International Biochar Initiative IBI Technical Bulletin #104

Biochar has been shown to be beneficial for growing crops. For farmers and gardeners, biochar provides a unique opportunity to improve soil fertility for the long term using locally available materials. Used alone, or in combinations, compost, manure, and/or synthetic fertilizers are added at certain rates every year to soils, in order to realize benefits. Application rates of these inputs can potentially be reduced when biochar is used as a soil amendment. However, biochar materials can vary widely in their characteristics and so can soils. For these reasons, we recommend that farmers and gardeners always test a new biochar material before using it in their soil.

This guide is intended for farmers and gardeners who want to conduct basic, simple tests with biochar to ensure that the material is safe to apply to their soil, and to test its effects on plant growth. By carrying out these tests, farmers and gardeners should be able to decide whether to incorporate biochar into larger areas of soil and into their own management practices. For more complex testing of biochar to generate data valid for statistically testing the significance of results, see the IBI publication, Guide to Conducting Biochar Trials, available at www.biochar-international.org/publications/IBI.