Continuing the discussion from Welcome to the Grow Support category:
Hey, is anyone using or have tried Reds Premium Biochar Blend soil. It’s all a first for me. If so any advice.
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Idk anything about it maybe
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Sorry 
Nothing from me…
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I haven’t heard of it as i make my own soil i dont look around much sorry
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Hey @Copperhead9 I’ve been using DWC with some beneficial, hydroguard, to keep any bad microbes from attacking my root zone.
But I’ve dug a little up on the internet about this
Red’s Premium Biochar Blend is a biochar-based container media designed to embody the best traits of a living soil with the benefits of a balanced soil food web. It is a professional-grade ready-to-use soil mix that is packed with vegetation-based compost and worm castings, creating a rich environment of beneficial bacteria. The biochar and natural mineral sources in the soil provide several benefits to the soil food web while increasing water-holding capacity, decreasing bulk density, buffering pH, moderating nutrient release, and more – for decades. The soil is alive and is nested in a matrix of components that optimizes aeration, porosity, and drainage, so the soil gets the water it needs while maintaining aeration. The result is good for the soil microbes and GREAT for the plants.
Red’s Premium Biochar Blend is not intended for seed germination. It is recommended to place starts in containers full of Red’s, and water until the soil-mix is at field capacity. After a few weeks, you may need to replenish some of the nutrient stocks in the soil food web for heavy feeders. The key is to feed the soil-mix, not just the plants. Direct feeding with solutions and chemical fertilizers harms the soil organisms. It is recommended to feed the soil with nutrient-rich compost teas, which the soil microbes especially bacteria and other critters will process. This recommendation will save on unnecessary chemical costs. Over-watering can kill or thwart the optimal nutrient-cycling microbes and encourage pathogenic microbes. It is recommended to avoid over-watering and save on
Biochar is a carbon-rich material that is made from biomass through a thermochemical conversion process known as pyrolysis. It is a form of charcoal that is produced by burning organic material in a low-oxygen environment The carbon in the biomass is converted to a form that resists decay, making it a useful soil amendment. Biochar can turn organic waste into valuable products, such as gas, liquid, or solid materials. It is used as a soil amendment to improve soil fertility, water-holding capacity, and nutrient retention. Biochar is also known to sequester carbon in the soil for decades, making it a promising tool for mitigating climate change.
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Thanks @Copperhead9 id be interested in trying this soil with some clones I have for my current grow. I have a plant that looks like it has a very positive phenotype for a batch of RUNTZ that I’d like to use.
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I have not used it but I do take charred chunks of wood from our fireplace, crush it, and add to my soil mix each spring.
Also all our fireplace ash goes in the compost bin for the vegetable gardens. Meat bones go in the fireplace also.
Closest I come to biochar use.
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I use hard wood ash also from our wood burning stove but I only amend the soil with it once (twice max) during the year. It has to be hardwood ash and nothing else mixed in. We burn oak… closest to biochar I’ve used as well.
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Very new to this, three weeks in, using light 24 hrs. Would be interested in any suggestions. Thanks in advance.
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@noddykitty1 seems very knowledgeable on this subject, maybe he’ll be able to chime in if he’s available.
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Lots of people are using 24 hours for germination at very low levels. That way when they pop they have something to grow toward. That way your seeds will grow more evenly. The late poppers are getting light right away. After planting go to 18/6 for veg then when the your ready to start the flower 12/12 of course.
A lot depends on the DLI(Daily Light Integral) for your plants. The light fixture, intensity set at and distance to the canopy.
The DLI is a measure of the total amount of light that plants receive in a day. It is calculated by multiplying the PPFD (photosynthetic photon flux density) by the number of hours of light exposure. The DLI for cannabis during vegetative growth varies depending on the strain, environment, and cultivation method, but a general range is between 20 to 35 moles of light per square meter per day. This means that cannabis plants need a PPFD of about 308 to 540 micromoles of light per square meter per second for 18 hours of light, or 231 to 405 micromoles of light per square meter per second for 24 hours of light. Providing the optimal DLI for cannabis during vegetative growth can improve the plant’s health, vigor, and yield potential. However, too much or too little light can also cause problems, such as leaf burn, nutrient deficiencies, or stunted growth. Therefore, it is important to monitor and adjust the DLI according to the plant’s needs and signs. A grow light meter can help measure the DLI and PPFD of your cannabis plants and optimize your lighting system accordingly.
The DLI for cannabis during the flower stage is higher than the vegetative stage, as the plants need more light to produce buds. A general range is between 38 to 65 moles of light per square meter per day. This means that cannabis plants need a PPFD of about 879 to 1500 micromoles of light per square meter per second for 12 hours of light. Providing the optimal DLI for cannabis during the flower stage can increase the yield and quality of the buds. However, too much or too little light can also cause problems, such as bleaching, burning, or stretching. Therefore, it is important to monitor and adjust the DLI according to the plant’s needs and signs. A grow light meter can help measure the DLI and PPFD of your cannabis plants and optimize your lighting system accordingly.
If you can check your light fixture manufacturer for a PPFD Light map it should have the numbers you need to calculate at various distances to canopy with spread.
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Here’s some current information from Dr Bugbee a renowned horticultural light specialist for cannabis
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Thank you, I see it’s time to start learning. For sure.
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Yes, there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye when it comes to growing. Although the basics will get it done, the science of that can take you to the next step. For the past 40 years horticulture lighting has been based on the McCree Curve developed by Dr. Keith McCree, Texas A&M , but new observations has extended that a bit more.
I enjoy a good rabbit while if it doesn’t lead to a red herring.
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I think you’ve create the environment for it without putting the name to it.
Biochar
Potash from your fireplace/stove. Roots love Potassium.
Amino’s are good for the microbes to scarf on.
Perfect environment for a plant to grow in.
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Ha, you are going to bait me like that. I love biochar. I still believe strongly it’s the most overlooked aspect in all agriculture. I am still singing that song 
char char char:musical_score:
If you have one thing to remember about char, think about it as a nutrient battery. One that charges itself up. Second, think about it as a swanky microbe hotel.
It is only useful if you reuse your soil. Otherwise it’s a waste of char and effort.
I have a lot to say about it. I will cut and paste from the old thread:
I love to sing char char char from the hilltops to the valleys. But most people think I am crazy. Terra pretta was where I first read about it in the Amazon. By a fish collector in the 90s though, not a gardener. Ha.
Terra pretta, the original Mayan made biochar. It’s 1000-3000 years old and that soil is still to this day considered one of the best on earth. Mind you all the while sitting inside a rain soaked nutrient desert (aka Amazon basin). Every single atom of nutrients is recycled in that ecosystem. It’s the classic example of law of minimum. Anyway it will blow your mind.
Char is a complete waste of time if you don’t reuse your soil.
It is most effective in living soil. If you turn and burn the soil every run char is NOT for you practically or $$.
Char is great. It improves drainage like perlite, yet the pores (and microbes) in the char hold onto moisture. Most importantly it is a microbe sink. Like a battery. It keeps nutrients from running off by holding them in the soil. Microbes love it. It is like a swanky microbe hotel in the soil. They reside in the pore gaps close to all the nutrients. The char in your can filter is all you need if you dont have a place to burn or want to buy it. Commercial char is not the cheapest bag at the grow shop. Don’t chuck that filter carbon. It is some of the most porous char on earth. When your filter is spent all that activated charcoal makes a great biochar source. When I turn under freshly loaded up biochar, then check it in 2 weeks, the mycelium just entombs it. It’s hyphae just grow between the pores. It becomes a microbe transit hub for mycelium to catch the train. Or maybe a mycoboost hotel.
Where I am going is, long term, the char holds the nutrients: micros, macros, carbon (C0 & C02), amino & lipid chains. I find now days I worry less about weekly feed schedule routine. And more about generally loading up my char batteries in the winter. I would go into it, but that’s too long a tangent for your thread. But once things are growing I don’t adjust much unless the need arises. Sit back and watch things grow so to speak. My beds never gave me this luxury until I amended with the char. Pinch me type of difference.
I know my outdoor seasonal approach does not straight up work for an indoor set up. But I bet if one did a side by side with chared up reused super soil VS a scheduled feed no char sister clone grow off, you would roll with the char after.
Buying char depends on your point of view. It is so easy to make yourself in a wood stove or campfire. Burning wood on a hot summer day in an industrial zone for a few cups of char. Then shipping it to an amazon warehouse on a truck; then to your home. Pretty shitty way to make it. I make it with a high efficiency wood stove with pile of wood harvested within a few miles of my home. Rather than shipped. That not always practical but good if you can do it yourself. The char in your can filter is all you need if you dont have a place to burn. Campfires, pour water on the marshmallow coals. Don’t let it burn out to ash. You want the popcorn like squishy stuff. Not the harder brickets. Those hard ones will huegel down, but not real char.
Most important never put raw char on plants. You have to load it first. Otherwise it will load itself by robbing the garden of it nutrients. No joke. They’re a lot of ways, but I mix it with compost tumbler scoop, then float it in piss in a bucket. Forget about it for 2-3 weeks. Good to go. Best to add it for the soil mix. It’s not as good as a top dress. You want it homogenized like you would perlite. I would suggest 1/2 cup per gallon of media in a pot.
I have even read about towable retort ovens (pyrolysis, no oxygen present) that the syngas that is released from the wood can be captured, stored and used into tanks. Virtually zero emissions besides heat energy. The us forest service uses these regularly to char up pine beetle dead forests. The studies in Yellowstone show more moisture in the soil, more nutrients, more plant and animal species diversity after application of char. Rather than it becoming co2 and methane as it rots (thank you microbes).
Also scrap annuals crops like grass, corn, and sugarcane (usually open burns) and invasive weeds like kudzu, blackberries, j knotweed make excellent char. They can even char grassy manures.
Chemical fertilizers on crop land can be reduced. Think (trucks, sprayers, planes,) how much less co2 that would make from a renewable resource? With char batteries mixed in.
I even read here in Washington state they use it around holding lots and slaughter yards for cattle. To prevent nutrient runoff and waterway eutrophication. Char is piled up to make a nutrient sink. Then spread it on the crops when it’s loaded up. Brilliant. I also read they are mixing it into the feed to prevent methane farts from cattle at the source. No shit.
Now burning down the redwoods to make char for the pot growers is not good. But charing up scrap grass and down or dead trees just makes sense. Sorry if I got passionate about this one.
Carbon with 4 unpaired electrons can hold 4 different things at once.
Or it can hold a long lipid chain or enzyme at one of the corners. Or a co2. The beauty is if something gets used up off of the carbon, the carbon will quickly rebined to another element or polyatomic molecule. That’s why it can strip CO2 out of the air, or remediate methane emissions as your compost breaks down from the microbes. Or a cows backend. It’s kind of mind-boggling to think about. Also, the most common way that elements or nutrients get moved out of the carbon bond, is through microbes. Microbes make all the magic happen between the plant roots and the nutrients sinks such as biochar. I can’t preach enough how much I like biochar. I think it is one of the most under utilized and overlooked aspects of all gardening. Cannabis or corn.
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Char, Char, Char
Very interesting 
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I use the BaS pre-charged BioChar in my soil mixes and sometimes in teas to provide microbes and fungi. It also gives surface area to teas for the developing microheard to take hold on to.
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Ty Chief. I remembered how passionately you explained it and knew I couldn’t come close to your level of comprehension. Take care brotha.
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