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Do you think I should consider extra fertilizer this after all this rain?  Our soil is very free draining. 

I would wait until its nearer planting time and then couple of weeks before you are due to plant something, give dressing of BFB. If you do have habit of giving something when planting as well, that should do for time being and you can always apply as and if any crops should need some boost.
'general' fertilizing to compensate any winter rain losses would just fertilize and beef up any weeds that come up first in the spring.
If you have any overwintering crops...those propably would benefit some light 'dressing' once the soil warm up a little.

Quote from: Digeroo on January 30, 2013, 08:29:04
Do you think I should consider extra fertilizer this after all this rain?  Our soil is very free draining.

Hi Digeroo

Did anything come of your interest in biochar in the thread "Soil leeching of nutrients"?

I mean home or community made - not the commercial "I saw you coming" product that's more expensive than buying barbecue charcoal and mixing it with John Innes!


Cheers.

I am certainly going to wait until it stops raining so much before I do any feeding.

I did make some of my own biochar.  Then I sowed some beans and quite frankly could not see any particular difference.  Then I sowed  green manure on the whole area and the effect was quite remarkable, there was a noticable green square right in the middle where the plants were much much stronger.  So I am going to make some more and try again.   You are right the boughten stuff is very expensive, rather more than the sum of the parts.

My soil is very free draining so anything which will help to hold onto nutrients is very welcome.  I have a lot of raspberry cane waste so will soon have a burning session.

I have been reading more about biochar.  The germans are exporting it and growing veg on it in Africa.   I am concerned it is more about exporting human excremental waste than anything else. 

Quote from: Digeroo on February 13, 2013, 09:13:39
I have been reading more about biochar.  The germans are exporting it and growing veg on it in Africa.   I am concerned it is more about exporting human excremental waste than anything else.

Hi Digeroo - can you post a link about these crazy Germans?

Our daily human waste products are excellent fertilisers if composted properly - so it seems insane to incinerate something that is already so close to a perfect soil improver! Especially when there is a mountain range of waste wood and paper that could be diverted from landfill. And it doesn't need to be dried as much...

There is a bit of an argument about using fully treated human waste as it is - because some people say it contains more heavy metals than animal manure.

The only thing that is left after the char process will be char and salt - so using something you know might contain insoluble heavy metals is a no-no because the process is effectively concentrating them. 

This means that when you char you should be avoiding crops from soil that is more contaminated than your own, and also anything from the meat industry (which would be better used to make blood,fish&bone anyway).

There is definitely heavy metal buildup in animals that are at the top of the food chain - domestic animals are effectively higher up the food chain if (like pigs) they are fed on animal waste.

If you eat a lot of meat there's a corresponding buildup in your own body - there's unlikely to be  enough to damage your health but enough to damage the health of anything that eats you (one reason why apparently most americans are unfit for human consumption).


Cheers.

http://www.biochar-international.org/Closing_the_loop_in_Germany

If you read more about Palaterra you will find they mix the char with human biowaste.

Of course our human waste is good stuff.  I used to get it free from the sewage works more than 35 years ago.  But then they could not guarantee it was free from metal contamination from industrial waste in the sewage and withdrew it.   I had not used it on food crops luckily but my flowers were wonderful.   They said the withdrawl was new regulations but had no evidence of excess metal in what I had had already.  People had been using it for years.    Apart from anything they are very careful to ensure no metals end up in the river Thames.

I do not know if they still do but they used to have trout in the output from the works because they detect polution faster than chemical analsis tests.   They were keen to show the water coming out of the works was clean enough for fish.

Just found some biochar soil improver for over £12 for 250gms.   

Quote from: Digeroo on February 13, 2013, 13:22:44
Just found some biochar soil improver for over £12 for 250gms.

What are they charring - saffron??

Good grief...