2 Garden VIPs Very Different, Very Useful

I'm often asked, and see a lot of misunderstanding around, charcoal vs ashes. Both are extremely useful, but very different products of wood and fire that have very different uses. Ashes are an excellent fertilizing material, containing all the minerals that plants mine from the soil, mostly potassium (potash) and calcium as lime. Ashes make slash and burn agriculture possible. Charcoal (aka biochar) has special properties that seem to be able to improve soils for centuries and may help in developing a more long term, sustainable agriculture.

Standard gear I recommend. I either use or have used all of it.

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[chumpboy]

“Don’t become a believer, become an experimenter.” Another awesome SkillCult quote. 🤟

[philsexton]

Refreshing. Science as a method not a religion. Simply stated and solid information. Thank you.

[toadstkr]

I didn’t have to run tests I watched yours but I do know that my garden compared to my neighbors who are mostly compost and and peat users does better. I also put a lot of other amendments in my soil to try to make it diverse as possible. I’m a firm believer in the more diverse and healthy your soil is the better it grows.

[Blaculo]

Those cacti are so happy. We did our first biochar bed this year and the pepper plants were three times as big in the Florida sand. I'm a believer.

[zacharyriley]

Honestly I enjoy these videos as much for the commentary on language and communication and semantics as i do on the actual content, which i also enjoy a lot.

[rubennel]

I feel well advised. My favorite guy on YT.

[firmamentfarms]

Planted a red d'anjou seedling yesterday in a charcoal trench inspired by you, got high hopes for that thing. 1 and 1/2 years old and it's a 5 ft tall whip. That trench produced enough charcoal in one burn to last me all year in pots and garden beds, also experiments. I wish you had 50 more videos on this topic. I've hit play on the old charcoal research video more times than I'd like to admit. I'll always have some charcoal local, it's invaluable. We'll be making a mountain of it over Thanksgiving, if you see smoke signals coming from South Georgia, it wasn't us. 🔥

[scottnyc]

This is the key to permaculture.I watched The Need To Grow after The Oppenheimer Ranch Project channel linked it in one of the daily videos.It stressed biochar being critical to create the optimal growing environment.Just subscribed to your channel.Thanks for shedding light on this rarely spoken about topic.

[PhotographyByMMEckel]

Followed from Survival Gardener Dave Good

[ccccclark]

I'm a new subscriber.
David the Good sent me. 😁
I stay, cuz I like your video.
👍✝️🙏❤️

[TheGrandPooBahe]

Great video! I always appreciate the down to earth perspective you bring to these topics. 👍

[wtfrankian]

This winter I'll be making some char pits and trenches during the burn season. Loads of cut trees for burning around the house site. We're going to reinvigorate an orchard hill thanks to your videos!

[jroberts]

David the Good sent me during biochar..Hello & Cheers!

[jesuslovesyou]

Survival Gardening sent me 2 U thankU now I don't have 2buy activated charcoal for medicinal reasons

[King_Alfred_of_Wessex]

At like 3:20 in this video you talk about how what we call "charcoal" may have been called "cinders" in the past. As somebody who teaches classical English literature, I can confirm that that is true. There are references to cinders in literature ranging from the 17th century to the 19th century, and in every case the word refers to the the black crumbly stuff left over from burning wood.

[davidpritchett]

Personally I add ground charcoal to my soaked chicken feed at a handful per 2-3 quart of layer pellets and I mix it with the mineral supplements for my sheep about 25% char. I suspect the char that goes through the sheep is heavily bacterially inoculated. With the chickens the poop is solid black, no white, and it straight up doesn't stink.

[XoroksComment]

After watching your previous videos on biochar I decided to make a potting mix for my loquats (around 10 plants) this spring with 20% biochar.

I also thought that especially in pot culture, biochar might provide a lot of benefits. It could:
* Hold onto and store nutrients long-term in an environment where you continously have to supply nutrients to compensate for the limited amount of growing media
* Reduce fertilizer burn/salt buildup, due to the charcoal acting as a buffer and taking up excessive minerals
* Improve the structure and aeration of the potting mix in the same way that perlite does
* Store water without suffocating roots
* Provide a safe haven for microbes and fungi in an otherwise harsh/unnatural habitat (pots can dry out more thoroughly, potting mix is soilless)

I charged the biochar beforehand by soaking it in liquid fertilizer and horsetail extract, crushed it and then sieved it to get a size similar to perlite granules. The pieces that were too large were crushed and sieved again.

The plants have responded very well. They grew vigorously, have large leaves and the mix seems to hold onto moisture for long periods of time without being overly wet. Definitely an improvement compared to the same mix without biochar, at the very least for the aeration/structure benefits 👍🏼

[stantheman]

Excellent overview. I especially liked the description of fire and the vivid picture of the biochar purists fighting it out in a locked room. Very funny. Sensible ways to experiment and furthering the knowledge is always welcomed. We have been experimenting with biochar for a few years now and it seems to help, but our sample size is too small to make any firm conclusions. We do look forward to burn days though since it means more ash and charcoal to play with later. I have a Meyer lemon tree I have been nursing for about 7 years that is about ready to re-pot as a bonsai. I am planning to use a small amount of charcoal to try to hold nutrients in the very small amount of soil used in bonsai pots. We'll see how it does.

[jackminh]

Anything about charcoal you teach me, I listen. I saw grandparents letting ash and charcoals in wear and tear weather. And then using them for growing plants, vegetables.

[ts]

Good overview. Based on your videos I’ve been adding biochar from brush to my garden for several years. The garden has been at the same site since 1966. It produces amazing growth and seems to get better and better. I am forever grateful to you for this and more teachings and that is why I support you on Patreon.