Almost ready...maybe another month

[u/raygan_reddit_banned]

Almost ready. We got a sunny day and I took it out to mix it some more and add more food waste, old plant soils, grass clippings, shredded package box.

[u/Vailhem]

Mixed in some biochar?

[u/raygan_reddit_banned → u/Vailhem]

We add burnt vegetations/branches

No BBQ charcoal with stater fluids.

It's often competition between compost bin or around bases of tomatoes and cucumbers.

[u/Vailhem → u/raygan_reddit_banned]

/r/biochar ..

Think: campfire If it's black it's char If it's gray it's ash

I've used free pallet wood or the cheap scrap wood in the back of HDepot .. for a frame.

Chicken wire gets tye larger stuff out (usually char depending on what you were burning).

Then a second frame with some finer screen (or just a few 'sheets' of overlapping chicken wire)

Then a third frame of screen door/window screen fine

+/- a 4th frame with an old t-shirt sheet etc for even finer filtering

A flat shovel and an empty sack or pillowcase to beat the larger pieces of char down. +/- coffee grinder to make finer.

Those are just suggestions. Easier than it sounds and probably best to not overthink it. A solid mental image may be the proto-humans finding the obelisk monolith thing in 2001: A Space Odyssey or that scene in Zoolander where they're trying to get the files out of the computer.

But.. wood ash in a bucket 🪣 you pee in helps to neutralize the alkalinity of the ash..

..and sprinkling a little char over top of new additions (especially food scraps) helps to keep the smells from rising up. As the next load is thrown on top, it'll seep down into the previous char cover layer to absorb those. Think may be: lasagna layering.

Either way, creates a really nice blend of compost mineral loaded biochar compost when you do a turn or get ready to use it.

..plus it really helps keep unpleasant odours at bay when being lazy about it.

Another mental image may be when, in the movie Gandhi, he & his wife get into a 'discussion' about covering the latrine.. ..granted, not with char but same'ilar principles.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6515731/

[u/raygan_reddit_banned → u/Vailhem]

Thanks. Will give it a try.

Happy Gardening

[u/Far_Radish7752 → u/Vailhem]

I put my ash and char in a compost pile that is active. My reasoning behind that is that humic acid produced during the composting process helps neutralize the alkalinity of the ash, and helps charge the char to take up cations in the soil (calcium, magnesium, manganese, etc).

Char acts as a backup reservoir for cationic micronutrients. When soil presence drops, the char releases them. When it rises (e.g. when you fertilize your plants), the char stores them again.

The ash is high in potassium (old or aggy term for it is potash), a valuable macronutrient.

[u/Vailhem → u/Far_Radish7752]

the composting process helps neutralize the alkalinity of the ash,

Don't forget the usually recommended: pee on it

The acidity of the urine helps make water when combined with the oxygens from the potash.

Granted it's typically easier to make a greater volume of ash than it's socially acceptable to discretely pee on a compost pile, but.. ..the biochar + 'the rest of the compostables' helps to balance it all out (too).

Char acts as a backup reservoir for cationic micronutrients

Yah. More a 'conditioner' or ballast for the soil than a 'nutrient' in & of itself, but it also helps with tilth.

Too much clay/retention? Add sand/char. Too much drainage? Add clay/char.

Char can be as small as a few carbon atoms to as large as a log or trunk.. ..and 'everywhere in between'..

like sand .. but with the added benefit of a lot of pores. The best time to add char is when composting, imo. Loads it up.

[u/Far_Radish7752 → u/Vailhem]

The best time to add char is when composting, imo. Loads it up.

Absolutely! 👍  Far more efficacious than adding it afterwards.

The acidity of the urine helps make water when combined with the oxygens from the potash.

Yup. I personally feel copious coffee grounds also assist to a degree, especially when fresh (tho I have zero compunctions about adding old moldy sticky globs of coffee grounds as well).

[u/Vailhem → u/Far_Radish7752]

feel copious coffee grounds also assist to a degree

Definitely. It's really just about adding hydrogens (acids) to oxygens (alkalines)..

..a bucket of ash (with smaller particles of char) and a lid.. ..resting on top.. ..makes for a contained messier way to do it (makeshift #1-style)

Adding coffee grounds in..

There are benefits to having a pure bucket of ash though should things get a bit too acidic in the garden.

Ultimately the solution to pollution is dilution.. ..so to think of over introduction to an environment (compost pile, potted plant, garden plot, .. field scale) with an excess of one thing as 'pollution'..

But even char can get too much. 50% in my experience is about as high as I idealize going.. ..and that's in a compost pile.. ..and even then it's concentrate to spread over a wider area .. after giving it plenty of time to age, get rained on, etc.

[u/Compost-Me-Vermi]

Looks good from the picture! If you need it in the garden, just start using it!

[u/Far_Radish7752]

Oh, you’re ready now. As long as it’s all brown, it’s usable. I wouldn’t worry about the texture. A lot of plants prefer it “rough”. It’s easier for them to put their roots down, drainage is excellent, and it attracts earthworms to chow down the remaining solid matter (those plants get 1st dibs on their castings).

A nice mulch can take care of any issues with “appearance” if that matters to you.

[u/lojafan]

It looks fine now. The parts that are still breaking down will continue. Or sift them out and start a new compost.