Mixing inoculants

When I started charging my char, I would put all of the ingredients together in a bucket, add some biochar, stir, and then add the rest.  One of the problems I ended up with was that some portion of the powder ingredients I use (whole wheat flour and ag lime) were still isolated powders at the bottom of the bucket when I dug in the biochar into my garden at the end of inoculation.

I decided to change things. I put the inoculants into a small bucket first and stirred them around by themselves, so I could know that they are all mixed.  I put half of the char into a large bucket, and then poured the mixed inoculants over the char.   Then I stirred them.  I could see if there is anything left over in the small bucket.  Also, because the big bucket is half filled, the inoculants slowly oozed into the char and tended to not stay stuck in the bottom of the bucket.  Then I add more urine and stir again.  Finally, I put the rest of the char into the bucket, add more urine,  and stir it one more time.  It's a little more work, but I don't have any inoculants isolated and stuck in the bottom of the barrel.  Every day, the liquid mix is poured in and out over the biochar to make sure it is both aerobic and thoroughly inoculated.  They are actually mixed when I dig them into the soil after two weeks.  

John S
PDX OR

This sounds like an ideal method and it's got to be better than letting it sit in stagnant liquid. Because of the quantities I deal with, I usually can't be bothered stirring the material. What I do most of the time is store my biochar, either pre- or post-crushing, in big fabric wool fadges. These are roughly cube-shaped and hold about 0.5 cubic meter. I mix the inoculant, which is mostly diluted manure soup and seaweed tea, and bucket that over the top. It percolates through the biochar and the whole thing stays nicely aerated. Urine additions are made as and when it's convenient.

The whole biochar stuff is new enough to the Western world that sometimes I want to check in with you all to make sure I'm not missing something crucial.  I've adapted several different practices from stuff youse are all doing.  Thx.

John S
PDX OR

I think there are very few ways we could actually screw it up, and even if we did the effects would be reversible because of the pore structure and its aeration superpowers -- as long as we don't contaminate it with heavy metals or other toxic gick. I used to submerge the biochar in barrels filled with inoculant tea and I don't think it ever went truly anaerobic, thanks to stirring it every few days and using it within a couple of weeks. Plus, it was really fun watching the liquid turn virtually clear as the biochar worked its magic. The main reason I don't do it that way now is just because it's too much work.

I do occasionally put some into the shells of an IBC tote cut in half and fill those with whatever: manure solids from the slurry trough, compost, seaweed, etc. Then I let rainwater fill them up for a few months. I also have started spreading it in uncrushed form directly onto the paddocks and letting the sheep tread the chunks into the soil, breaking it down and adding their inoculants as they do the work. So far this method, which involves the lowest labour input from me, is proving to be a good one.

I like the low input method using animals, both as crushers of biochar and inoculators.  Unfortunately for me, I don't have livestock, as I live in a suburb.  I gotta make do with what I can.  

I have to agree with you that inoculating it poorly is reversible.  The pore structure will eventually lead to an aerobic situation. However, the data is pretty clear about losing a few years of productivity if you don't inoculate.  I think if you let it go anaerobic, it will eventually resolve itself, so if you only care about the Earth and the ecology in the long run, you'll be fine.  For me, I'm already pretty old, and it's hard to see for how many more decades I will be alive on this Earth, so I would prefer to make it optimally than poorly and try to fix it later, which might be after I die.  It's also several seasons of not helping the orchard instead of helping it.  I don't have a lot of land, so I have to focus on doing well with the little that I have.  

John S
PDX OR