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Biochar. How to produce high quality charcoal for the best biochar.
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- čas přidán 9. 11. 2023
- The best biochar begins as high quality charcoal. Using an age old method I achieve high temperature and the oxygen free conditions necessary for efficient pyrolysis. The charcoal produced by this method has very long chains of purified carbon crystal. The longer the molecular chain the longer the carbon will remain intact in the soil. The quality of charcoal for our purpose is measured by the length of carbon crystal. Surface area will of course increase as the quality of carbon crystal improves.
It is essential that high quality charcoal be used for biochar.
Using poor quality, high ash content chars will produce poor biochar with reduced longevity and even possible detrimental effects.
There are many different forms of charcoal from soot to graphite. Some is for heating or cooking, some is for industrial processes, some is used in brewing and filtering, and some is used in art. All are made and function differently as they are of different physical quality. For our purpose of soil amendment we want high quality or closer to graphite than soot. Soot are small particles and poor quality where graphite is long chains of carbon and high quality.
This video demonstrates the BEST method for producing high quality charcoal at home without access to industrial retort systems.
Please subscribe for easy affordable and sustainable organic gardening!
Thank-you my friends!
Here are some videos demonstrating the same concepts I do but from a different perspective. @theCodyReeder@theCodyReeder
• Charcoal in Cone Pit v...
• Effect of Biochar Part...
The dog! 🤣
Thanks for posting this video. I will make a few batches this weekend.
Your always welcome here, thank-you!
Thank you for sharing a technique from our forefathers, I was going to look for material to build a metal one, but now I'll just dig a hole..:)
Yes, digging a hole is too easy and the hole won't rust, lol. Hope you are having a great day my friend!
Your dog just loves that hose. Haha. Was just thinking how much I need biochar in my garden. Your soil looks so nice in your garden.
Yeah she can't get enough, lol. Thanks my friend, we will work on getting your soil some biochar...
I love this video. Watched every moment and took notes. Thank you for taking the time to show your method!
Too kind, thank-you for taking the time to leave such a cool comment. You are always welcome to hang out...
I'm sure running a lawn roller over the char on a taup on the patio would work pretty fast to powder the char. Thanks for the comprehensive info. Its been very enlightening.
Good idea with the lawn roller. Thank-you for the great comment my friend. Cheers!
It looks so easy and you can have a nice evening by the fire meanwhile burning up that brush and creating something amazing!
It is easy and very enjoyable, yes. Thanks for all the great comments my friend!
Thanks for taking the time to make this video, great explanation and visuals.
Thank-you for taking the time to be so kind my friend!
Very playful and happy dog 🐕 ❤
Great way to spend an afternoon there eh! By a fire making biochar... thanks for sharing
Any excuse to be outside, I was thinking it was a good way to stay warm eh. Thank-you my friend!
@@halfmoongardens3345 yessir
Very enlightening and instructive.
I'm happy you find it informative, I appreciate the feedback. Thank-you my friend, hope you have a great weekend!
thank you so much for making this video, very practical, educational and purposeful. love the humanity, love the step by step, the dog is great... everyone should be doing this! thank you!!
Yes, everyone's garden would benefit I'm certain. Your comment makes my day, I'm very happy you left it. Thank-you my friend, have a great day!
@@halfmoongardens3345 for info, am expat living in western france - Bretagne, the celtic peninsula, home to the highest concentration of prehistoric standing stones, menhirs, dolmens, in the world. We all grow food here (though i tour as a live sound engineer) - my non-english speaking friends can relate to your « how to » video - a good thing. Again thank you for posting - it’ll mosdef help spread the word here
Huge thank you. You just solved my problem. Now I'm excited to get making some biochar instead of stressing over building some kind of stove haha Really appreciate your time and effort to make this video and share it
Yes, this is the best way without access to industrial retort. Rusty barrel contraptions can't compete, lol. This method is too easy and will produce high quality product.
I really appreciate your comments my friend. Thank-you for taking the time, you are always welcome here neighbor!
Great video! 💚
After watching you make charcoal a few times I kind of get the feeling I can do this...😁 Thank you! You are a good teacher. 👍
Too kind, thank-you very much my friend. You can not only do it, but when you see the soil change before your eyes as you add the biochar you will be grateful you did. Thanks for the comments, hope you are having a Happy New Year!
I was looking for a video on how to make charcoal and your video answered all of my questions and adressed6my concerns. I just subscribed and I'm looking forward to seeing more videos. Thanks for sharing and I'll see you in the garden 😔
Great to hear I could be of some help, thanks for the support my friend! You are always welcome in my garden!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. We live in Australia and will be trying this method very soon.
Thank-you my friend! This method will serve you well, very easy. Have a great weekend!
excellent video. beautiful soil and pup. best wishes friend.
Thank-you my friend!
By far the most efficient method.
Too easy and the final product is top quality. Have a great day my friend!
Great video, watched it all. I’m gathering wood now myself as I want to try this for my garden. I live in southern Ontario and have heavy clay soil. I retired lately and garden now , and also started composting. I’ve got a batch on the go right now made from mulched leaves, pumpkins, coffee grounds and kitchen scraps. I checked it yesterday before turning and it was running at 150 F. Now I want to improve my soil with my own biochar. Thanks for all the easy to understand information and the enjoyable video . Denis from near Windsor Ontario
You will like how the soil is after adding biochar. Composting is great, don't overlook the cold compost as it can add fungal life to soil. I enjoy your comments, thanks for taking the time. Have a great day my friend! Cheers from Ed near Edmonton, Alberta
I also have started a leaf mold stack, 5 feet wide by 4 high of mulched leaves that I put some mouldy pieces of wood, and tramped down tightly. Looking forward to seeing the results in about a year. It’s great having time to try new things now I’m retired
@@denisaugustine4478 gardeners never retire, lol. Sounds like you have a good grasp of what is necessary to be successful in building good healthy soil. Nothing better than watching your work grow. Merry Christmas my friend!
you need to also add gypsum to clay soil it will help turn it into loam!
Sodic soils need Gypsum.
Great work and great ideas and information --though I have my own method, as we all do, it is great to see and hear what other people are doing. Top job!
Thank-you my friend. Great to hear how many people are using biochar, and you are right, it is interesting to see what they do. Have yourself a great day!
Thank you. Enjoyed at 1.75x speed.
Yeah that looks like good stuff. But we had to suffer thru 55 mins to get to it. I just fast forwarded to get the main points. 1 cubic centimeter of charcoal has the equivalent surface area of a football field. The minimum amount to have good soil amende is 2% by volume. That small amount charcoal is what turns soil black giving the 8mpression of fertility. Easy to innoculate soak in compost tea.
Wow, thanks for enduring such suffering, lol. I'm happy at least you are interested in biochar, I hope you find joy in your garden. Peace
@@halfmoongardens3345 The farmers in New Zealamd have been using the same cone method, using heavy sheet metal cones in small carsize diameters and then dousing with water like you're doing, very little waste and the setup design is almost 99% smokeless. Have you seen their rigs. I make it in barrel retorts or throwaway kerosene cans using mango and acacia tree limbs for bbq, which is more co2 efficient I believe. Large growth bamboo seems to be the best for garden use. Anyone who has lived outside cities and traveled to 3rd world countries knows the rest of the world has been doing this for thousands of years. It always irks me when I watch these char videos on YT done in the US, and you make it seem like the you've just discovered the great secret to gardening. Carbon is carbon I think it's easier to just buy natural wood bbq charcoal bag for $8 and crush it for innoculation. And from the comments, it's amazing how ignorant Americans are about how to grow food the old fashioned way. And now the epidemic of obesity and diabetes and high blood pressure is a karmic payback for all the farmland used by large chemical farming companies.
what you say about the method is absolutely true, best quality comes from a cone pit because you have to douse it down and that opens up the surface areas to let the mictrobes in when you charge it. We are making it small scale in Zambia, and would like to capture the wood vinegar / utilise the heat but have not found a good way of doing that yet.
Awesome to hear from Zambia, wow, I'd love to see your garden! Yes, the cone method is very efficient at producing high quality charcoal. Because it is so efficient all those volatiles are burned off/converted.
I corresponded with a gentleman from South Africa who was using industrial retort and capturing the wood vinegars and something else that escapes me at the moment. I will look for the email he shared with me and if I still have it I will share with you. Look for m to add another message here in a day or two.
Thank-you my friend, I love hearing from people who are using biochar, makes a happy gardener when you have happy soil. Happy New Year!
Thank you I’m gonna do what you what you’re doing. It looks great to me. Thank you for showing us. Especially me. Have a super super year. Thanks again.
Thank-you my friend, stick around we will have a great year together
I just watched your biochar burn, activate and incorporate videos. LOVE IT. Straightforward and FREE. :) I have 2 questions. 1) I have raised beds that I've made with a mix of mushroom compost (before I heard less great things about it), goat manure compost, and fancy bagged potting soil. None of this was cheap and none of it lasts, so now I very much want to try biochar. You said in one video to just add the innoculated biochar by feel, but in your unamended topsoil it was about 12 quarts per cubic foot. In my fancy dancy silly raised beds.... less? Or just who cares and add same since I want to just mulch in future for free instead of always amending. 2nd question: I very much want to start planting in my incredibly hard and unhappy soil, but I can barely get a trowel 3 inches in with lots of muscle. Do I need to till (which I've heard so much sadness about)? How can I incorporate biochar over several acres?? Happily I do have even more acres of forest too. Thank you so much!
Great questions my friend. You want to add enough that you can see some in every handful and you can see/feel the change it is making to your soil/medium. If it is well charged there is no harm in too much but too little will not have the desired effect.
For a large area you will need to till it in, and again use a generous amount so you only need to till once. Disturbing the soil once will not negatively impact the soil web of life. The biochar you add will quickly increase the diversity and numbers of micro-organisms. The tilling will be beneficial, just till it good maybe repeat the process to make sure the char is well incorporated. One time effort and lifetimes of fertility and health.
For established trees and shrubs you can drop vertical shafts with a post digger or auger and backfill with biochar. Top dressing an area is an option but takes years to incorporate itself in any useful way.
Hope this is helpful, just ask if you are unclear please. Thank-you very much my friend, hope you enjoy your weekend!
Wow. Amazing. Thanks for the cone tip. Can’t wait to try it out God bless
I'm happy to hear you will try it, awesome. Have yourself a great day my friend, God bless
We live in East Tennessee and have very compacted clay soil.
We’ve had a garden in the same place for three years, and I have to add compost each spring.
We have plenty of organic material to burn, and I was wondering if it would be better to create multiple burn holes throughout the garden every few feet then place all of the charging material on top of it over the winter, and let it all getting mixed in in the spring with the tiller.
I believe what you suggest may work very well. I make my holes where I'll be planting trees. I'd be interested in seeing/hearing how you make out. Sounds like a great solution to covering a large area.
Thanks for the great comment my friend, very interesting. Hope you are having a great weekend!
Trenches work though. Convenient for larger branches.
Awesome technique dude, I have to try it..loving the way the oxygen is controlled by moving the burning part up. Awesome.
I can't take the credit, the technique is ancient. I do agree the simplicity in how it achieves pyrolysis is awesome. Thank-you for the awesome comment. Hope you are having a great day my friend!
@@halfmoongardens3345 thank you dude. I am moving to Croatia next summer and will use what I've learned here for sure.✊️
@@multi_misa72 that is exciting, I couldn't think of a more beautiful place to garden, congratulations!
@@halfmoongardens3345 😁👌
Great video, I love the dog
Well thank-you my friend! Too kind
Great video Thankyou so much
Great comment, thank-you so much my friend!
Thanks for sharing I'll make some next year
Thank-you my friend! Your soil will thank-you too.
Thank you. I have liked this method. Can a chimney work?
Yes, a chimney added to the cone pit can draw gas for reburn and provide a cleaner burn, in theory. I have not used one so I can't vouch for it but the idea seems logical to me. I'd love to see how you do it if you try it, very interesting.
Thank-you my friend!
How do you the product you generated is not Charcoal, because of variety of feed stock and their variation in density. Air may get entrapped due to such factor and make the Product as Charcoal. Can Test reveal whether product in the end is Biochar or Charcoal
The charcoal I produce can absolutely be tested yes. Biochar is not produced by the fire. Biochar is the Charcoal infused with organic material/waste over a period of time which 'charges' the Charcoal with micro-biology. When the Charcoal comes alive with micro-organisms then it has become Biochar. A microscope can show you whether you have Charcoal or Biochar.
Have a great weekend my friend!
Love this video, it's super helpful! Would coffee grounds be a good nitrogen to mix with at the end?
Yes, coffee grounds would be great to use. Thank-you my friend, hope you are having a great weekend!
This makes me want to go do this all over the place. Like have a barbecue every weekend and make it an event. Bring friends. Bring family. Bring food. This barbecue doesn't burn charcoal. It MAKES charcoal! 😆 but every time we do this, it'll be a carbon plug on sight. We'll charge it up with microbes before we leave.
like Jonny Appleseed, but with carbon, I love it.
@@halfmoongardens3345 YES! Exactly! Geeze, I remember that story from being a child. Things really are coming around full circle.
@@trinsit yeah I enjoyed the story when I was young too.
Why do you have a cone shaped pit ? Will it be alright to have the bottom and top with the same diameter ?
To produce the conditions necessary for efficient pyrolysis outside of using a retort system is the why. Starting the fire in the bottom and adding feedstock in layers the cone ensures each subsequent layer fully overlaps the previous creating an oxygen deprived environment beneath the burn layer. The geometric shape also helps the fire achieve higher temps and physical vortices within the fire improving combustion of escaping gases/compounds. Hotter and cleaner burn, just more efficient.
I hope this helps. There is a spectrum of carbon products produced by fire from soot to graphite quality. Different burn methods/conditions produce charcoals with different properties/quality. You want pure crystalized carbon not greasy soot.
Thank-you for the great question, sorry for the not great answer, lol. Hope you are enjoying your weekend my friend!
thanks for the info, at lest you dog only tries to bite the water the got Im bording trys to bite my hands had to give him a shock colar permiter specific dogs have there own find really hard to train.
Yes, biting can be an issue with dogs who love biting. Shock collar works, but working the dog hard and consistent will work better. You see the dog wants to work and be dominated, makes them feel safe and important. Have a great day my friend, sorry for the slow reply, Cheers!
Can I ask you about putting dry branches from evergreens/pine trees. Will the oil in the needles affect the biochar? Most of my cut branches are from cherry trees. So should I layer that hard wood nearer the bottom of the cone and put softer wood near the the top or burn it longer? Im in southern Alberta. I have a cherry orchard but last year they didnt grow any leaves. I pruned them and chipped most of the branches for mulch but still have a large pile that's a year old now. I'll be pruning a huge spruce tree soon and just wondered if the cuttings would be good for biochar or not
Great question my friend. The process of pyrolysis at high temperature will 'cook' off all the organic compounds. Everything attached to Carbon will breakdown at the molecular level as the Carbon crystalizes. This is why the method used to produce char for biochar needs to produce high quality charcoal.
Yes, you can use coniferous even though they contain bio-active compounds that inhibit plant growth. The char will not contain these compounds and is safe for the garden. It also burns very easy so would be great mixed with your cherry. I burn larger pieces, harder wood, bone, or old roots half way through a fire. This way anything more difficult/slower to burn will have a bed of hot char beneath and a good fire on top. Sounds like you have all the resources for some great biochar.
Hope you are having a great weekend my friend! I see we have snow on the way...
Aloha. What are your thoughts on shoveling glowing charcoal into metal tubs of water vs throwing water over the fire...
Hello! I'm thinking it would work, just less work to douse it in place? You could scoop out half the hot char into tubs and keep the fire going, maybe a way to increase yield from a single burn? Thank-you for the great comment my friend, have yourself a great day!
Hey dude, great video about biochar. If possible could you normalize the volume of the audio so the barking/motorcycle noise doesn't peak louder than your voice?
Thanks my friend. Sorry about the audio, I'm not all that good at editing, lol. I will look into the audio levels. This is exactly the sort of feedback I need, much appreciated. Hope you have a great day!
I'd like to know the total weight of everything you're burning including the small and large stuff vs the net return of usable charcoal. That will give an inklingof the efficiency of this method. My guess is it's a lot of material for very little return, percentage wise.
There are plenty of papers where weight/volume/temp/pH/pressure/chemical analysis are shared in specific detail. That aside this method maximizes carbon retention. Try it you will like it and if you don't it will have only wasted an hour of your time.
I'm looking for a way to get rid of pine cones. I'm thinking of trying to burn them and make biochar.
Pine cones will make good char. Great idea my friend!
What are your thoughts on using some of my left over charcoal from a wood burning furnace or using my wood burning furnace to make the charcoal
You can use metal cans. Put what you want to carbonize into a can with a small hole for gas to escape. Put the can in with the fire, when you remove the can you should have graphite quality charcoal and no ash. You would be using your furnace like a retort system. If you have room you can use large cans or multiple cans. This makes very high quality charcoal.
The waste from a conventional burn is not great for Biochar production, you want graphite quality with no ash. Putting your feedstock in a sealed can with a small hole will prevent it from combusting as it will lack Oxygen but the heat from the furnace will carbonize the can's contents.
I hope this made sense and is helpful. You are running a furnace anyway, great idea to find a way to produce Biochar. I'd love to hear what you decide to do and the results. Don't be a stranger my friend, have yourself a great day!
Can you use charcoal briquettes for the b-b-q as bio char? If not how come? Anybody?
Awesome question. No, the charcoal used for briquettes is not produced the same. For Biochar you want 'graphite' quality, all oils and organic compounds cooked off leaving just crystalized carbon. Different processes/methods produce different quality/properties of charcoal.
Briquettes are produced with poor quality charcoal with high ash content mixed in a slurry with waxes, biomass waste, chemical accelerants, and things like sawdust or borax. This is then pressed and shaped into briquettes and sold for cooking. Basically a bunch of crap you would be better off not putting in your soil.
I know there are videos showing briquettes being used for Biochar. These videos are poorly researched and the creators obviously lack the fundamental understanding of what biochar is.
You can purchase Biochar cheaper than briquettes, or make it for free. I hope this explains the difference enough to make sense.
This really is a great question. Thank-you my friend, have a great day!
So it has to be a cone. I accidentally made a half round. It didnt work out. Cones are not that easy to dig.
Doesn't need to be perfect, just so long as the layers of fuel you add completely cover the layers below. Cones just make that easier, and the circular shape helps the fire burn hot. You'll get the hang of it after a few tries. The pay-off is worth the effort.
Anything I can help with, just ask. Have a great day my friend!
The home barbecue that is shaped like a half egg would work, like the kamado grill
I don't see why not, try and see what you get. Let me know how it goes if you get the chance. Thanks for taking your time to comment my friend. Cheers
Did you retrieve the big chunk the dog stole?!
It was one of her bones. She retrieved the chunk I stole, lol.
Does hay work as good as straw?
Yes, any light dry material, here I just use small broken up branches from birch. Just something that will burn quick and cover the char as you finish. Hope you are having a great weekend my friend!
did you say your dog gets diarrhea from drinking your tap water? Or is it well water?
It is the old hose, I think, and the stuff living in it. Yeah, it is tap water(city water) I have delivered. Have a great day my friend!
Indigenous people around the world have been doing this for hundreds of years, thousands. It takes someone like you to complicate the history.
I give credit to how I sourced this method. I don't know what exactly I'm complicating about history. This 'someone like you' comment is based on my skin color? 'Indigenous people around the world' suggests I'm not indigenous to this world? While I wish it wasn't so I am in fact from this earth. In fact I'm indigenous to the largest continent on this earth and this technology of making high quality charcoal belongs to my ancestors. Stop disrespecting the ancestors as that invites evil into your life. Be at peace and all around you will be peaceful my friend.
@@halfmoongardens3345 I'm compelled to reply. I think I pushed a few buttons too many. But to be clear, I never mentioned "skin color". Curmudgeon that I am, I take liberties to be critical amd even argumentative. To that point I was referring to your haughty and imperious attitude, not "skin color" when your post is basically an amateurish drone of 54 minutes on something that could be completed succinctly in less than 10 minutes. To be banal, if you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. Curiously I could care less who your ancestors were. And that passive aggressive jab about "evil" hiding behind your false equanimity is not only a sign of weakness, but dangerous to wish evil on people. You my friend need some work on your prejudices, because as it were, your slip is showing.
Please can I get your contract
Lol dog stole the show
The dog at the end is epic
Stole her bone back I tried to burn, lol
It worked perfect for me
Awesome to hear, thank-you my friend. Hope you are enjoying the weekend!
The dog is very thirsty.
I’m fantasizing about how I could get away with this in suburbia. 😝
I had that in mind and dug a small cone you could easily dig in most yards. If your local bylaws allow. Hope you find a way as it is a great resource for your garden(s). Have a great day my friend!
This is not biochare to make that you need pyrolysis
easy on the dog there, love them far more than people
Over emphasizing the yes/no communications is useful in obedience. For a working dog she has it easy, trust me. If I didn't love dogs I wouldn't spend all day with them, lol. Anyone who loves animals is alright by me, thanks for your comment my friend!
Moon
Presentation don't needs a dog jumping around, bad idea.
Working dog, goes where I go, does what I do, and jumps around cos she is a happy dog.
You put me to sleep,.....was there any other way to explain this In a simple One step method the video is lengthy with too much excess chatter....! Good bye
Please post your video… I’d love to see how it’s done ✅ properly
Looks great!
Thank-you my friend!