A New Compost (Biochar / Grochar)

well, it's new to me ...

stumbled across this on google whilst searching for something else

made from charcoal
http://biochar.pbworks.com/w/page/9748043/FrontPage

http://www.organiccatalogue.com/Pro...l-Purpose-Compost-20-Litres/product_info.html

has anyone tried this?

 

I saw this on "The beechgrove Garden" tonight on BBC1. Apparently it is VERY expensive and there are bits of charcoal in it.

 

GroChar comes in various sizes, the smaller packs in garden centres are £6.99 for a Kilo of pure biochar with added mycorrhizal fungi (Rootgrow), wormcasts and seaweed. There are larger pack sizes available from Carbon Gold for gardeners who want to use it in larger quantities. Daylesford Organic use it for all their growing now because the plants last longer (they sell herbs in pots in their shops) and the seed germination rate is excellent. The head gardener there, Jez, comments that it needs 1/3 less watering than the peat-based compost it replaced. And it holds nutrients in the soil, keeping nitrogen from washing out. So it pays for itself. And you only add it to the soil once and it stays there, so it's an investment, not an endless cycle of more and more compost going in and just disappearing.

 

£14 gets me a 50 litre bag of Organic Plagron bat mix ....
consists of white peat, Baltic peat, Sphagnum, Irish white peat chunks, black peat, worm castings, organic manure, 15% perlite and bat guano.

I always add roootgrow when I plant and add extra perlite and extra worm humus

I may get a small bag of GroChar and add a few handfulls into the batmix

what is the PH and EC of GroChar?

 

GroChar itself is a pH modulator, generally reducing the tendency towards acidity and having a mildly alkalising effect ( a lot depends on the growing medium). Here's a very clear and short abstract from an academic paper that explains biochar and answers your question on EC:

Natural organic biomass burning creates black carbon which forms a considerable proportion of the soil’s organic carbon. Due to black carbon’s aromatic structure it is recalcitrant and has the potential for long-term carbon sequestration in soil. Soils within the Amazon-basin contain numerous sites where the ‘dark earth of the Indians’ (Terra preta de Indio, or Amazonian Dark Earths (ADE)) exist and are composed of variable quantities of highly stable organic black carbon waste (‘biochar’). The apparent high agronomic fertility of these sites, relative to tropical soils in general, has attracted interest. Biochars can be produced by ‘baking’ organic matter under low oxygen (‘pyrolysis’). The quantities of key mineral elements within these biochars can be directly related to the levels of these components in the feedstock prior to burning. Their incorporation in soils influences soil structure, texture, porosity, particle size distribution and density. The molecular structure of biochars shows a high degree of chemical and microbial stability. A key physical feature of most biochars is their highly porous structure and large surface area. This structure can provide refugia for beneficial soil micro-organisms such as mycorrhizae and bacteria, and influences the binding of important nutritive cations and anions. This binding can enhance the availability of macro-nutrients such as N and P. Other biochar soil changes include alkalisation of soil pH and increases in electrical conductivity (EC) and cation exchange capacity (CEC). Ammonium leaching has been shown to be reduced, along with N2O soil emissions. There may also be reductions in soil mechanical impedance. Terra preta soils contain a higher number of ‘operational taxonomic units’ and have highly distinctive microbial communities relative to neighbouring soils. The potential importance of biochar soil incorporation on mycorrhizal fungi has also been noted with biochar providing a physical niche devoid of fungal grazers. Improvements in soil field capacity have been recorded upon biochar additions. Evidence shows that bioavailability and plant uptake of key nutrients increases in response to biochar application, particularly when in the presence of added nutrients. Depending on the quantity of biochar added to soil significant improvements in plant productivity have been achieved, but these reports derive predominantly from studies in the tropics. As yet there is limited critical analysis of possible agricultural impacts of biochar application in temperate regions, nor on the likelihood of utilising such soils as long-term sites for carbon sequestration. This review aims to determine the extent to which inferences of experience mostly from tropical regions could be extrapolated to temperate soils and to suggest areas requiring study.

Carbon Gold's GroChar composts are based on coir and are used by organic growers who are seeking sustainable alternatives to peat but want composts that work. The germination rate of our seed compost is as good as peat. GroChar composts are £8.54 for a 60 litre bag. There is also GroChar Fertiliser, Soil Association Approved, with a 5-5-5 NPK ratio, that sells for 9.95 for a 3 Kg bucket.

 

so Craig .... seems like you work for the company, or have very close ties .... the product sounds very good

so .... how about donating a few bags to some gardenerscorner members, so that we can test the product?

would be a very good marketing strategy, as there are some very good gardeners on this forum, and this site ranks very high on google

 

Give me some delivery details:
[email protected]

 

Is it just another case of someone taking an old idea, branding it, making it 'new' and selling it for a fortune?

I saw something on telly a few years ago now about some now long lost Amazonian tribe having used charcoal to enrich the ground, and farmers in the UK (and probably everywhere else) were doing it routinely until a few years ago.

Not quite charcoal, but my grandad used to have an 'ash mountain' in his back yard. Basically it was the ash from when he cleaned out his open fire. He just piled it up. My nanna grew hydrangeas and currants in it. They were the healthiest bushes I've ever seen.

 

Nice one Craig! ....

I think that some people who buy loads of compost should take up your offer, as they will be the best to compare it to conventional compost, and will give unbiased honest reviews on this forum

from recent threads relating to compost, the following people made mention that they buy loads
Kristen
Armandii
Steve R
Shiney
Ziggy


I think that these guys would be the best at comparing .... I do not use much compost, as I only plant shrubs etc in gardens, but I will definately buy Biochar/Grochar to add to the bat mix which I currently use ... I will also add some to AACT (actively aerated compost tea) which I brew, and I am trying to understand and implement High Brix gardening, so Biochar/Grochar ties in nicely with that

 

Good shout Craig, great to see a nice gesture

 

good post and many will feel the same as you

however....

depends what you plant, and what you are after .... the big thing now is organic and High Brix gardening .... in the US, people are becoming very obsessed with this and even buy little gadgets that measure the Brix value in fruit and veg before buying it ...

wine farmers aslo use this method

many farmers would not bother with trying the High Brix method and their farming methods revolve around profit

google 'High brix gardening' and check youtube aswell (lots of info)

.... and perhaps peg off a small area in your garden where you can try this method .... compare veg grown in this method to the method using conventional cheap compost .... compare the taste of the two

I have a strong feeling that in a few years time, vegetables that are bought from large supermarkets will have the Brix value printed on their labels .... and I have a strong feeling that Marks and Spencer test their veg for Brix values before buying them .... thats why their tomatoes/strawberries etc taste a lot better than Tesco finest

and, in order to grow veg/fruit with this method, you need good compost/soil .... and you add specialist nutrients .... that's why some people are switching to specialist composts .... and thats why some people are experimenting with actively aerated compost teas .... there is a huge range of specialist composts available at Hyroponic stores

My large garden centre does not even stock vermicompost (worm humus)? .... (This is by far one of the best additives to add to any compost) .... neither do they stock seaweed extract?

If I plant a £200 palm, I don't mind spending £15 on decent compost ....

when you compare these specialist composts to the stuff such as John Innes etc, it makes them look like playsand

if you use lots of compost, you could add a portion of these specialist composts to your existing compost

I have read lots about Biochar/Grochar, and think that it may be a very good product (thats why I started this thread and wanted to see if anyone else has tried it)

I don't grow veg, but have seen a big difference in garden plants since using these methods, and I have only recently started trying this method and am still learning

 

Armandii .... there is a lot of confusion on the market and there are a lot of 'supposidly' clever people who always downplay stuff that is not funded by big Pharma ....

one of those is Linda Chalker Scott .... big mouth, and what i would call a gardening troll who always downplays people or products who do not fund 'granting' for her university ... so much so, that she is now starting to look like an idiot.... I have responded to one of her posts on her blog, and she has kept mum and not responded ... companies such as Scotts pay for her wages

if you want to see and read about the 'real' gardeners who are way ahead of the PHD degreed people, visit the cannabis forums .... the guys who grow cannabis in their lofts

these are the guys who understand how things grow, and experement and share their knowledge .... lots to learn from these guys .... they talk rings around the 'conventional old fashioned' gardeners ... and know a lot more than the likes of Linda and her sidekicks (IMHO)

since reading those forums, I grow georgia peach heuchera that have massive leaves (larger than Heucehra magnum) ... I will post pics on tuesday night after I work in the garden where I am experementing

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post from other forums, but read this:

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/i...40-top-nutrient-study-best-produces-most.html

lots more, and if I have transgressed by linking to another forum, please delete .... but is an example of small time gardeners who understand how things grow