Biochar Charging & Harvesting It 

Great video. You're like the Henry Winkler of growing stuff. You might actually say that No-Till and Biochar does actually help save the planet.

This video speaks straight to my heart. I make biochar every year and like you I do open burn. I have never thought of using flour in my charging mix but I will now. I have access to a lot of wood and I prepare all summer for making biocharI. I make really big fires.But I used something that is shocking to some people but I use it and I have great success with it. I use deer bones from my local processor. When my fire is good and hot I add the bones and more wood. A harvest the coals from the bottom of the burn with an old shovel and put them in a 55 gallon metal drum half full of water and I keep a water hose close by. This quick quenching also helps with the fracking of the Embers. It's an all-day event and one of my favorite days of the year and the next day I do the charging. And just like you I like to have all my ingredients ready before I do the bioburn. Last year I made 120 lbs of bio bone char and now I probably have 10lbs left. I can't wait till the end of October so I can start the process all over again. I have two friends coming this year because they want to learn the process also. It sure will be nice to have some help. And teach this beautiful process to people that are eager to learn. Thank you for all your great videos. You are a great inspiration to me and I would love to know your opinion on using the deer bones

The best video I've seen to describe this process. Thanks so much. Liked and subscribed.

Great video, very easy to watch, tons of good information ranging from beginner level to advanced. +1000 internets to Bare Mountain Farm

Learning new sustainable techniques from every video of yours . Thanks a ton for sharing.

Great video. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Love the idea of doing this at home. Thank you so much for sharing.

Had to watch 7 times. Rain sounds kept putting me to sleep.

This is by far the best two part videos on biochar ive seen. The explanations of your methodology ,your attention to detail and thoroughness of the process really makes this a top notch educational time investment. I only wish i had happened across it ten videos ago !!! hahaha well im glad i hit the gold on my last try . Thanks very much , I really appreciate your efforts I cant wait to use this method . Great video .Take care

Fascinating. Thanks!

You guys are awesome and deserve way more subscriber's. Your content and approach to teaching it is so valuable.

Loving your videos, thank you.

Just learned about the first steps, this was helpful. Thank you sir!

So nice to see the final product. Too many videos show their way of inoculating, but there's no "proof" that it works. Now I have to watch your video on how you did this.

The best video on biochar, thank you.

Good information, thanks for posting.

Thank you for adding the alternative nitrogen options. This often gets left out. The urine option is so practical. Appreciate you taking the uncomfortable suggestion for those of us who are already doing that. Really gratefulfor for all your bio char and jadam/ knf applications. :-)

Great video.

Thanks, very instructive.

I loved the sound of the rain! Much better than some crappy music. I throw in flour and sugar, although I now have a 10# bag of pancake mix that will serve the same purpose. I produce 2-3 gallons of urine a day, so I fill a two gallon watering can and add it. It takes about 6 gallons per 5 of char. Since the urine is rather diluted, you can add a cup of ammonia in there as well, but it works great.

Great video. Very informative. Thank you

Love the sound of rain here in Australia.😊

Very good and informative vídeo!!!

Very good video thank you.

Grass clippings is a great source of nitrogen. Great video!!!

Have to say the easiest looking method ever! Someone else used an old feed/seed sack to crush big pieces in, stomping on it.

you woke me up after 50 years plus of gardening and I thought I knew it all he he/ back to basics has always worked for me/ I do a lot of planting in pots and flower beds so makes sense to use charged charcoal to prevent nutrients from being washed away. Many thanks what are you thought s on using hydroton in the garden? besides being expensive vs charcoal/wood products?

I really appreciate your obvious depth of knowledge!!! Thank you for sharing. I attempted to make biochar from purchased charcoal that was intended for BBQ’a. I phoned the company to ensure there were no chemical additives. I then immersed the product in manure tea for a month or two, then crushed it using my old Kemp hammer mill shredder - works great with a tarp strapped up around it contain the material. BUT… when I incorporated it into my potting mix (purchased Pro Mix) at 10% every single plant was dwarfed, and some never got over it after being transplanted. I was able to salvage most of the starts by applying compost extract (as per Soil Food Web - Dr. Ingham) The manure was aged horse stored outside, so not much nitrogen left in it and I suspect that char was absorbing the lion’s share of the nutrients. Based on your experience, I will incorporate at 2%.

Great advice from Henry Winkler himself

Your presentation is more informative than the college studies that they have made videos on. I'd like to know how you got so much mycrorizal growth. Thank you for sharing.

We have high temperature like Arizona in India . Hope this can be a wonderful ingredient for hot climate.

Thanks for the information. Vary well done 👍👍👍. I think I will try pond duck weed it’s very high in protein and it’s free 😎

I have a food forest and a never-ending supply of woodchips. I think I'm going to try the biochar method. I have the perfect setup.

I make biochar in similar way, but mix potting mixture soon after. Then try to age or mature the mix itself.

What is JMS? I'm new at this.

How do I apply this to already established perennials . Should I top dress or dig it in a bit?

Can you use soybean meal or cottonseed meal as a nitrogen source? This is a great site!

Highlight - The Oogy Factor - the new album by Biochar & Borage! Love it!

What is the ratio of flour, molasses and the charcoal to be mix?

I bet this is a great video for people who already know what he is talking about. What's rock dust? What's charging? What's what's what's...

Just subscribed

I have several cubic feet of char from last winter’s burn so I think I’ll try inoculation using a small amount of fresh spent beer mash. Works in my compost as a Party Food. The other product I have is the waste material from my fermented fish hydrolysate… would make a good fungal food, but I’m wary of the stench for a few days LOL… can you comment please.

What did you inoculate it with?

Watching here phillipines

Thanks for the excellent video. Just came across it. We currently at the Northern Illinois Worm Farm incorporate bio-char into our worm bedding, hence infusing the char into our castings. (This is still in the trial stage.) Two questions, if I may: 1) In your opinion, is this a sufficient means of charging the char in the castings? And, 2) What is JMS?

Can I use LABS mix with molasses/brown sugar like the one you made in one of your video to inaculate the biochar?

Hey I have a Bear mountain here in NE bc 🇨🇦! But no gardens just bears..lol

Can you use spent coffee grounds as your nitrogen source? And if so, how much would you use for a 5 gallon bucket?

Great video. Once you are ready to use this charged biochar as potting mix, do you use it as is or do you mix it with other products to develop your own potting mix? This is very interesting!

Your right you need to charge the biochar and if you don't you will be unhappy with the results. Biochar adds carbon and a home for the microbiology.

Great video! where can you purchase the black tray you used for mixing the biochar?

I must have missed this. How long do you leave this sit when charging before you inoculate?

What did you do to the plain charcoal to get it to where this video begins? I have no idea what you are doing!

How would you feel about adding wood ash for inoculations? Great video. Thank you

Just found your channel and really enjoyed the video great information explained very well easy to understand, i recently made a batch of biochar, im in Canada im wondering if it will be ok to keep the biochar out in my greenhouse were in the winter it will get down below 0 degrees celsius. Will this kill any of the biology in your opinion or make it any less effective when i can use it to work into my beds around late May here in eastern Canada. Thanks. I quenched with well water and some added molasses, yarrow fpj, and a little urine. I then 24 hours later put in a container and added a aact worm castings tea some rock dust, a little blood and bone, some insect frass and some worm castings. Its now just innockulating in a big bucket in my green house current temps in green house between 1 degree celsius- 18 degrees celsius. Your thoughts or anyones would be much appreciated.

I am new here. What do you think of my idea for using bio char? You made me reconsider how I incorporate biochar. I’m on the edge of country but cannot make my own biochar. I bought two 30 pound bags of royal oaks lump charcoal (idea from Migardener)and broke them into smaller pieces. I have three new raised beds that I recreated Terra Preta by putting pieces of pottery, charcoal and other things layered about a foot deep. I really wanted to plant the beds so I did not inoculate the charcoal. My plan was to use a pitchfork throughout the rest of my garden to gently push the tines into the soil lift forward and just put a little bit of charcoal throughout the garden figuring that it would eventually be inoculated and not disturb established plant roots. I’ve had a no dig garden for about two years full of native plants, flowers, some fruit trees and vegetable garden. I wanted to get some of the charcoal down further so that in time it will help hold the water better. I don’t water very often but California is officially in a drought which could get a lot worse. Now I am thinking I will inoculate the bio char for a few weeks with other things. Then push the pitchfork into the soil throughout the yard. Mix the and lightly dust the inoculated charcoal and other thing together and add it throughout the yard one area at a time then water. Perhaps some of the small charcoal mix will settle down into the holes further down. It should not hurt the roots. Thank you for giving me ideas. I was going to put plain charcoal in. What do you think of my idea? Thank you for encouraging us to have the best garden possible. I will check out your other videos

Is quenching necessary if you are using a drum method?

Where do you get those large black trays

Would this help acid loving plants like blueberries?

Could you use comfrey leaves as nitrogen.

What is JMS if you don't mind my asking?

Really interesting Topic. I tested my soil and already bought the fertilizer. Can i just add the biochar to the soil "uncharged" Im farely new to biochar it seemes somewhat counterintutive because I've been always told that the dark soilmix for graves is darker because they added ashe which is bad for plant growth. So from what i have undestood so far ist that the most important part is to burn the material without oxigen and dont let it go to ash. Or did I get it wrong

Worm tea and molasses should be good

I put the biochar in my brewed tea bucket then put other inputs including urine…..

Great info ... thanks. However it seems to me that it's not BIOchar until AFTER it's got life in it. Before that, it's just charcoal. Of course charcoal itself has its uses but it will never perform like a Terra Preta system on its own so it shouldn't be considered biochar IMO.

Interesting. Watch some University lectures saying It will last 1000 years , or more in the soil..

so you're telling me a gasifier would make the best quality bio char?

Plastic around the char? Last video I saw you were picky about a zip-lock hanging in your brew-

Your soil will hold much more beneficial nutrients,bacteria,fungus, etc

what is jms

What's jms?

protip: don't let environmental noise throw you off your game, just ignore it and keep on filming

Pro tip: cut your landscaping fabric with a fine tip blow torch not a knife. You won’t unravel

It's a brock😂

What is JMS😂

The biochar does not feed the plants - the plants don't consume this type of carbon. That is why the half-life of biochar has been evaluated at about one thousand years. The biochar acts as a reservoir for the nutrients and more importantly the biologicals that benefit the plants.

If you want to skip him repeating himself over & over-go to the 9 minute mark.