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You bring up some great points Mike. I love your deep thinking on this subject! Your theory of establishing a microbe population in the biochar prior to applying to the soil so that there isn't a nutrient deficiency makes complete sense to me. But I know I'm no biochar authority as I've never...

Those are great suggestions from Linda. For establishing trees and shrubs in a pasture, or anywhere else for that matter, it's vital that the trees be truly adapted to the climate and not just from a plant hardiness standpoint. Recently I've stumbled upon the work of Ernst Gotsch, a Brazilian...

I would say 'yes' given the results of applying the compost in liquid form. If they didn't survive, I don't see how the fungal to bacteria ratio would change.

On a different note, were you the one that's in NE CO that's been integrating silvopasture on the shortgrass prairie? I'd love to hear of your experiences in country that's high, dry, and cold. I have a keen interest in silvopasture and would love to see it integrated here on the Snake River...

That makes total sense about charging the biochar with compost. After all, biochar is pretty much just pure carbon which doesn't inherently have any nutrients in it. But it has a tremendous surface area for carrying other things like nutrients and microbes. Did that report say anything about how...

That's a great question Mike! From my limited understanding of fungus formation, a lot of the fungus exists in spore form which isn't destroyed when moving the compost. The spores are like seeds that begin to grow new fungus once the conditions are right.

After posting the above reply, I realized I needed to slightly amend the following sentence as it might cause some confusion: "In other words, I don't think it would be a helpful addition to the raw materials that go into the bioreactor unless the compost was going to be applied in its solid...

That's a good question Mike. Honestly, I don't know because I haven't heard of anyone doing it. As I think about the bioreactor process, what goes into it, and the different ways the finished compost can be applied, it seems that biochar would best be mixed with the finished compost IF the...

I just saw this video by NRCS South Dakota on year-round grazing which I thought was well done. View it at: . The principles of year-round grazing in the video include: 1. Manage your grass. 2. For rapid recovery, leave at least 1,000 lbs/ac of residue. 3. Hit pastures at different times and...

Thanks for sharing this Linda! Although the workshop mentioned above has long since passed, I've been watching several of Steve's videos online from his website and he has some great information to share with folks. Steve really gets into epigenetics (how environment affects gene expression) and...

Where there's a lot of wood waste that's readily available, I can see where making biochar would be a far better use of the wood compared to just burning a pile to get rid of it. However, because there aren't forests everywhere leads me to believe that this is something that will really only be...

Composting is a fascinating process, at least for someone like me! My first introduction to compost creation was at a dairy farm that was employing the traditional hot composting method to turn manure into a useful product that could be applied on nearby crop fields. I vividly remember using a...

Today someone I just met shared that the Paicines Ranch in California has developed a vineyard where sheep graze underneath the grapes. This is a great example of the thoughtful integration of livestock with a food crop. You can find out more about it at...

I've been serving as a regenerative grazing specialist for NCAT since May of '21. I really enjoy providing practical solutions for landowners that improve/regenerate plant, soil, and animal health while also enhancing profit potential and quality of life. My journey with grazing and livestock...

Hello Luz, SOM crashes come about from not providing enough carbon into the system where the carbon to nitrogen ratio of the cover crops they're using is too low. When the carbon to nitrogen ratio gets to be less than 24:1 as a general rule, residue will quickly disappear because the microbes...

Does anyone have any experience positive or negative in using a subsoiler to help alleviate compaction on a pasture or hayfield? There is a lot of press on using cover crops to bio-till a field, but is there a limit to how much of a compaction layer plant roots can go through? I've found studies...

While living and working in the driftless region of Wisconsin a few years back I was invited by a landowner to look at what was limiting his pasture's forage productivity on his hilltop. After doing a fair bit of digging with a shovel I found that most of his A horizon (topsoil) had eroded off...

During our Soil for Water premiere, the following question was asked: What kind of tillage do you recommend to improve soil conditions without damaging it? This is an excellent question. The short answer is that all tillage damages the soil. This is an inescapable fact. But another fact is that...

During the Soil for Water premiere last month, the following question was asked: Can you share data such as SOM levels, biological activity improvements and water storage capacity over time? Here is my response: Attached is an article from Anna Cates, Soil Health Specialist for the University...

During the Soil for Water film premiere held in February, two questions were asked regarding different types of soil health testing. Question: Can you explain the PLFA and Haney soil health tests? Answer: PLFA is an acronym for Phospholipid Fatty Acid test. Since all organisms in the soil...