This year’s Biochar Expo attracted some fifty people interested in learning more about biochar. It was held at the Discovery Garden Pavilion.
A Japanese-type, sloping, steel kiln fabricated locally by the UCC Welding Department is used to burn a rick of dry fir and other wood materials. Eventually the rick is pushed down to burn all pieces equally.
Water extinguishes the fire and stops the process.
The char can be broken up into small pieces or added to the soil “as is". We added the 5 to 7 gallons of char to the Demonstration Bed without breaking it up into smaller pieces or pulverizing it.
A couple days later, the biochar bed was turned and the char forked into the top 6" of soil. The other bed was turned over and smoothed out, too. We will plant cover crop(s) before the end of November.
