pjkfarm

So what happened with this thread? Two Questions: the difference between biochar and activated was described, but not biochar and charcoal (conflicting notes as one line said they were the same, another suggested there were differences). We have large quantities of charcoal left over from disposal of land clearing debris - often thought of the bio-char in the Amazon and the stories about the wonders it did down there.
BUT have no idea as to how much to use of it or what best to mix it with. Our native soils are heavy clay. As we have access to unlimited (500,000 tons) amounts of very aged (over ten years) compost (The largest compost facility in the US), we can "make" whatever we want. We use maybe 2000 tons of this compost a year. we also have access to almost unlimited amounts of aged street sand (sand swept up from streets and then allowed to sit for more than a year, generally three or four, in shallow beds 3 feet deep to "rinse" it should there be anything detrimental in it. We use maybe 200 tons a year of it and plants seem to love it - do not use on vegetable or any edible crops as fear there may be lead contamination (tests do not show it, but as it comes from all over, we do not test every batch due to cost - rather use it on plants where it does not matter.).