Is biochar worth it for me?

Hey y'all,
Looking for some advice.
I have a beautiful piece of land and am looking to put in a whole lot of garden next year. It's forested, though most of what I am planning to plant has already been cleared, and is currently covered in discarded brush.

The soil is BEAUTIFUL. Loamy, drains well. Red, and fluffy from spaghnum moss. We get tons of rain, and it's a very wet area, by the ocean. The fungal diversity and abundance is unmatched; leave a piece of wood on the ground for a month and it will be COVERED in mycelium.
I figure it's at least moderately acidic due to all the pine trees, so I'm looking to amend it before starting.
So what I'm wondering is:
Is biochar worth it (I'd be looking to make a retort with a barrel in a barrel) considering water retention is not a concern? (Just bc it rains so much)
Would it be bad to just dump my ashes and coals from the woodstove over the winter instead? Would this raise the ph suitably, and allow for immediate planting?
Are there other benefits to biochar specifically over regular hardwood charcoal?

Hey Margaux. Ottawa is a fair way from the ocean; a location update would be helpful.

Still, it sounds like you are in Canadian shield country, and that means your baseline soil is naturally acidic. In that soil, I would dump ash/char from a wood stove everywhere.

Biochar is still worth it; but it's a longer term project to retain nutrients, which is why it was such a big deal in the tropics, with collossal rains washing it all away.

Somehow I have vague recollections of Catharine Parr Traill in this -- pretty sure it's public domain now, and perhaps worth your time. My 2c.

Pine needles don't actually acidify soil.
https://www.gardenmyths.com/pine-needles-acidify-soil/
Your soil may be too acidic for growing most vegetables,  but I wouldn't presume that is the case.
You could get a lab test, or you could screen some soil and plant some seed starts in it.

Given that you get "tons of rain", I think biochar would be worthwhile.  The problem in areas of very heavy rainfall can be the nutrients being washed away rather than staying in place for the plants to use.  Biochar should alleviate that problem a great deal.

Producing biochar is always worth it, for its carbon sequestration, biochars value as a feed supplement for livestock or if nothing else as a building material.

Martijn Macaopino wrote:Producing biochar is always worth it, for its carbon sequestration, biochars value as a feed supplement for livestock or if nothing else as a building material.

Could you explain using it as a feed supplement?  And especially as a building material?  I've never heard of that.

As a feed supplement it improves the digestion and overall health of your livestock.

Multiple studies on this matter can be found, a common application rate is 1% of their feed by dry weight.

These links give some information about biochar as a building material

https://www.biochar-journal.org/en/ct/3

https://www.biochar-journal.org/en/ct/30

Martijn Macaopino wrote:As a feed supplement it improves the digestion and overall health of your livestock.

Multiple studies on this matter can be found, a common application rate is 1% of their feed by dry weight.

These links give some information about biochar as a building material

https://www.biochar-journal.org/en/ct/3

https://www.biochar-journal.org/en/ct/30

Thank you.

Yes, as the others have said, lots of rain and acidic soils are good reasons to use biochar.  

Permaculturalist Albert Bates wrote a book about BIochar, that I posted about here.  I think the book was called "Burn".  He noted that adding it to cement would be really helpful for the cement but also for sequestration.
John S
PDX OR

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Hey Margaux. Ottawa is a fair way from the ocean; a location update would be helpful.

Still, it sounds like you are in Canadian shield country, and that means your baseline soil is naturally acidic. In that soil, I would dump ash/char from a wood stove everywhere.

Biochar is still worth it; but it's a longer term project to retain nutrients, which is why it was such a big deal in the tropics, with collossal rains washing it all away.

Somehow I have vague recollections of Catharine Parr Traill in this -- pretty sure it's public domain now, and perhaps worth your time. My 2c.

Actually in the Appalachian region now! NB lowlands. But acidic naturally here too, for the most part.
Thank you for the advice and recommendation!

William Bronson wrote:Pine needles don't actually acidify soil.
https://www.gardenmyths.com/pine-needles-acidify-soil/
Your soil may be too acidic for growing most vegetables,  but I wouldn't presume that is the case.
You could get a lab test, or you could screen some soil and plant some seed starts in it.

I didn't know this! Thank you for that.
After these two responses, I determined I should just do a soil test rather than assume. But first I went and read multiple detailed reports on soil samples from the area to see what I could infer. Now I'm even more inclined to get a soil test! Lol!


So some more biochar Qs for everyone (and thank you all for your helpful responses)
I read that biochar can be bad for some types of soil because it ? keeps too much water? Idk, I didn't gather much concrete from the article I read.
Having read and observed the soil more, I suspect parts of it drain so well because there's lots of organic matter, but in the places where there's less it seems very muddy and slow-draining.
In slow-draining clay soil, would biochar hold on to water in a bad way, making it drain even worse?
Additionally, do you turn the soil to work the biochar in? What about wood ash? I usually am timid with tilling lol. I prefer to chop-and-drop, mulch with compost, and not dig up too much if I can avoid it

Soil tests from a lab are spendy, though worthwhile. Still, you don't need a soil test for basic pH reading. A $10 pH meter will tell you that, and let you gauge your progress.

Margaux Knox wrote:

I usually am timid with tilling lol. I prefer to chop-and-drop, mulch with compost, and not dig up too much if I can avoid it

I usually add my biochar to my compost heaps to let it absorb nutrients and microbes from there, but much depends on the scale you're working with and timing. I wouldn't just leave it on the surface as mulch as some say that can increase the intensity of a fire and I'm in a wild-fire danger zone.

I sometimes add it to planting holes if I'm planting a shrub/tree and have some spare, and I try to make sure I've got a little to add to my potting mixes for spring seed starts because I use 3" deep paper pots, so that gets some biochar down below without disturbing large areas of soil.

I have read that huglemounds are good for moderating extremes in soil wetness.

Biochar is actually good for both. Biochar ensures that a heavy, soggy , puddle-laden clay soil will drain. It has spaces inside it to make sure that the roots can get oxygen.   It also retains a large amount of moisture in it for dry, summer droughts, particularly if it is below the surface level.

John S
PDX OR

Margaux Knox wrote:
In slow-draining clay soil, would biochar hold on to water in a bad way, making it drain even worse?
Additionally, do you turn the soil to work the biochar in? What about wood ash? I usually am timid with tilling lol. I prefer to chop-and-drop, mulch with compost, and not dig up too much if I can avoid it

Biochar is really amazing at breaking up heavy clay soil and it increases it's drainage enormously.

I don't have experience with using biochar in clay soil in a no-till setting but my advice in that case would be to use very fine biochar particles which can be watered into the soil.
If your biochar particles are bigger then you'll have to work it into the soil for it to have the most benefit.

Fantastic advice, everyone! Thanks so much for the help.

I am doing a few hugels in the spring (for which I will being looking for advice shortly, no doubt. Lol!), and I will work biochar in to the long-term planning!
We have a wild amount of brush to burn and bury, so lots to work with, and hopefully I can have a good amount by spring.

I was doing some reading on pine tar and turpentine today;
Seems like pine tar is produced in a very similar fashion... I'll be trying to extract some from our pine stumps in the spring, and it sounds like it will make great biochar too.
I'm excited to get started!