Have you played around with char? Then run sisters clones side by side w and without? I have found since adding char I no longer have to feed during the grow season. The feeding and nutrient loading done during the winter fallow seems to be enough these days. Tomatoes, to apples, to ganja, to corn.
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I have not gone down that route yet. We are starting to move away from pots this year on the outdoor cannabis plants and doing in ground mounds. We will be trying lots of new inputs and doing a few side by sides of different sorts.
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Don’t charge it
Bio-Charge it
It makes sense to me
Haven’t ran any side by sides but it speaks to me
Just pre charge it first
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Awesome thanks for your reply 
Pretty much what i do just not on such a big scale.
I moved away from perlite and use pumice instead just seems more natural to me
And a bit like bio char its got all those cavities goodies can set up camp.
There are a few of your additions ive not seen
Green sand? Feather flower i take thats ground up feathers
Do you use warm castings or is that part of your 1:1:1 base.
Im in new zealand and found a great organic local sourced products that im really pleased with.
Cheers 
Have fun good luck with the mounds
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Char does a lot more than just have pores and microbe real estate. If you all ready know this then I apologize up front. It’s like saying an airplane rolls nicely on the runway, and forgetting to mention it can fly.
Carbon (char) is unique in the fact that can bond with all 4 of its unpaired electrons. So it is able to chemically bond to nutrients and hold them in the soil. It hates having open electrons (reactive) so it will even pull co2 out of the air. Water cannot leach nutrients away from char. The only thing that removes nutrients from char is microbes or heat reactions (burn). So char is uniquely set up to be complimentary in living soil with all the microbes. Or the actual soul of living soil. Maybe a bit dramatic, but think of it like a big giant battery charged with nutrients. The reason it reduces the need for fertilizers and inputs is that the char keeps it there for centuries. It is stable for hundreds of years just pumping up plants and holding nutrients in the soil with no leaching. I think char is the most underutilized ammentdment in all of agriculture corn or canna since it reduces or eliminates the need for all fertilizers. Check out Amazonian terra pretta if you want to see about the longevity of char. Did I mention I love char?
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Yes yes sorry not to mention that part about bio char
The equivalent to a plane being able to fly.
I do use activated bio char as well.
Once i got past the oh oh im in trouble
I didnt mention the plane could fly good read
And im remined of the importance of bio char
Thank you
Yes it came across as your very passionate about bio char @noddykitty1 lol
Cheers
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Me too
As I’ve learned about it awhile back one thing I’m unsure about is what % to use when mixing up soil. I’ve been using about 5% or so but am thinking maybe closer to 10% in my future mixes.
What are your thoughts on the amount of charged bio char to add?
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So while on the subject of bio-char what is too much? Is there any downside of too much? Just curious because a buddie of mine says he used 250lbs of bio-char in his 240 sq/ft garden 
. I’m not doubting him just curious what your thoughts are. If you’re reading this thats you.
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That’s a large area and the bio char will last longer than a lifetime.
Like everything to much of a good thing can be less than optimal but don’t know what that threshold is.
As of now I’ve went through 2 1/2 bags 25lbs each bag but that weight was before charging it as that will add moisture and weight just for my indoor pots. I have about 1/2 a bag left that is charged for future use.
Doesn’t seem excessive to me especially since it’s outside in the soil and not in a container. I just read the Wakefield biochar info and they recommend 10% in the potting mix…I guess I forget that little detail lol.
Per their recommendations he hit the numbers right
Pretty positive the bags are not pre charged and are just the raw char.
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About 10% by volume is the most. Most people aim for 5% char by volume because it’s not cheap unless you make it yourself.
I do not think going over 10% would be detrimental, but it would have diminishing returns.
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Hella nice farm you got there!
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I use the Build a Soil charged biochar. They recommend 2-5% of soil volume.
A couple of years ago I got heavy handed with it and added 1 gallon of charged biochar to 6 gallons of soil. My plant struggled and suffered. I checked and the soil ph was close to 8 and my soil retained way too much water. That soil went to my compost pile.
Now I stick to 2% in the mix without problems.
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Thanks Jewles on your recommendations and experience using various amounts.
Hey @CannaPhoenix thought you might enjoy this thread as it sounds like it’s also your style of growing.
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Thanks for all the input guys I appreciate it!
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I have been playing around w char for about 15 years now and my experience has been using it outdoor mostly in beds. When I do put plants in pots, I reuse the soil. It is dumped back outdoor ontop of my beds to let my winter compost break down in it again. Then in the spring I refill all my pots with the over wintered bed soil that has had worms and compost and rain mixed with it all winter. I have never had a ph problem. But I do make my own char in my own retort oven, and in the winter by damping down my wood stove. And I never use the calcium chloride or calcium hydroxide method to activate the carbon prior to loading the char.
What I mean is, the recommend lab way to load char is to first open its pores by dousing it in calcium chloride or calcium hydroxide. Both are very alkaline and the alkaline reaction activates all the deep pores into “activated carbon”. This is how it is “activated” for aquarium carbon or for our can filters with no more steps besides drying. Not plant ready yet.
It is then added to nutrient solution to preload the char just like home. Every pore of the char is active this way to uptake nutrients and less time is needed to load it. The only down side is it tends to run alkaline for the next few months until it has had some ion exchange. I have found this to be true of any preloaded char I have tried, which is just a few admittingly. And not build a soil’s. The advantage of “activating it” first (sellers point of view) is that every pore is loaded w nutrients and in just a few days. At home our longer soak in a nutrient loading solution makes up for it with more time. As in not needing the alkaline soak to open all the pores. @GreenJewels, I wonder if your ph problem was from residual alkalinity from activating the carbon in a lab setting? I never would have thought about moisture retention being a problem so thank you for that input.
I pot up and sell 50-100 Frankenstein fruit trees every spring so I use up much of my amended soil and have to make more. I don’t think I have ever gotten above 10% volume myself. But in the future I will be careful to not exceed it. Most independent studies running controlled beds found 10% to be the sweet spot. The ones by the us forest service in Yellowstone park are quite enlightening. They are charring up a lot of the pine beetle killed trees there. But I do know a lot of organic permaculture sites do hedge down towards 5%.
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Was reading on BAS site they are using pine beetle kill trees too when making their char.
Thanks for the info
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Yes, thanks for all the info, very much appreciated. The only char I’ve introduced outside is what made it to the compost.
Very cool! That would be a wonderful in the food garden. I’m trying to be more self reliant for my produce so I’m putting in more fruit trees and bushes in this year. I love the thoight of a Frankenstein fruit tree.
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@GreenJewels, If you ever want some scions I have lots of hard to find cuts. Pluerry, pluots, plums, red apples, the best crabs, Asian pear, pear, pineapple guava (feijoa), jujube, persimmons. Do you graft? I can send you an extensive list. We can PM on the fruit forum.
Fruit growers Trading rare cuts are just like the cannabis growers trading clone only cuts. The parallels crack me up because most fruit growers (farmers w acerage for a living) seem to hate cannabis. I get flagged every time I bring it up on the fruit growing forum. Some crazy refer madness stuff. I have to let it go there. ILGM lets me get out my inner Cana beast. Ha
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Throwing a flag on the above lol 
Keep the fruit outta here
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I’ll have to check out the fruit forum. I love all fruit. I’m in zone 5b in Ohio so cold hardy is essential. We have plenty of chill hours for grapes, apples, blueberries, etc. Thanks for the info.
I have not grafted yet, just read up a lot on it. I usually just layer clone my trees for friends and family. I wont mention my canna growing to the fruit forum, thanks for the heads up there. I didn’t realize that. I’m not on other forums. This was my first forum. I’m more of a hermit than a social butterfly 
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