Charcoal and Biochar Production

Bags of our quality lump wood charcoal are currently available to buy from Les’s Butcher’s shop in Llangadog and Mathews Butchers in Llandovery

Introducing the Dartmoor Dragon, the retort kiln that we use to produce our charcoal.

Traditional charcoal burning in an earth clamp or ring kiln produces large amounts of pollution to turn a relatively small proportion of the wood used into charcoal.

The retort kiln however, recirculates the harmful gasses that occur, burning them within the kiln. The heat of this burning then fuels the process. This means that much less wood is burned to produce the charcoal and the amount of greenhouse gasses released to the atmosphere is reduced by 75%-90%!

This also produces a purer charcoal that is typically over 80% carbon, which is easy to light and burns cleanly with very little smoke so your food isn’t tainted by chemical smells.

How it Works

Wood is loaded into a steel drum
A fire is laid in the base of the kiln
The steel drum is placed in the kiln and the gasses from the wood are burned off
The kiln chugs away between 500 and 700 degrees centigrade releasing very little smoke
Once removed and allowed to cool we have our crop of quality lump wood charcoal

Biochar Soil Improver

Biochar is essentially a form of charcoal designed for use in soil to sequester carbon, improve soil health, and enhance plant growth.  It is made up of smaller sized particles, less than 10mm, usually produced from smaller biomass such as woodchip, bark, small branches, and the filtered out finings from our BBQ charcoal.

Before adding biochar to your soil it needs to be activated

Biochar is like a sponge – it wants to absorb water and nutrients. Once full, microbes will associate with the biochar and begin working to transfer nutrients to the roots.

Plain biochar added to soil will take up nutrients and water until it is full, competing with your plants for a few months before helping them!

How to activate your Biochar

  1. Soak the biochar in a dilute solution of liquid fertiliser for 1-3 days before use.
  2. Mix the biochar with ready-made compost – leave it to stand for 6-12 weeks.
  3. Add the biochar direct to soil, leave it at least 3, preferably six months before planting.
  4. Add the biochar with your green waste (garden and kitchen) and compost for 3-18 months – use your homemade biochar compost all around your garden.

Application rates – studies show benefits can be gained from adding as little as 1% to as much as 30%, but there are many variables such as the health and condition of your soil to begin with and your goals. Healthy soil requires less of a boost whereas poor soil can take more, however you can add too much!

For general use 5% -10% is plenty (10% = 1 part biochar to 9 parts soil/compost)

HEALTHY SOIL

Biochar improves soil structure and aeration, helps to retain water, attracts plant nutrients preventing leaching, and encourages the growth of beneficial soil microbes that cycle nutrients making them available for plants.

HEALTHY PLANTS

Biochar helps plants to be more drought resistant, provides long term availability of nutrients, helping plants to grow stronger roots, be more resistant and produce higher yields.

HEALTHY PLANET

Adding Biochar to your soil locks carbon away and helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Biochar’s ability to retain nutrients means you need to use less fertiliser, good for the planet and for your pocket.