posted 10 years ago
If you aren't set up space, equipment or timewise to make your own charcoal, and then innoculate it, or don't have the $$ to buy a lot of commercial biochar, you might consider using an unusual form of charcoal. Typically bbq briquettes are verboten... Kingsfords, et al, are chock full of bad stuff. However, Trader Joe's BBQ Briquettes are advertised as 'sustainably harvested, with only cornstarch as a binder, and you can use the ashes in your garden!". They are approx $8 for 18 lbs. I did some research and found that this is the Rancher brand of 100% Natural Charcoal, made by The Original Charcoal Co., repackaged for TJ's. It is made from coppiced hardwoods grown in Latin American, i.e., sustainably.
I mention this because I think the carbon sequestration is significant, and the water/nutrient holding capacity is critically important, and equally valuable on (many, many) small city lots, as it is on acreage. This form of biochar, while non-toxic and natural, may not be optimum, but letting the 'perfect be the enemy of the good' can be self-defeating, perhaps :)
It's time to get positive about negative thinking
-Art Donnelly