Inoculated Terra Preta BioChar
"Biochar" is a modern term describing an ancient fertile soil product used extensively by many cultures throughout the Americas. It was part of an "anthrosol" (the making of man-made soil) called "Terra Preta" and it starts by making TRUE charcoal through a thermal decomposition process called "pyrolysis" which stabilizes carbon and makes it highly resistant to further breakdown in the soil. By contrast, ashes and other by-products of fire are readily absorbed and can deplete the soil, but biochar will remain for many millennia.
Why is this important? Carbon has an astounding capacity to sequester nutrients (as well as toxins) plus microbial life. Charcoal acts as a sponge that can absorb a staggering amount of minerals, moisture and microbes. It acts as a catalytic reservoir that nurtures microscopic biological life. Much like our appendix, this microbial “bank” can continuously resupply the life in the soil that is so essential for the roots of all healthy plants. These mycorrhizal (fungal) and bacterial species are the vital link needed to transform nutrients (as well as moisture) from the soil to plant roots. These microbes are what plants use to feed themselves. In sterile soil with little or no microbes, the plants (like a person on IV life support) can only absorb inorganic minerals freely chelated into water and can't regulate how much or little they absorb.
Plain charcoal added to the soil, however, acts as a sponge that can absorb all the nutrients as well as microbes and moisture until it is fully saturated. This process can take up to 2 years or more. Your soil can be initially worse off during this period of "inoculation" since the charcoal can only grab what is available. Most products on the market labeled "Biochar" are largely agricultural “waste” products packaged as plain charcoal. If TRUE charcoal is charged AHEAD of time, however, with a balance of all 80+ minerals as well as a complete spectrum of healthy microbes (micronutrients needed to build a diverse and useful population friendly to plant roots), it can go to work immediately to sustain healthy soil life. However, this microbial population must be an AEROBIC, or an oxygen-loving species. ANAEROBIC species, by contrast, are largely disease-causing and serve to break down matter. (If charcoal is soaked in a solution, for example, you are building anaerobic populations.)
We use a special two-chamber furnace (designed to burn the off-gasses it produces) to create our charcoal by burning the tops of trees we are harvesting for logs to grow our mushrooms on, carefully selected from land that has not been exposed to toxic waste runoff. Then we build our Inoculated Terra Preta BioChar using the BEST broad-spectrum natural minerals, fulvic acid, sustainably sourced high calcium manure and organic compost (along with a little pure spring water). This mixture is aged under high-oxygen conditions until it has had time to sequester the nutrients necessary to build its friendly microbial "bank", which is the TRUE SECRET to soil fertility. The microbes use locked-in nutrients as perennial catalysts for their life processes plus the cation exchange does not exhaust the nutrients.
Like yeast in bread, a little of our Inoculated BioChar goes a LONG way. Carefully dig a SMALL amount (up to 10% of the surface area) into the top few inches of your soil as its microbial life continues to need oxygen to flourish. Please remember this biochar, like a good compost, is ALIVE. Keep it exposed to air (as well as very lightly moistened) until you can use it. The carbon will not break down, even if it is pulverized. It will continue to act as a fertile “bank”, producing a diverse and continuous supply of microbes necessary for nutrition, good health and robust life for your soil and plants, adding to YOUR overall health! ENJOY!
Noharmfarm@outlook.com @Bearfoot Camp in the Appalachian Mountains of Northern Georgia
"Biochar" is a modern term describing an ancient fertile soil product used extensively by many cultures throughout the Americas. It was part of an "anthrosol" (the making of man-made soil) called "Terra Preta" and it starts by making TRUE charcoal through a thermal decomposition process called "pyrolysis" which stabilizes carbon and makes it highly resistant to further breakdown in the soil. By contrast, ashes and other by-products of fire are readily absorbed and can deplete the soil, but biochar will remain for many millennia.
Why is this important? Carbon has an astounding capacity to sequester nutrients (as well as toxins) plus microbial life. Charcoal acts as a sponge that can absorb a staggering amount of minerals, moisture and microbes. It acts as a catalytic reservoir that nurtures microscopic biological life. Much like our appendix, this microbial “bank” can continuously resupply the life in the soil that is so essential for the roots of all healthy plants. These mycorrhizal (fungal) and bacterial species are the vital link needed to transform nutrients (as well as moisture) from the soil to plant roots. These microbes are what plants use to feed themselves. In sterile soil with little or no microbes, the plants (like a person on IV life support) can only absorb inorganic minerals freely chelated into water and can't regulate how much or little they absorb.
Plain charcoal added to the soil, however, acts as a sponge that can absorb all the nutrients as well as microbes and moisture until it is fully saturated. This process can take up to 2 years or more. Your soil can be initially worse off during this period of "inoculation" since the charcoal can only grab what is available. Most products on the market labeled "Biochar" are largely agricultural “waste” products packaged as plain charcoal. If TRUE charcoal is charged AHEAD of time, however, with a balance of all 80+ minerals as well as a complete spectrum of healthy microbes (micronutrients needed to build a diverse and useful population friendly to plant roots), it can go to work immediately to sustain healthy soil life. However, this microbial population must be an AEROBIC, or an oxygen-loving species. ANAEROBIC species, by contrast, are largely disease-causing and serve to break down matter. (If charcoal is soaked in a solution, for example, you are building anaerobic populations.)
We use a special two-chamber furnace (designed to burn the off-gasses it produces) to create our charcoal by burning the tops of trees we are harvesting for logs to grow our mushrooms on, carefully selected from land that has not been exposed to toxic waste runoff. Then we build our Inoculated Terra Preta BioChar using the BEST broad-spectrum natural minerals, fulvic acid, sustainably sourced high calcium manure and organic compost (along with a little pure spring water). This mixture is aged under high-oxygen conditions until it has had time to sequester the nutrients necessary to build its friendly microbial "bank", which is the TRUE SECRET to soil fertility. The microbes use locked-in nutrients as perennial catalysts for their life processes plus the cation exchange does not exhaust the nutrients.
Like yeast in bread, a little of our Inoculated BioChar goes a LONG way. Carefully dig a SMALL amount (up to 10% of the surface area) into the top few inches of your soil as its microbial life continues to need oxygen to flourish. Please remember this biochar, like a good compost, is ALIVE. Keep it exposed to air (as well as very lightly moistened) until you can use it. The carbon will not break down, even if it is pulverized. It will continue to act as a fertile “bank”, producing a diverse and continuous supply of microbes necessary for nutrition, good health and robust life for your soil and plants, adding to YOUR overall health! ENJOY!
Noharmfarm@outlook.com @Bearfoot Camp in the Appalachian Mountains of Northern Georgia
No Harm Farm
(11 sales)
Natural Fertilizer, Inoculated Terra Preta BioChar
$35.00
(Per 3 lb)Estimated delivery
Order Placed
May 13
Order Ships
May 16
Delivered
May 21
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