Best Practices for Biochar Application for Field Crops

 

 

Know the Specifics of the Soil Amendments for Your Field Crops

Biochar is an effective soil amendment for field crops when properly prepared and applied. There are multiple types of biochar, just as there are multiple types of nitrogen fertilizer. Just as you’d carefully weigh the pros and cons of a specific fertilizer, you should also know the specifics of the biochar you intend to use to improve your soil and crop yield.

Key Points

• Different feedstocks yield biochars with different characteristics
• Southern Yellow Pine has the most consistent and valuable porosity for a soil amendment
• Crop residues and other heterogeneous feedstocks give a less consistent quality product for charging
• The organic matter used for charging biochar also has an impact on the value of the finished product as a soil amendment
• At American BioChar Company, we exclusively use Southern Yellow Pine as feedstock and freshwater-sourced plant-derived humates for charging our biochar for consistently high-quality products

The Differences Between Biochar Start with Feedstock

Porosity is one of the key components of biochar that you want to incorporate into your soil. Feedstocks that have small pores, such as manure, agricultural residues (corn stover, coconut shells, or rice hulls) produce a biochar with lower porosity 

Dense materials such as hardwoods also result in a lower porosity biochar. Softwoods, such as Southern Yellow Pine have a porosity index of 36-41 pounds per cubic foot, which results in a biochar with a high surface area and porosity.

Southern Yellow Pine is also widely available and sourced from forestry residues, making it a sustainable feedstock. When you’re looking for a soil amendment, you’re also looking for consistency. Southern Yellow Pine provides a uniform feedstock for a biochar that will meet your (and our) specifications.

At American BioChar Company we only use Southern Yellow Pine Residues from Sustainably Managed Forests. Click Here to Learn More

Before your season begins, determine your specific soil needs and how biochar can meet those needs.

Choosing the Correct Biochar for Your Field Situations

Wood biochar has been scientifically proven to offer the most benefits for improving soil structure. Southern pine has great porosity as well as being naturally high in carbon content. As with any soil amendment, proximity to your fields is a consideration for sourcing your biochar. If you live in Southeast Asia or Africa rice hulls may be the predominant source of feedstock for biochar. These will benefit your soil, but you need to keep in mind the limitations of a low-porosity feedstock. They have a low bulk density, high silica content, the potential for dust and airborne particles, variable quality, and a higher ash content.

But these downfalls are far less than synthetic fertilizers. and don’t contribute to soil degradation. The pyrolysis conditions, such as temperature and duration, require careful control for consistent results. The questions to ask your biochar supplier should always include the feedstock source and processing and charging medium.

These questions should be asked about any soil amendments you’re using synthetic, natural, biochar, or biologicals. There is enough risk in agriculture without adding unknowns from chemical plant contamination, poorly prepared natural soil amendments, or inconsistent and unknown sourcing.

In the United States, biochar is derived from multiple sources. Woody biomass is one of the main sources, and one on which most biochar research is based. But “woody biomass” is a generic term for branches, sawdust, wood chips, tree limbs, and other forest residues.

Crop residues like corn stalks, wheat straw, and rice hulls are popular feedstocks. These are by-products of farming that would otherwise go to waste. They have low porosity and are heterogeneous, corn stalks, wheat straw, and other agricultural byproducts are often pyrolyzed together. This leads to an inconsistent end biochar product.

Feedstocks that are considered wet are gaining popularity for biochar production because they are contributing to a value-added product from an otherwise problematic waste stream. Animal manure, particularly from cattle, poultry, and swine, is used to produce nutrient-rich biochar. Yard trimmings, leaves, and grass clippings collected from urban areas are another source of biochar feedstock. Materials like paper mill sludge or food processing waste can also be converted into biochar.

Converting any of these products is a benefit to creating circularity and decreasing waste but ask lots of questions before using these products on your fields. Careful treatment and handling are required to ensure safety, environmental compliance, and a consistent biochar product.

Biochar, by itself, is not a fertilizer, but creates a natural environment for beneficial microbes, including fungi that displace pathogens. Those microbes aid in nutrient management for higher crop yield, for free

Pre-Treating, or Charging Your Biochar for Optimum Field Crops

Charging biochar involves infusing it with nutrients and beneficial microbes to enhance its effectiveness as a soil amendment. The consistency of the finished biochar product depends on the charging method and the feedstock used. By consistency, we mean the repeatability of the nutrient profile results. Here’s a breakdown of how different charging options affect consistency:

1. Compost – moderate consistency. Nutrient levels can vary depending on the compost source and quality. The microbial diversity and organic matter content in compost can lead to variability in the biochar’s nutrient profile.
2. Manure – high consistency with a few caveats. Manure provides a predictable nutrient composition, especially when sourced from a single type of livestock. Proper treatment and uniform application ensure consistent results.
3. Synthetic fertilizers – very high consistency. Synthetic fertilizers offer precise rates, leading to uniform charging rates. They also lead to a charging of nutrients but a dearth of microbes so the nutrient availability is far less than with any of the natural processes for charging the biochar. One of your goals for using biochar may be to decrease dependence on synthetics.
4. Algae – moderately consistent. Algae is a rich source of nutrients, but the nutrient profile can vary considerably based on species and cultivation methods. The Processing methods and nutrient extraction techniques, especially with algae distillates, affect the final product.
5. Humic acids – high consistency. Humic acids provide stable organic compounds that enhance biochar’s nutrient-holding capacity. The variability in humic acid charged biochar comes from the different sources and concentrations of humic acid in the raw material.

At American BioChar, we use only humic acid sourced from freshwater -sourced, plant-derived Humate for both humic acid (an organic surfactant) and fulvic acid ( a natural chelator). We spent countless hours testing many types of charging agents for BioChar, and the Humate available from Activ80-AG delivers a consistent biochar blend product for our clients.

Click here: see how our products are formulated and how they would benefit your farm

As with all soil amendments, our biochar products, including VITAL Blend, must follow the 4 Rs for success.

What are the 4Rs for Success with Soil Amendments?

These include the right time, right rate, right product (source), and right place.

Right source – use the correct biochar blend product that matches both your crop and soil needs. 

Right rate – Apply the appropriate amount to meet crop requirements without excess. Too much of a biochar product can have the same effect as too much of any product, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium, resulting in stunted growth and lowered yield

Right time – Ensure nutrients are available when crops need them most. This is easier with our biochar blend because the biochar holds nutrients in the pores until a plant sends signals to the microbial community that it needs them, avoiding leaching. The addition of biochar to your soil, either on the surface or incorporated into the soil, minimizes losses to the environment of all nutrients.

Right place – position your biochar soil amendment where crops can access it effectively. We offer a liquid and a granular formulation of our VITAL Blend biochar blend so at the beginning of the growing season, when planting, you can side dress crop rows for nutrient availability after seeds have sprouted.

Adding VITAL Blend at planting, in granular form, allows the microbial communities developing in the humic and fulvic acids to continue to colonize your soil. As the beneficial microbial community becomes stronger, there is less real estate available for pathogenic microbes. The more beneficials you have in your soil the less you will need pesticides or fungicides. The symbiotic relationships formed by 80-90% of plants with mycorrhizal fungi and other microorganisms play a critical role in nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition, and disease suppression.

 

Every farm, and every field, is unique so soil tests are critical to determine nutrient levels and the microbial populations already present in your soil. If you’ve been using tillage for many years your fields will be bacterial dominant. Your goal is to improve the fungi/bacteria ratio. For that you need a hospitable environment, and the microscopic pores in biochar create a microbe condo. The more diverse your microbial populations the less real estate is available for pathogens.

Determine Field Crops Application Goals and Rates

The application rates depend on many factors: the health of your soil, the crop you intend to raise, your soil’s water retention ability, and the cation exchange capacity. And that doesn’t even include the fastballs mother nature can throw your way.

Your application goals will help determine application rates. And every farm is unique, so the goals and rates are unique. Some common goals you may have, as a farmer, could be:

• To improve soil health, and to accomplish this, you want to
  • increase organic matter content and enhance soil structure
  • promote beneficial microbial activity for a thriving soil ecosystem
•  Enhance water retention for all soil types
  • reduce water loss in sandy or arid soils by improving water-holding capacity
  • optimize irrigation efficiency to save water and reduce costs
  • increase water infiltration rates in clay soils for even germination and farming ability
• Boost crop yields – this is almost universal in agriculture and to achieve this you have to
  • provide a nutrient-dense environment for plant growth
  • stabilize nutrients in the soil, reducing leaching and increasing nutrient availability
• Carbon sequestration – both for long-term soil health benefits and often as a secondary revenue stream
  • lock carbon into the soil to offset greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere on the farm
  • contribute to long-term carbon storage as part of sustainable farming practices
• Reduce your dependence on chemical inputs – this saves you money, time, and improves soil health
  • minimize the use of synthetic fertilizers by improving nutrient cycling
  • lower reliance on pesticides by fostering healthier plants
• Climate change mitigation – even if you’re wondering how your farm can have an impact
  • improve soil resilience to temperature fluctuations and extreme weather conditions
  • create a buffer against drought by enhancing moisture retention
• Mitigate soil erosion
  • strengthen soil aggregate stability, especially in sloping fields
  • protect topsoil from being washed away during heavy rains
• Reduce soil contamination
  • immobilize heavy metals and other contaminants, preventing their uptake by crops
  • detoxify degraded soils for safer agricultural use.

And you probably have a combination of these goals. But it’s always good to list them and prioritize them so you know what you’re aiming for. With the proper soil test, you can know which ones of these are going to be the most critical for the coming growing season, and into the future.

Click here to learn more about how VITAL Blend can help you meet these goals.

We all know that having a productive year means a lot of monitoring and adjusting.

Walking your Fields, Monitoring, and Adjusting Inputs

Observing crop performance and soil tests over time leads to a highly profitable farm – in the short term and for the long haul. Adjust your biochar blend application rates based on results and ongoing soil tests. Our Humate gives microbes and your crops immediate nutrients while the biochar serves as a long-term carbon source.

Having both active (labile) carbon and inactive (stable) carbon leads to soil fertility for rapid nutrient cycling. The active carbon (the humates) also improves soil aggregation and water infiltration for a quick response to management, improved root growth, and strong aboveground plant growth.

The inactive (stable) carbon supplied by the biochar provides an inviting habitat for the microbes that fuel the nutrient cycle in the soil. The presence of that stable carbon fosters a diverse microbial ecosystem which is essential for nutrient cycling and soil health. 

Biochar and humates are an amazing combination for soil and plant health. Find out how our VIATAL Blend and other products can kick start your soil health for long-terms gains and profits the very first year converting from synthetics.