Commercial charcoal for biochar?

I have an old bag of charcoal bought for grilling - all natural, none of those chemical additives at all. It has disintegrated into powder.

My existing compost pile (three bins made from pallets) would benefit from turning and the addition of shredded leaves - I just scavenged at least 30 bags of leaves - mostly silver maple and other non-oak species, and a couple mixed with grass. I realize that my small bag of charcoal probably won't go that far but I'd like to incorporate  the leaves (I also splurged on a SunJoe leaf shredder) so can add shredded leaves to the turned compost. I should be able to continue getting a lot of bags of leaves. I can fit 13 - with some serious pushing - into my Kia Niro! I also have access to bunny poo.

Amy advice? I'm hoping (with a friend) to start making biochar on a small scale as well. But I'm a senior who still works so time and energy are limited.

Any advice?
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I can't see any problem with adding it to the compost, although as far as working very well if it's a powder I don't know what effect it would have but certainly wouldn't hurt?

Hi Susan. Interesting problem! Bear with my while I type ideas with my frozen Canadian fingers.

Commercial charcoal isn't mostly carbon, so it isn't quite biochar. It usually has a lot of complex volatile components left in it -- on purpose. This is what gives the wonderful flavour of natural barbecue.

Just so you know, this is an ongoing conversation here. The ideal situation is to reheat or "cook" the charcoal a little more, down to mostly carbon. When you can rub it all over your hands, and then rinse it off with water, no soap, you've hit the sweet spot.

But that's not always practical. Personally, given that it's chemical free and already a powder, I would not hesitate to add it in small amounts. Nature -- think giant forest fires and grassland fires -- doesn't make perfect char either. It's an imperfect mess. Yet the biosphere adapts, and thrives, and the soil is improved by the addition of carbon.

Wish I still had the link. I read a paper written in the later 1800s by a farmer who tried reviving poor soil using coal dust. He claimed it really worked great.

Most non-organic, commercial 'charcoal' is not really charcoal but is coal dust pressed with a wax or resin to hold it together. I wouldn't use it, but I might try actual coal. I have a source for a small amount, a bushel or two.

If the charcoal has no additives then you would have a good starting point for biochar.

However,  before biochar can be used it has to be charged, else it will suck nutrients away from your plants.      Charcoal  is often used for poison control as it absorbs  poison.      It does the same thing for nutrients so the battery has to be charged before it can be used.

I have adopted the method of putting my charcoal in my worm bin so that it picks up the nutrients of the compost I put in and hosts the bacteria of the worm bin, before I put it in my garden.

Another consideration of biochar is the PH, it alters the PH of the soil, one needs to compensate for this.

Susan, when you say that it's all natural, do you mean that it's lump charcoal?  Or is it molded briquettes?    If it's natural lump charcoal, I suspect it will be a good addition to your compost pile.  If it's briquettes without chemicals it might be ok, but I have no experience with what those manufacturers are adding, so not sure.

Your intent it to mix it into your compost pile, correct?  If so, that would address Mart's concern about bringing the biochar to a nutrient equilibrium before adding it to your plantings.  Biochar and compost piles are made for each other!  By the way, congratulations on starting on the biochar path.  You will love it!

You or others might find this thread helpful:

https://permies.com/t/193954/handy-guide-charcoal-biochar-activated

Adding your powdered charcoal to your compost as a carbon source sounds good to me.

From what I understand about compost is that if the pile gets hot enough the heat will burn off anything undesirable.

Greg Martin wrote:Susan, when you say that it's all natural, do you mean that it's lump charcoal?  Or is it molded briquettes?    If it's natural lump charcoal, I suspect it will be a good addition to your compost pile.  If it's briquettes without chemicals it might be ok, but I have no experience with what those manufacturers are adding, so not sure.

My main concern would be the starting material. Is it molded briquettes that may have started their life as coal dust? If it's lump charcoal I wouldn't have any concerns because they started as wood.

Coal contains a variety of chemicals, depending on the source. The volatiles can be burned off, but it's the residue that I would personally not want in my garden. These residues can contain a lot of nasties like heavy metals that will stay in the soil. Although if you're adding just a little and spreading it around, the levels may be low enough to not be an issue.

I would be cautious with this, do it minimally and see what happens.  Try a small amount, mixing it with compost, and plant some heavy feeder plant in it in a pot.  observe. take it from there.  It might be a good thing to use for a humanure situation.  

Here is another thread that talks about the same topic. As Douglas said, this is a common topic in biochar.

John S
PDX OR

John, I can't see the link. Seems the gremlins are after you.

For anyone who wants to go down the rabbit hole, these threads have lots of good discussion relating to the OP's question.

But be warned before you enter: making and inoculating biochar can become an obsession! Sort of like people talking about their goats (haha, I'm kidding!).

https://permies.com/t/123617/Differentiating-biochar-charcoal

https://permies.com/t/150787/Biochar-charcoal-bought-store

https://permies.com/t/193954/handy-guide-charcoal-biochar-activated

https://permies.com/t/37807/Biochar-buy-charcoal-grind
John S
PDX OR

Thanks everyone! I'm pretty sure that the charcoal didn't have any additives and it definitely had crumbled into powder. Not sure I have the bag it came in any more. Will proceed with caution. My niece is homesteading in Tennessee and puts the biochar they make into the chicken feed. She's researched biochar extensively and has been giving me some guidance as well.

I definitely want to add this and future biochar to my compost piles. Am hoping to make a nice big one with the shredded leaves, garden and yard waste and add biochar to that.

Will check out those other threads as well.