Japanese Maple Biochar Trial

[NOZZLE HEAD]

I like the deep black of Biochar as a substrate, but it has some drawbacks from a chemical standpoint.

1. Crazy high CEC
2. It emits ethylene if un-aged.
3. High pH

But do these drawbacks matter when it comes to Japanese maples?

I planted four sapling Japanese Maples I acquired from a nursery in a vacant lot next to a convenience store in 9” by 9” pots.

All fertilizer and pesticides have been the same.

No control per se. I have lots of other Japanese maples, we all know what they do.

My guess as to the difference in color is pH. I am going to treat all four trees with a balanced analysis pH lowering fertilizer today.

Left is 100% biochar. Right is 50/50 biochar and my standard 50/50 pumice/organics mix.

 

[ShadyStump]

You may have just helped solve my soil issues with my piñon pines!
Every problem you listed might just solve mine. They like high pH, and naturally grow in clay soils, but the clay here is just too dense for bonsai purposes- poor drainage. I hadn't even considered biochar or charcoal type substrates before.
Let us know how the water retention looks.

 

[Pitoon]

Japanese maples prefer slight to moderate acidic soil.

 

[Forsoothe!]

It has been my understanding that most, if not all, hort biochar has been used to whiten cane sugar, which would qualify as "aged". ? If you used it as a higher percentage of the media than is useful to the plant and/or typical soil micro-organisms present, you essentially preclude or at least limit the output of the micro-organisms products useful to plants. Ideally, it should be an additive to a balanced media wherein all components are present in useful fractions. Any excess just takes up space. No?

 

[NOZZLE HEAD]

Japanese maples prefer slight to moderate acidic soil.

Too true. I expect the pH of biochar to be closer to 8 than 7.

 

[NOZZLE HEAD]

You may have just helped solve my soil issues with my piñon pines!
Every problem you listed might just solve mine. They like high pH, and naturally grow in clay soils, but the clay here is just too dense for bonsai purposes- poor drainage. I hadn't even considered biochar or charcoal type substrates before.
Let us know how the water retention looks.

I have no idea what the nutrient requirements are for pinons, but that high CEC of biochar will tie up some nutrients initially, so that is something to look out for.

I didn’t do this trial with trees I have any emotional capital invested in, so I suggest you do the same.

 

[ShadyStump]

I have no idea what the nutrient requirements are for pinons, but that high CEC of biochar will tie up some nutrients initially, so that is something to look out for.

I didn’t do this trial with trees I have any emotional capital invested in, so I suggest you do the same.

Fair advice. Piñon pines are a semi-arid species evolved for generally poor soil conditions, so the biochar may work wonders for the makeshift soil mixes I've been putting together on my tight budget. Achieving good drainage without lowering the pH significantly has been an issue.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Fair advice. Piñon pines are a semi-arid species evolved for generally poor soil conditions, so the biochar may work wonders for the makeshift soil mixes I've been putting together on my tight budget. Achieving good drainage without lowering the pH significantly has been an issue.

I mixed crushed limestone into my bonsai mix for my longaeva pines. It seems to work well; no signs of deficiencies and a pretty stable soil pH on the higher side of the spectrum.

 

[ShadyStump]

I mixed crushed limestone into my bonsai mix for my longaeva pines. It seems to work well; no signs of deficiencies and a pretty stable soil pH on the higher side of the spectrum.

Thanks! I'll keep that one in mind too.
Though, I might just quit this conversation for a minute for fear of bogarting someone else's thread. Just needed to share my enthusiasm for the idea.

 

[NOZZLE HEAD]

I mixed crushed limestone into my bonsai mix for my longaeva pines. It seems to work well; no signs of deficiencies and a pretty stable soil pH on the higher side of the spectrum.

In the nursery industry around here it is common to add “chicken grit” 1/16” limestone to potting media to buffer the pH. The same crushed limestone gets blended into fertilizer mixes as well.

As a liming agent it had a complete reaction time longer than 20 years, so in occasionally gets used before planting a vineyard or a hazelnut orchard that has been inoculated to grow truffles.

 

[penumbra]

This last post kinda threw me because it started with biochar and acid loving maples and ended with limestone and truffles.
I am curious about the biochar but it seems the op is not using it at all as it is intended to be used. Planting in pure biochar or even a heavily amended mix does not seem appropriate.
Charcoal is used as a purifier and absorbs almost anything including nutrients your plant needs. It also provides tons of space for aerobic bacteria, and that is a good thing. Seems to me that the appropriate amont to use in a bonsai mix, or any plant mix, would be less than 10%. I even consider that high.
I would like to hear more from others using this product and how they are using it.

 

[NOZZLE HEAD]

This last post kinda threw me because it started with biochar and acid loving maples and ended with limestone and truffles.
I am curious about the biochar but it seems the op is not using it at all as it is intended to be used. Planting in pure biochar or even a heavily amended mix does not seem appropriate.
Charcoal is used as a purifier and absorbs almost anything including nutrients your plant needs. It also provides tons of space for aerobic bacteria, and that is a good thing. Seems to me that the appropriate amont to use in a bonsai mix, or any plant mix, would be less than 10%. I even consider that high.
I would like to hear more from others using this product and how they are using it.

Of course I’m not using it as it was intended. That is the point of doing a trial. I want to find out how the trees perform in this uncommon potting media.

As for the biochar “absorbing everything the plant needs” there is a limit to how many cation exchange sites there are in any soil matrix, and if all exchange sites become full of nutrients the potential is there for a really high performance substrate. I’m trying to see where the limits are, or how I can overcome them.

The product I used is wood based and was intended to be used as mix in for potting media, or garden soil amendment.

 

[penumbra]

The product I used is wood based and was intended to be used as mix in for potting media, or garden soil amendment.

I understand. I use it myself but only at about 5% and generally on my tropicals but also my orchids and my veggies and berries.
As to the rest of the post, I remember those episodes when I was in college hort classes.
Have fun.

 

[NOZZLE HEAD]

Biochar is on the left 50/50 mix is the other tree. The trees are big enough that they are starting to get in the way, so I’m chopping em low.

 

[Forsoothe!]

It seems as though posters here are testing the limits of biochar in an unscientific fashion, or at least without enough units for comparison. One of this verses one of that can't yield much real info unless one drops dead and the other doesn't, and even then you'd have to account for dozens and dozens other variables not part of the test but still affecting results a little or a lot.

The elements and compounds that are "tied-up" in biochar are not unavailable for reaction with other elements. It's bonded to a C because of the availability of lots of C. Being bonded to the C makes it available to be bonded to H & O (and any other element and/or compound) that needs to have a H or O present to form this or that stable compound containing element x(+C+O+H+C) (pick your chain). We use the term "tied-up" advisedly to indicate that said element(s) are not free to accumulate in groups in the profile and therefore interfere with the use of C as one part of a chain that the microorganisms need. It is so when there is more C available than the minimum needed, -a surplus of C. To the best of my understanding, microorganisms never use a single element alone, but always need a C, H, O, compound bonded to the x in order to use the x. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[penumbra]

I suspect you are correct, but I really can't follow this. I questioned this post when first made, but you know the scientific validity doesn't really matter unless there is a serious paper being planned or unreasonable claims being made. (and this very term is debatable) Its all for fun and to satisfy personal curiosity and discovery. I dare say many of us have used unvalidated experimentation when it comes to many facets of this hobby, like soil mixes, pruning techniques, and so forth. For some artists, such as potters, its a way of life.
I appreciate your input though I have little understanding of it. Chemistry was not my strong suite.

 

[Forsoothe!]

I suspect you are correct, but I really can't follow this. I questioned this post when first made, but you know the scientific validity doesn't really matter unless there is a serious paper being planned or unreasonable claims being made. (and this very term is debatable) Its all for fun and to satisfy personal curiosity and discovery. I dare say many of us have used unvalidated experimentation when it comes to many facets of this hobby, like soil mixes, pruning techniques, and so forth. For some artists, such as potters, its a way of life.
I appreciate your input though I have little understanding of it. Chemistry was not my strong suite.

I'm not a chemist either, and I agree that there's a lot of unvalidated work going on, but we are learning from it anyway, especially for me on B'Nut. There are some smart people here doing things on the leading edges and we can co-op their work for free. And I do. Fulvic, Humic, & Kelp are now part of my ongoing routine and I'm pleased as Punch.

Oh! And I didn't know about the high pH of biochar until I heard it here, so I can add some Ag sulfur to the mix and all is well.

 

[NOZZLE HEAD]

I could have been more rigorous. I was as rigorous as was convenient.

After a more than year in the biochar I answered the questions I wanted.
Will the trees live? Yes.
Is pure biochar a better media? No.

The biochar definitely is more expensive than pumice in the PNW, and the trees in pure biochar grew less, but with the same internode length.

Even peer reviewed research is of dubious validity until it is replicated more than once.

 

[ShadyStump]

Rereading the rest of the thread, and I remember asking at the beginning about how the biochar handles water.
What have you noticed there? Has one required more frequent watering than the other? Or fertilizing for that matter?

Seems like it should hold moisture fairly well without every actually becoming waterlogged.

 

[NOZZLE HEAD]

Rereading the rest of the thread, and I remember asking at the beginning about how the biochar handles water.
What have you noticed there? Has one required more frequent watering than the other? Or fertilizing for that matter?

Seems like it should hold moisture fairly well without every actually becoming waterlogged.

Definitely requires more fertilizer than my pumice/Organics mix, but to make things simple in my pot-n-look trial I fertilized everything the same.

I saw the water holding capacity as better than pure pumice, but less than a mix with an organic component, I water everything the same.

It’ll probably be a couple of years before I repot to see if there are any differences in root structure.