Biochar is easy to make from your garden waste; but is it worth it?
Those who advocate and sell biochar in the UK claim it has miracle-like properties when used as a garden soil amender. Many in the scientific community say there is no credible UK based evidence to support these claims. With your help we would like to bring more, and hopefully definitive, real-world evidence to the debate.
It makes no sense to purchase biochar when it can easily be made at home as a by-product. This approach also provides a unique opportunity to broaden the scope of the study.
We hope to answer the follow questions:
Is it practical to make biochar at home?
Does biochar make better compost in the long term?
How much carbon dioxide can you capture making biochar?
How practical is it to use the heat released while making biochar?
Can you use biochar as an alternative to charcoal in a barbecue or stove?
There are no quick answers to some of these questions. The benefits of biochar as a soil amender, via your compost, will only be realised after several growing seasons. However, maybe the true value of making your own biochar lies elsewhere; as a source of fuel for your barbecue?
Biochar at home: useful or useless;
let’s find out.
You can, of course, buy a Tawi outdoor stove and not take part in the trial. However the trial is easy to participate in; no tedious data recording, no deadlines; we would just like some honest feedback and photos which we can evaluate. A guidance pack is provided with each Tawi Biochar Harvester. The results will be published and your name will be included as sponsor and research contributor if you give permission.
