Variations on the Pennsylvania Biochar Kiln
PLEASE NOTE: This post is a draft. I have not yet built this kiln but I have purchased the steel and will build it this May. So, I have not tested the below drawings. Use…
Category: Horticulture Media & Soil Amendments
A Primer on Formulating Horticultural Container Media from Sustainable Substrates
Dr. Richard Freeman This primer introduces the audience to a framework for understanding and formulating horticultural container media (HCM) from sustainable substrates. The intended audience includes horticulturists, orchardists and farmers who are interested in sustainable…
A Guide to Assembling a Large Container for a Biologically-Intensive, High-Production, Sun-Grown Horticulture
Dr. Richard Freeman This guide provides step-by-stem instructions for setting up a 10-gallon grow bag using a zonal system (layers and spikes) for producing a high production plant such as Cannabis sativa (marijuana) or Solanum…
A Guide to Making Fertigation Solutions for a Biologically-Intense Container Horticulture
Dr. Richard Freeman This guide provides instructions for creating fertigation solutions that target any pH level and nutrient demand based on easy to replicate fermentation processes the requires little equipment. The intended audience includes urban…
A Guide to Formulating a Biologically-Intensive Horticultural Container Media from Sustainable Substrates
Dr. Richard Freeman This guide provides instructions to formulate a high-production, biologically-intensive horticultural container media using sustainable resources. The intended audience includes urban horticultural operations seeking to maximize production of sun-grown crops in limited space…
Instructions for Building a Sub-Irrigated Raised Bed
Philip Small, Soil Scientist, CPSS These brief instructions provide a basic description of a sub-irrigated raised bed based on a design demonstrated to work on the author’s site which has prolific sucker sprouting from hard…
Biocharring using a kontiki biochar kiln, rick (stacked) style — a pictorial
Dr. Richard Freeman
Using a top-lit updraft “conservation burn” to transform old forest residue (pine slash) into biochar in the wildland-urban interface – Pictorial
Dr. Richard Freeman The biochar process demonstrated with these photos yielded about 6 cubic feet of good quality char. The wood came from an old forest slash pile near a residential site in the wildland-urban…
Blending High-Performance Horticulture Media with Renewable Substrates
Richard Freeman, Designed Ecosystems For high-performance horticulture, I prefer to replace the standard peat-lite (various combinations of peatmoss and perlite) with an aerated blend of aggregates and fibers made from renewable resources. This blend is…
The “Conservation” burn: An easy way to transform slash to biochar using the top-lit up-draft approach
Richard Freeman, Designed Ecosystems This charring technique is a relatively easy and quick way to char a large amount of forest residue wood, also known as “slash.” It combines roughly sorting the wood by diameter,…