A Hugh place to live in fact! FWIW Iv heard that the surface area of a gram of biochar has the equivalent of area of a football field in surface area.
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Isn’t it crazy how that works! In my mind that hardly seems possible, yet I know it is. That’s a lot of housing for nutrients and microbes!
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Have either of you heard of using the rocks from a fish tank after you are done using them in the fish tank? It’s a lava Based Rock I think. Completely inoculated with all the microbes associated with a fish tank. Supposed to be a great replacement for perlite. Have either of you heard of this? I was given 20 gallons of it the other day. Tho it is heavy!
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Every hole I dig has bio char I make myself and charge in a compost tea with bubblers for 4 days or so , then I Strain it out mix it into the soil . I have begun to bury it in a layer at the bottom as well with whole fish carcasses ,further experiments to go this coming season but the plants grew really well with a massive dose of LITFA
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@Upstate
Is that the Amazon sand it’s black in colour ?
Always wondered about that as fish tank water from a water change is apparently really good feet as well
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A friend of mine grew in Hawaii and he said the same made up the soil there. When he returned to the Mainland/San Diego area, he STILL adds finely-ground Lava Rock into his mixture. Consider yourself lucky. I saw how much they want for it on eBay!!!
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Awesome! Thanks for the info. I wont be shy about adding it now.
I like that idea of biochar getting inoculated in compost tea. Does it matter if you let the biochar dry back out a bit to lighten it before transpor to the patch? How much would you say you add for a one meter square? I have around 10 gallons of biochar
@Upstate
You could let it dry out until it became slightly damp to make it easier to carry of course . I wouldn’t let it dry out completely myself … this is in no way scientifically proven , just a simple gut feeling
Per square meter ,hmmm you could substitute the char for the same measure of perlite/coco in your normal soil mix …others here will have a better understanding and I would be interested to know their thoughts
Great for aeration, and drainage etc
So in each hole I mix in a 20 lt bucket 2/3 mixed through the soil volume .the last 3rd is placed directly on top of the fish carcasses at the bottom of each hole , I think maybe I could even push it to 20% of total volume
The logic ( possibly miss guided ) I use is such
As the carcasses break down, the fungi and bacteria inhabits the char and this then becomes a Nutrient well of goodness for the rhizosphere
I obviously need to do some homework on all the above - but Bio char has such amazing potential it can’t hurt and I have not seen any ill effects doing this
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using the fish is a good idea just bury during winter to keep ants away also over up with some kind of net wire to keep varmits from digging them up the bio char does a good job peace.
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Its a great idea i will be trying. I would have had to add a fish a month ago due to animals. Our ground where I plant is too rocky to dig very deep. But I’ll add the inoculated biochar this yr if I can.
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Same here @Upstate
My ground is really rocky as well as very poor condition wise
We don’t have those type of critters down here But you guys have bears n stuff
I bury them about a foot down just before planting
Nothing has ever tried to dig it up either
You could bury the fish and then as @regulator mentioned
Wire mesh it over the surface
You could even cut a small hole out of the mesh in the middle and plant through that
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Great idea. I’m going to try it with a male and see what happens. The natives here always buried fish under their 3 sisters. Corn, beans, and squash. The size of the corn was documented by our soldiers in 1779 during the Clinton/ Sullivan campaign into Iroquois territory during the Revolutiony war… Corn plants over 16 feet and ears of corn " as long as a mans arm". I would almost guarantee they used biochar too. I have to try it. Did you see the picture of that lava rock? Looks almost like very coarse sand.
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It does indeed , with out seeing the stuff first hand it looks exactly like a aquarium product called amazon sand
The Amazon sand is used in aquariums because it’s full of nutrients and is perfect for aquatic plant growth ,During use it gathers fish wastes into the microscopic pores and is very good at holding nutrients mate
It’s heavily used in planted tanks for just this reason
I’d be throwing it in most Definitely it should be super charged
Arm length corn 
I’d like to see that !!
I love the whole idea of bio char and carbon sequestration back into the earth , I think it’s something I need to play with in my grows … I mean the Amazonian’s- Aztecs and Mayan’s were doing this over 2000 yrs ago - see below quick excerpt from online papers
The use of biochar for soil nutrient retention and improvement is thought to have originated over 2,000 years ago in the Brazilian Amazon. Archeological studies indicate populations of native Amazonians prospered in agrarian civilizations sustained by amending nutrient-poor tropical soils with application of charcoal (aka biochar) and organic matter. These populations appear to have flourished from a period between 400 BC until they were decimated by pandemic introduced by Spaniard expeditions as recently as 500 years ago.
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If you don’t have time to charge your bichar it will self charge in your mix with your nutrients. It can be done either way. I have been reading alot of Clackamas coots interviews, and I saw that the other day. Personally I haven’t had time to charge mine, so in the mix it goes. Also, I have only been adding as much as my other ammendments, and using perlite for aeration. It is somewhat affordable, and I have not found a good source for pumice yet. Bichar is super expensive, so I have been sparing, but so fsr, the plants love it. Sounds like yall are on a good track!
Also, the great thing about no till is that you can keep building your growing area up in those rocky conditions, and make it better each year. My bro has that kind of a condition. Thankfully his goats helped a bit in their old pen area 
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Lucky for me I burn firewood for heat. So many people have turned to Wood Heat in the Last 5 Years that the wood we get isn’t properly dried anymore. That’s bad for heat, but great for biochar. I have to empty the stove every 2 or 3 days, and there’s always lots of biochar in there. I usually just dump the ash pan outside, but from now on I’m going to pour some water on it first so none of the biochar gets burned up as it sits in the Ash pan. Try burning wet wood at a bonfire. At the end of the evening cover up your fire pit with dirt. This should smother the fire and give you lots of biochar for free.
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I read about this in the past. Terra Preta (sp?). We think we are so advanced in today’s modern age. Some of the best Farmers on Earth existed more than 2000 years ago. I don’t understand why this isn’t common practice worldwide to use biochar when available. Especially in developed countries that know the benefits of it, and have the ability to spread the word to all up-and-coming farmers. Dow and various other chemical companies can’t make their money off of biochar now can they? I’m going to go ahead and use that ham is on ( dang phone)(edit… Amazon, not ham is on) sand as you call it when I transplant the next time. I’ll have to go light on it due to the weight, but I wish I didn’t have to. Oh that legalization were upon us!!!
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Yup, just like the legalization thing. Drug companies can’t make a profit off of Marijuana. We’ve been fighting them for years. It’s all about the big money now, sad. It makes my morals ache.
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yes that way of making bio char works just have to shift threw coals and throw away any pieces that still have un chared wood.a 55 gallon drum with a stove pipe attached to top for chimmey with away to control air from entering bottom will keep your wood from competely burning up it you or a diy person
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