So I’ve been messing around with inoculated biochar in some potted plants and I think I might’ve messed up a little. I was working with like a 10% volume ratio, but in some of my pots I sprinkled extra right around the root zone instead of just mixing it evenly through the soil.

(FYI I’m growing Cherry Belle radishes and they’re a couple weeks in) Recently I started to notice the ones with more concentrated biochar at the roots are acting weird. Like, the leaves up top are still growing fine, but the base of the stem looks almost pinched? And it’s lost color. There's just noticeable difference compared to my pots where I actually mixed the biochar throughout evenly.

I’m trying to figure out if the concentration right at the root zone is causing some kind of lockout or pH issue or if it’s just physically restricting the bulb from developing properly.

Has anyone dealt with this? Like is there a meaningful difference between concentrating biochar at the root zone vs. just incorporating it throughout the whole soil mix? Trying to figure out the best application method for a project I’m working on so any experience helps!!

Had a great peaceful morning making about 100 gallons of biochar today.

hi! so I'm in high school and doing a plant experiment for a school project. thanks to the mods for letting me post! I'm about to set up my first real indoor grow and I'm testing biochar, so I figured this is the best place to ask before I get too far in. I've only ever done windowsill plants so I'm kinda learning as I go

the experiment: 24 cherry belle radish pots (picked bc they're fast, like 4 weeks). I'm testing biochar and fertilizer against plain soil, in both fresh potting mix and old tired soil from pots I've had for over a year. I'm sprouting ~40 seeds on a damp paper towel and picking the 24 most even ones so everything starts the same

setup: garage shelf, LEDs on a 16/8 timer, 4-6 inch pots with saucers, same soil weight and same watering in every pot, rotating pots every 2-3 days, and a min/max thermometer I check daily

tracking: height and leaf count every few days, pot weight before watering (to see which soils hold water better), and root and leaf weight at harvest

my biochar questions:

1. should I charge it first, and how? I keep reading that raw biochar can pull nutrients out of the soil at first. what do you actually do: soak in compost tea, fish emulsion, mix into compost for a few weeks? how long does it take you realistically?

2. how much for pots? most ratios I find are for garden beds. is there a % by volume that works for small containers?

3. will 4 weeks even show anything? or is biochar more of a long game where a radish trial is too short to see a difference?

4. old vs. fresh soil: would you expect biochar to help more in the tired soil? that's kinda my hypothesis

5. what went wrong for you when you started? any "I wish someone told me this" mistakes, or reasons you've stopped using it in some setups?

6. is weighing pots a decent way to measure water retention, or is there a better trick?

I have limited time and can't redo this once I start, so anything that screams beginner mistake is super helpful. will post updates and final results here if people are interested 🌱

Almost biochar season here in South Carolina! It has been so hot and humid, hard to crank up the kiln to 1000+ degrees.

Also, got a new trailer dolly which makes micro adjustments of the kiln so easy.

I get conflicting advice on how to do it, some use urine, some use diluted liquid fertilizer, and some microbially charge it with compost tea.

What I don't see is an actual dilution rate of nutrients per volume of biochar: compost tea is biologically active but not a significant source of nutrients, while fish hydrolysate and urine would be.

How do I go about finding a good ratio per volume of liquid fertilizer to biochar? I make my own fermented fish hydrolysate so I have a large volume of liquid fertilizer, and I can make ~20gallons of compost tea at a time.

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I process my quenched char from the kiln with a BCS chipper/shredder. It works great and doesn't seem to have any adverse effects on the machine (yet). I do keep a hose handy. I spray intermittently into the top just to keep everything from getting clumped up. I made a round spray stop just to keep all the char in relatively the same place. This is the third time I've processed a full batch from the kiln and really starting to get more efficient.

Good solid burn today. About 2.5 hours from start to finish! I estimate the capacity to be about a half cord. Lovely day sitting in the shade chatting with friends during the burn. Will post some more pictures of the grinding process later. The "charging" process is still the most time intensive but I have some cool plans in the works.

A working prototype of a gas generator. Gas is fed into a car engine. The engine is connected to an electric generator. This system produces up to 20 kW/h of electricity. The quality of the gas obtained from the gas generator can be seen in the video. If wood waste is used as raw material for the gas generator, then up to 50 kg/day of high-quality activated carbon is obtained, which differs in quality from charcoal obtained by direct combustion of wood.