SA Biochar Works by Greg Marlu in Macclesfield, South Australia | Gardener

SA Biochar Works by Greg Marlu

Locality: Macclesfield, South Australia

Phone: +61 407 610 294

Address: 104B Cosgrove Road 5153 Macclesfield, SA, Australia

Website: http://www.sabiocharworks.com.au

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• Home improvement
• Gardener

24.01.2022 I've written previously about being despondent at the lack of interest in biochar. Recently I've come to a new position; instead of stockpiling for customers every kiln load I make goes straight to MY garden. Hahaha. Watch with envy. Quenching always produces a lot of steam.

23.01.2022 Showing off my fancy new sign at the recent ABC Gardener's Market in Adelaide.

22.01.2022 FB keeps prompting me to do another post incase people forget who I am so here goes. I will do an update on my citrus trees in pots, one at a time. The navel that surprised me with so many flowers set two fruit which I sadly, accidentally knocked off. However, it went into a phase of new growth and is currently looking fantastic. I have fed everything with composted chicken manure twice and they have responded well.

20.01.2022 I had an avocado seedling appear in one of my raised beds so I transplanted it to a better spot. An article on International Biochar Initiative website tells of trials with biochar and avocado trees bringing great results so I decided to give this little tree the best I could. A full wheelbarrow of char went in to the circle I dug around the tree. Tree certainly looks happy at the moment.

19.01.2022 Sooo long since I posted anything... Built a new raised bed recently. This one I decided to go for 35% biochar. The previous two were 50% and 25% and though both are doing well it looked to me half way between would be getting close to the perfect ratio; enough soil for the water to spread out, enough biochar for the water to penetrate easily. I did layers of soil, biochar and compost, with a sprinkling of rock dust to add trace elements and nutrients. Topped it off with a little potting mix and in go the seedlings, in this case beetroot.

18.01.2022 Been firing drum kilns every chance I get before things get wet enough to make it hard. The change of colour on the side of the drum shows where the flame has reached.

18.01.2022 I'm feeling a bit despondent. Biochar has the potential to tackle two of mankind's issues, CO2 and food production and yet so few are interested. It is expensive, reflecting the effort it takes to make, but even so..... Add to that I think my website has been hacked. I can't access it at all. Just as well I still enjoy the challenge of firing a kiln into the night.

14.01.2022 I fired the last of the woodchip today. What could have been a difficult kiln with moisture actually went OK. So relieved. The last batch of char had some non burnt stuff in it. Far from being a disaster, that lot goes straight into the wheelbarrow and up to my garden. Any excuse.

10.01.2022 My latest experiment has really blown me away so far. I had three citrus trees in the garden that weren't doing well; totally the wrong place for them, so I decided to put them in big pots. Following on from the redgum seedling that did so well with a tiny biochar-rich root ball, I went for 65% biochar and 35% compost, soil and rock dust. That's two-thirds charcoal. Citrus don't like their roots disturbed so I expected a long period of 'settle in', but they went crazy. Within months, as spring hit the two youngest trees were covered in flowers. I also put a finger lime and persimmon in pots and the finger lime flowered profusely too. I'll need to feed everything regularly, and I have no idea how they will handle ten years or more in the pot, but so far I am amazed at how well everything is doing.

10.01.2022 Soo long since I posted anything... Its autumn change over time in the vegie garden so I did the rounds with the camera. Beetroot doing amazingly well, beens and self sown lettuce seedlings, new bed of garlic just in, compost made to clean the place up, drum of comfry liquid fertilizer, general garden shot, strawberry guava, and giant silverbeet with asparagus fern behind. Needless to say nearly everything incorporates biochar. Raised beds vary in %; from about 10% to about 50%. All doing well.

08.01.2022 I was bagging up biochar for the upcoming ABC Gardener's Market and realized it was a prime opportunity to put stuff on FB. Its been so long; I'm really not a media person, but here it is anyway. My new bag jig beside the biochar stock-pile, and the fruits of my labour.

02.01.2022 The same seedlings nearly four weeks later.