That is about what I did - 3-4x concentration.

There's always something I miss. But hey, I have smart friends.

Also, my yield on a little pit burn is about ten gallons of finished char, which is then thrown into the barrel to soak. I use the pond water since it has more life in it and does not have fluoride and chlorine.

It looked like a douse to a bucket to me👍 About a tad to bit, but not more than smidge over the recommendations on the label. If that sounds complicated, it is. Gardening is a precise operation that requires both delicacy and delinquency in equal amounts😁

Steve, are you saying that your biochar is getting larger during your soak time?

I like it.

I do the same! 😊 My backyard is too small and too close to neighbors lots to make full size pits. If I'd try, i would have fire department called on me in no time. But neighbors don't mind small bonfires every now and then - just for sausage grilling and potato baking. What remains after such events gets thrown on compost pile, and left for Nature to do her thing. Same with leftover charcoal after grilling season ends in the autumn.

Awesome.

That's a good idea.

I do that also and it works a treat! I have pampas grass all dried and very small sticks reserved as a finishing burn. It'll stop all the ash production and you get a little bit more char too. One big thing I do, is quench at first with at least a gallon of urine saved up. The red hot coals will kill anything bad and the nitrogen etc. as steam really dives in deep and fractures into the char. Then I douse completely and add one tablespoon Himalayan seat salt to a five gallon bucket of my quench water. Adding eggshells to the burn is good too.

I tried your trench method a couple days ago with some long brush and got about 80 gallons. Sold!

@@davidthegood Yeah, it's better if you have the right wood and enough. I've probably gotten as much as 120 gallons in a burn by pushing it close to the top.

@@davidthegood Oh, and the most interesting char crushing method Iv'e heard about lately from a viewer is running it over with a power lawnmower.

I would have to get a lawnmower to try it. I am working on getting some clay to make pottery shards to add to my soil next.

@@davidthegood Ive been meaning to intentionally make clay tabs or chunks to burn with the biochar to see what it turns out like. Try mixing with grass first, like half grass or more, or grass dipped in a clay slip, then burn. It makes this awesome porous fired clay stuff that breaks up easy and roots grow right into it. I get that with my grass and clay lime kilns.

Definitely worth a try.

I also have sandy soil, lots of sand everywhere, I bought loads of compost for the garden beds, but it costs a lot, must be refreshed every winter and it does not build up, bio char is the best solution that I could find, I am collecting my char from our barbecues because I am cheap as well :)

@@locusttreegarden1560 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta

Whew. Sometimes I am lengthy, unclear and complicated, but I'm working on it. Thank you.

Rats! I have done that too.

Excellent.

That's amazing.

If you dampen it a bit, it'll be virtually dust free.

Naked + wood chipper sounds like a bad combination

@@OwenPrescott Well yeah, if you're like me and have 27" of swinging ecstasy to get caught in it, I suppose.

Exercise is good for the soul. Or soil.

Make that two digging the trench, I will dig mine as well!

Is it even a good idea in clay? When I think of clay soil I think of pretty wet soil, and the biochar will hold even more water

You are welcome.

Perfect.

You are very welcome.

That made me laugh.

Good idea. Waste not, want not.

Did not work for us...only dug out ,pulled and burned!

That is awesome

Already nice snd small too, fantastic!

Thank you.

That's hilarious. Gonna win in 2024!

You need what comes before the ash. :)

The ashes are fine as a soil amendment, but as Kelly says, the charcoal is what you want for the benefits here.

@@davidthegood it's my understanding that wood ashes have a lot of minerals but is alkaline. If your soil is acidic, that would be fine but wouldn't be good for neutral or alkaline soil. Adding it to your compost pile will neutralize it.

I would like to.

Nope - that works just fine. MI Gardener did a good video on it early last year.

Bokashi leche juice is great for that, and you get all those beneficial microbes.

@@cowboyblacksmith I don't use it much, but mine is kept at the bottom of a barrel of Black Leaf mold.

Thank you, Vinnette.

It's TOTALLY INSANE THAT I MISSED THAT!!! Thank you.

I remember Charo! Wasn't she the "hoochie coochie" lady? 💗🙌

@@littleozarksfarmstead YES! Wasn't she awesome? I can just hear DTG saying "Hoochie coochie BioCharo!"

@@fishinghole333 LOL!!! INDEED! 😂💗

@@littleozarksfarmstead 💕

I am adding some clay too.

I found 25% best when growing tree seedlings - but then I haven't been trying to grow much else...

Thank you, Penny.

Thank you, Jolyan.

Yes - the charcoal will absorb nutrients like crazy.

Good idea, Kristy.

I just built a Kontiki style cone pit out back yesterday and fired it up today, OMG what a thing. It was virtually smokeless and a literal fire tornado swirling in there burning so well. I used the measurements from the below website to dig my pit, making the outside diameter 2-1/2" wider to accommodate lining it with red bricks, it's a beautiful pit to even look at. I did mine at 75% size which was perfect and I got 2 five gallon buckets only about 1/4 full. Here are my measurements: 3/4% kontiki 35.43" wide across at top (35-1/2") r=17-3/4" 12.375" wide at bottom (12-3/8") r=6-3/16"…. 14.625" w/brick edge 19.875" tall. (19-7/8") I simply put a rod into the ground that would be where the center will be. The cut a board 17-3/4" - the radius…1/2 the diameter…place the board touching the rod, and insert a stake at the other end and work my way around marking out the diameter. Then I dug out the middle down to approx. 20", a stick marked off makes that easy. I put a big pvc pipe in there wedged with bricks to keep the dirt from filling it in. Then I used my shovel going at and angle and working my way around the get the cone shape and it ends up the right proportions and 60°'ish angle. That pit is amazing. I lined it with red bricks stacked on top of each other, 2 bricks long ways up and 1 sideways capping them off reaches the top perfectly and I also bricked off the bottom too and "mortared" the gaps between the bricks with dirt. It's real easy to shovel the char out with no dirt and the cone shape being bricks will always maintain its angle. It was quick to make too, probably two hours or less. I started after diner and was done by Wheel of Fortune time, lol. www.acaciaanimalcare.com/assets/pdf/Kon%20Tiki%20Kilns%203%20low%20res.pdf

Totally

@@davidthegood That makes me feel a lot better. Burning up otherwise good firewood to make biochar seems wasteful at first glance. Burning anything almost feels like a guilty pleasure up here where we are still fighting forest fires. But that’s got to be some prime biochar foraging land up where we sadly lost so many trees😳

I agree. I love palm frond mulch.

I cut the leaves from the woody parts of queen and areca palms and put them in an old roasting pan, with a lid, from a thrift store. Start a small fire in my burn pit with the woody parts and put the pot on top and then cover with more of the woody parts. By the time the fire dies out the leaves are all char. It only makes about pint once it's powdered, which takes about 30 seconds with your hands, but you can do it every time you use your burn pit. I then chuck it in a bucket of canal water that I throw rotting starfruit, dead frogs from the rain barrel, non edible weeds, duck and chicken crap, and I occasionally whiz in it when working in the yard. I leave the buckets under my banana trees until the water at the top starts to clear, then I water plants with it and dump in in a bed that is being readied to plant. Cost me 2 bucks for the pan.

@@fedup2533 u know you just gave me a great idea , I have all the stems from the 13 foot long palm fronds I’m gonna and chop them up and make biochar thanks I was just gonna burn them !

Thanks, John.

Thank you, Mike.

You are welcome, Dani.

Biochar will last a lot longer than compost. It really helped in the Amazon, so it should help in Hawaii.

@@davidthegood Fantastic, thanks David!

Yes.

Works well for me

Same here tho was thinking of putting it in a big old tractor inner tube before driving on it to keep it consolidated.

Also you can pee on the char endlessly and without odor, it just sucks it up.

@Heather Wingfield Excellent idea! No clue why I didn't think of that. :D

@@Mrbfgray I’m seeing my two favorite types of channels colliding into a fascinating synchronicity! 🌿🌿🌿

Charcoal retains the carbon and creates a sponge for nutrients and soil life, providing habitat to microlife as well as a repository of minerals. Ashes are good for potassium and calcium as well as amending pH but don't have the same benefits.

@@davidthegood thank you so much. That’s very helpful and succinct.

If you wet it all and let it sit for a good while to compost down, yes.

That will work!

Thank you. And yes - I saw MI Gardener do just that. Not a bad price. Crushing is a bit of a pain with those big chunks, but it's great charcoal.

@@davidthegood I've been really interested in these self wicking buckets to conserve water or im thinking about ollas got some heirloom tomatoes kellogs breakfast yellow brandywine Kentucky beefsteak I wanna put into the ground using ollas to water trying to get 10 foot plants I plan on burying as deep as I can using the trench method