biochar in alkaline soils

I'm going to plant some fruit trees probably next year. I'm in a rather sandy/rocky soil area, zone 6, in the western mountains. The soil analysis I had done is actually not that bad nutrient wise but there's very little organic material so I'm looking to amend it a bit before I put fruit trees in.

I love the idea of biochar, but am concerned because I heard that's fairly alkaline and my soil is slightly akaline as it is already. Is there any way to adjust that? Can I inoculate it with some type of acid?

My understanding is that it's not the char that's alkaline but the ash that comes with it. When I make it I don't worry at all about the ash because it's really acidic where I live. It's kind of a 2 for 1 deal. But, if you were purchasing the biochar I would think they would have much better quality control so I would think it would be less alkaline?

There are totally amendments you can put in to acidify your soil.

Also, unless it's airless, solid clay I might not worry too much about digging anything in. A thick layer of wood chips on top of the soil does amazing things...

Also, also, horse manure is my go to for organifying clay to plant a tree in it.

Certainly, giving the char a quick rinse (not a long soak) to remove ash will help.

My sand/silt soil tends toward alkaline (which is odd) but I haven't noticed negative effects when adding inoculated biochar.

Interesting. I'm planning on chewing up the soil a bit just to clear some of the larger rocks and to build up some berm/basin type structures so I figured it would be handy to have some long term amendments laying around near the backhoe.

I'm planning on making the char down by a creek where there's tons of overgrowth, I can rinse the ash off pretty easily I think over time. Gives me a good summer project to work on.

I agree with Dan Fish and others here. Don't overburn it so that it turns into ash.  Well made biochar should allow your microbes to adjust the soil into what is healthy for the ecosystem. You can later do other things, like adding conifer needles to make it more acidic.
John S
PDX OR