Make biochar in your home garden
Biochar has many benefits for your compost. To make it yourself in your own garden, several steps are required. Gather branches and pieces of wood, cut the wood to the right size and thickness, char it, and pulverize it. Below, we will give you all the necessary information to best prepare for the self-production of biochar.
Preparation
The wooden feedstock can come from cutting trees, branches, and other wood scraps from your regular garden. A good length of the source material is about 20 to 30 cm and a thickness of 2 to 4 cm. Depending on the material you have available; you will need to use a saw and a axe as shown in the pictures. After the material is the right size, you should keep it in a place to dry. If necessary, use a cover to protect it from rain. This can be plastic sheeting, a dense bush, or other protection.
Dry wood pieces are usually light. The more water your material contains, the heavier it is. You can tell that your material is drying when it cracks, after only a few months. When your material is freshly cut and still moist, it contains a lot of water. It is better to use dried material to produce high quality biochar.
Where you can get good raw material to produce their own biochar:
- Wood pieces such as branches from shrubs and trees from your own backyard.
- In some communities, you can get a permit to collect wood scraps from your local forest. Ask your municipality about such a possibility.
- Some communities collect yard waste and tree trimmings at central locations - these can be reliable sources to collect your source material.
- You can also ask your neighbors or gardeners in your area to collect their woody yard waste if they do not know what to do with it or burn it.