Biochar plus straw is better

I don't have straw available here at my house, but this study makes me think about it.   What are the equivalents of straw that I do have? I know many of you do already have straw available. Good for you.  Combining them seems to be much better than either one by itself.

John S
PDX OR

https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s44246-025-00234-4?sharing_token=d6DRFumCnRtskAnbTlR5OPe4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY4yT2WWnygJcXfsRzZn7c_omNAY_GdAkb7f3FU4VmYfHNIY8HFLbJ5rBNl10gdvgxa34cAJqVnm5G9zgmuA7mPgtHxlYphB9tfKMAd0V6t9fdVW50RO7ED_qnoqpGsVqNo%3D

Thanks for sharing the study. It looks like they focused more on carbon emissions then microbial activity which is to be expected. That's how you get grants these days.

From my scientific work I found that biochar works mainly as housing for microbes. Organic matter functions as food for microbes since their function is to recycle organic matter. It's understandable then that the two together would be more effective.

However, I found that using a soil foundation inoculated with Indigenous Micro-Organisms, I.M.O, is the most effective way to create soil with massive soil microbial activity and the consequent benefits.

If you're not going to use I.M.O. Soil Foundation, any organic matter will have the same effect. There's nothing magical about straw.

Have fun and let us know how it goes.

They did emphasize carbon emissions, but there is quite a bit in there on microbes, nutrients, and the advantages of both straw and biochar in creating cooperative increases to microbial density.  I don't know how one would increase indigenous microbes instead of other ones. It's an interesting idea.

John S
PDX OR

John Suavecito wrote:I don't know how one would increase indigenous microbes instead of other ones. It's an interesting idea.

John S
PDX OR

This is done by adding a culture of Indigenous Micro-Organisms to the soil. A few bio-nutrients are also usually added and the soil is typically mulched after applying.

I can offer more info if anyone is interested.

How do you know if what you are adding are indigenous microbes? Under a native tree?
John S
PDX OR

Straw is easier for many microbes to disassemble than wood chips (lignin in wood is tough stuff), so if the goal is to have microbe food available, organic straw makes sense.  However, straw is more likely to have been contaminated by gick than wood chips, which is why I stress organic.

Any dry material is likely to have a similar effect. So if you have a pond with cattails which you can cut when they've died back in the fall, or if you grow your own corn and can chop up the dried stalks, or even the dried leaves and stems from garlic, or many other alternatives, you will be providing carbon.

If in fact you're microbes want sugar, that's traded with living, producing plants. However, I've read much more about our soils being low in carbon, than low in sugar. Since I have chickens, and I have weeds that grow like crazy at certain times of the year, I have no problem finding "greens" for my compost, but much more trouble finding "browns" to balance it.

I will try to find time to read the article carefully, but to some extent, I'm happy to trust the permaculture approach which more or less promotes "a little bit of everything is good"!

The 'straw' they used was corn stalks.

John Suavecito wrote:How do you know if what you are adding are indigenous microbes? Under a native tree?
John S
PDX OR

“Indigenous microorganisms” is I believe a term from Korean natural farming that refers to microbes from wild forest soils.

More diverse soil constituents will usually work better. Any habitat with more diverse food and shelter will have more biodiversity than those with less. I would be concerned about biocide contamination with most straw though.

John Suavecito wrote:How do you know if what you are adding are indigenous microbes? Under a native tree?
John S
PDX OR

Yes you collect from under a rich local tree or from under a stand of grass. The idea is to collect an ecosystem that matches the growing system of your crops. So where? It depends, although you want as local as possible.

The I. M. O. technology was developed to get massive concentrations of balanced soil biology in a crumble form for effective application.

M Ljin wrote:

John Suavecito wrote:How do you know if what you are adding are indigenous microbes? Under a native tree?
John S
PDX OR

“Indigenous microorganisms” is I believe a term from Korean natural farming that refers to microbes from wild forest soils.

Yes it comes from Master Cho Han-Kyu 's method of Korean Natural Farming. It does not need to be collected from wild forest soils. That's a myth. The collection site depends on the crops it will be used on.

Ben Zumeta wrote:More diverse soil constituents will usually work better. Any habitat with more diverse food and shelter will have more biodiversity than those with less. I would be concerned about biocide contamination with most straw though.

There are benefits to diversity. There are also benefits to stability. When you have a highly diverse ecosystem that is stable and works well as an integrated system? Ah, that's where the magic happens.

(Diversity for it's own sake is chaotic and the system loses strength and efficiency by needing to stabilize the system. Soil systems have millions of species and billions of organisms. That kind of complexity is more efficient if there is some stability.)

I have found in my work that following permaculture guidelines of using what is at hand is effective and prevents the need to buy or bring in outside materials.