Products

Horticultural Charcoal / BIOCHAR

"Soils with biochar additions are typically more fertile, produce more and better crops for a longer period of time." Cornell Univesity Bio Char group

Horticultural charcoal is an incredibly exciting product.

• It retains moisture and makes it available to plants
• It soaks up excess nutrients and makes them available to plants reducing nitrate run off and so makes fertiliser last much longer.
• It doesn't break down in the soil for hundreds of years. Every application improves the qualities of your soil, its not a case that its effect wears off after a couple of months.

fine chips of charcoal have a number of uses round the garden . They can be used in the bottom of pots and bottle gardens to keep the soil sweet and retain moisture . They can be spread round Hosters to keep the slugs off . I have also sold some to the National Trust at Townend to combat a disease of their Box hedge , although I'm not quite sure how it works .It can be put into socks then put in the garden pond to control excess nitrates in the water. Generally charcoal appears to be the Holy Grail of soil additives but don't take my word for it here is a link to a Cornell University website.

Cornell University bio char page

The price for horticultural chips ( less than half an inch to greater than quarter of an inch) is 75p a kilo. I have sent this by post but the postage ends up more than the charcoal.

How is it made?