

[LeeGray]

On 28/12/2018 at 10:14, Conor Wright said:

Really good thread, so.. where does it leave me with approx 60 tons of chip and three acres of highly compacted silty soil?! The soil in question is potentially very good but has been used for three decades to harvest turf for instant lawns and as a result has high iron, low organic matter and serious compaction..
Having access to plenty of woodchip it seems to make sense to utilise this for soil enrichment, the original idea was to compost it over time and add to the soil as it becomes available.. deeper incorporation of char sounds like a better long term idea. Any useful information on how best to process this chip into useable biochar would be greatly appreciated..

Forgive me if someone else has already said it but do a trade with a cattle farmer who can use the chip to bed cattle and start the process of composting and add ended nitrogen for you. Straw prices are high so should be an easy trade to get them to move it and deliver the muck back if local enough 

[Conor Wright]

55 minutes ago, LeeGray said:

Forgive me if someone else has already said it but do a trade with a cattle farmer who can use the chip to bed cattle and start the process of composting and add ended nitrogen for you. Straw prices are high so should be an easy trade to get them to move it and deliver the muck back if local enough 

Good idea.. there's a farmer next to me with a herd of Angus which he partially outwinters on bark mulch.. how have I never considered that option.. right in front of me. Literally! Couldn't be any more local and he may well oblige. Thanks! I would still like to add biochar to the depleted soil on site but may scrap the idea of utilising the chip.. and just make it from arising instead.. seems more straightforward.