posted 1 year ago
I have had a pattern of biochar inoculation for the past few years. Once my char is sufficiently crunched, I put it in 5 gallon buckets. For the first time, I normally soak it for about 4 hours in a nutritious broth. Normally, after that, I just drench it once a day. I drench it briefly instead of always soaking it, because I want the biota to be aerobically based. Under liquid, the microbes can't get oxygen, but if I drench it, they have access to oxygen for all of the day except the 5 minutes of the drench. According to Elaine Ingham, and I think Redhawk, the aerobic microbes are the ones that help our plants to grow. The anaerobic ones have their place, but they do bring disease, and set up situations that we don't want in our soils.
Normally, I have been drenching them for two weeks. Two weeks was the longest duration that I had heard of that made sense when I heard people describe it. I have been watching it closely for years, and I think I am going to change next year. I completed my last biochar burn of 2023 two weeks ago.
When I observe the biochar inoculation, I notice changes. Before inoculation, it is super light weight. After the first soaking, it clearly hasn't reached any equilibrium. I will see the liquid draining out of it for a couple of days. I often experience a kind of a solidified crust at the top of the char in the container, but when I break through with an iron implement, it has a lot of liquid below. For the first couple of days, I don't have to add liquid, because it is draining out slowly. At least once during the first week, I will usually break through down to the bottom of bucket, which takes a little work. Bubbles will form above, and the liquid level will be lower afterwards. To me, this looks like the ingredients are still mixing, and some microbes are eating different things, some are moving into the biochar, and a kind of an equilibrium is being achieved.
By about the third day, the equilibrium has mostly been achieved. There starts to be no visible liquid after it has drained, following the drenching. If I try to break through, there is no "crust" at the top. There is no volume of liquid below. The char in the bucket has become substantially heavier. The char no longer accepts lots of liquid, like it does on the first day. The amount of liquid inoculant that goes in is about the same amount that goes out when it is drenched. To me, this feels like the inoculation has been completed.
I believe that starting next year, I will just drench the biochar for one week. All of these observable processes are completed within the week. It now feels like I am doing extra work, that I don't need to do. I am not a young man, and the extra work is starting to wear on my back. Last year, I threw out my back while double drenching biochar and distributing wheelbarrows of wood chip mulch at the same time. Next year, I will only have one 5 gallon bucket of biochar to drench at a time. I feel that it is all that I need to do, and I think it will be much easier on my time and on my back.
Comments and observations are very welcome.
John S
PDX OR
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