posted 7 hours ago
I normally burn my biochar, and then leave it in burlap bags until I"m ready to inoculate one 5 gallon bucket at a time. I add the raw biochar and the inoculant and mix them thoroughly. My inoculants are whole wheat flour, ag lime, seaweed, compost, rotten fruit, worm compost, rotten wood, and urine. I try to nearly fill the 5 gallon bucket.
On the first day after the first inoculation, the biochar usually has gotten bigger. It sometimes is hard to fit the ceramic dinner plate over it that I use to drain the liquid inoculant out. It stays larger than the uncharged biochar typically for one more day.
After that, it seems to get smaller every day until I have reached my 7 days that I use for charging it. Then I dig it into the soil for the plants. I have some guesses as to why that might be, but there are a lot of people on this list with tons of experience and advanced scientific educations that I don't have.
I think that it grows at first because the biochar was essentally empty. It was very light. After charging it, it becomes much heavier. Because biochar is very airy, I believe that the liquids and microbes are filling the biochar. The guests are entering the hotel.
My guess is that it becomes smaller as the different microbes are eating the other materials. Healthy soils involve very diverse groups of microbes eating plants, nutrients and each other. I believe that the fungi are eating the wood and nutrients. The bacteria and others are eating the rotten fruit and the combination of different products I've added to try to achieve a harmonious nutrient balance.
As I've said before, I think I have only one college credit in science. I often learn a lot when someone more educated or experienced explains the processes that are occurring.
Does this explanation make sense to you? Do you think it's correct? I'd love to hear your answers.
JohN S
PDX OR
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