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Asked by agnese.federica ·January 7, 2022 ·17.1k readers

Biocharging with KNF

Hi! I am charging the biochar before adding it to the raised beds that we are building at the moment. Among other inputs, we used JMS and FAA. Is there any other KNF solution that would work well?   Also, the process of biocharging for one batch got anaerobic. It was contained in a barrel, too much water and not mixed every day. Now it started to have foul odors, like an anaerobic decomposed mix. Just started. Is that bad? We took it out of the barrel and spread it, is there anything we can do to maybe improve/save the charging? Thank you!

biochar biocharging

Top answer

Drake Weinert Foundation · Jan 9, 2022
The biochar will absorb the nutrients very quickly. Soaking it for a few minutes will enable the char to become charged. Using JMS with the char is okay, but these are not really the microbes you want to be using in the soil, as they cause rotting as you noted. JMS acts more as a prebiotic feeding the soil biology similar to a fish dinner.

From the KNF library

From the KNF library Drafted by Claude from Office Hours and the books · Sep 2026 · 5 sources

Fish amino acid or plant juice both work as a charging soak. You can also inoculate the char in a compost pile. (Office Hours Nov 2025, 24:30) One sequence soaks the char in fish amino acid, then adds IMO4, maintenance solution with minerals, and a Jadam microbe solution. (Office Hours Ep. 20, 19:36)

The library gives two soak times. One block says 15 minutes in fish amino acid and microbes, then rake into the top inch of soil with dolomite. (Office Hours Ep. 17, 23:08) Another says two days in diluted fish amino acid and IMO1, about 1:500 each. (Office Hours Ep. 12, 18:17)

On the smelly batch, KNF microbes are aerobic. Without oxygen they rot and breed pathogens. (Office Hours Ep. 10, 51:14)

The library does not say whether an anaerobic batch can be saved, or how to fix one.

Sources

2 more answers
dagoofman · Jan 8, 2022
i use leaky buckets for biochar charging and i just dump left over JMS left over KNF solutions even use it as a lil boys room the leak in the bucket keeps it from going foul smelling but lets it set in the liquid for a bit b4 it all leaks out and its a good way to reuse a old bucket as for the anaerobic Jadam is based on anaerobes buckets of foul smelling swamps that u feed to the plants the plants dont care what it smells like =)    
agnese.federica · Jan 15, 2022
Thank you!!

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