Hey Don as always your spreading that organic knowledge! Love it man! Was hoping you could talk a little about making bio char, I've never done it, but im really interested. Also, would you mind maybe discussing your practices for re-amending your soil after a season .
Gracias as always!!
Yo MK whats good, hope you been well, man!
There are many ways to make biochar.. you're on some good shite there, very nice to see and hear that..
one of the cheapest simply is out of trenches in the ground.. or doing big piles in the bush after a rain..
then there are the cone drums with 62.5* angled sides, barrel / double barrel retorts, barrel retorts with unground chimneys, kontiki's, and from there you get into semi- professional set ups, some of which I went over in the little thread called Dons' Dirt.. but most of those are getting quite industrial in size, requiring permits and government clearance.. so if you look through those methods, and pick one that suits a brotha, or tell me what amount of biomass you have or are after, then I can more accurately help you out.
I also can you in touch with bio char CEO's in your region if you tell me where you are, via PM or what not, and we can see how much tonnes are in your area, I dont mind doing that at all..
I love learning the markets further and sharpening the saw..
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As for re-amending, it depends..
like for one, on the size of the bed, its age since inception, strain types being grown, IBL sativas hybrid kushes etc.. as well as the original recipe (and time) since the last re-amending.. as well as what is being re-amended, be it meal, mineral, or EM food..
but that said, let me say this:
IN GENERAL..
for me, if I run a mix at 2% kelp, 1% neem, in a pot bigger than 15-20 gal, and so on and so forth, I usually can pull off a water only grow, maybe an odd coco or aloe water but thats it, aside from the foliar regime which only takes place from day 1 to day 14 of flower, then it ceases, then between rounds do NO AMENDING, and grow again, water only predominantly.. with probably only one topdressing / tea.
If you run a mix on the minimum Side of things, you probably want to re-establish the minimums, cause they aren't that strong to begin with really, in the scope of things.. for example, half a cup of meal mix A or B, per cubic foot, is only ...
less than a
half percent of total volume.
0.42 % to be exact ..
Now, I'm nowhere near my final recipe, this is only our fourth or 5th official year growing, but I think that both neem and kelp can be pushed past that less than half of one percent of the total volume, and also that GRD or the rock mineral recipes can be pushed past 4 Cup / cu ft. .. which is only 3.3% of the TotVol.
So to answer that question best, I would first have to know what school of thought you prescribe to mostly, as well as style, its all relative, once again!
