Biochar: The non-starters

Followers of SoilFixer will be aware we are passionate about producing biochar that really improves plant health and growth. However, not all biochars are equal. In this guide, we rule out some “non-starter” biochars to be aware of.

Next week we will guide you through the different biochar options to help you to achieve the very best soil improvement and enhance plant and vegetable growing results in 2019.

Biochar – the ‘non-starters’

During our time producing and testing biochar in its different forms we have built up a great deal of knowledge that we can share with our customers and it has also led us to be able to form our own opinions, these opinions may not be universally supported by the biochar industry but they do come from our first-hand experience.

For many years SoilFixer has advised against using:

• Large biochar granules (>10mm)
• Fine amorphous biochar powders

Gardeners remove stones and pebbles because they affect root growth and hinder soil aggregation and tilth, big lumps of biochar have exactly the same effect. The key benefits of biochar relate to pores and surface area – a large lump effectively blocks entry to essential microbes and root hairs. Therefore we recommend avoiding this type as it will not provide the real benefits that a finer texture can provide.

We also rule out powders and “activated carbon powders”. Powders can be tricky to work with and apply. The core issue with fine amorphous powders is that they do not have the surface area to contain the beneficial pores that make biochar so special. See image below.