All of those soil function characteristics (that were painstakingly outlined previously!) make biochar a fairly versatile addition to soils with a growing number of uses including the following…

Soil conditioner for:

• Organic gardens,heck even non-organic gardens will love all that long lasting organic material!
• Roof gardens will adore biochar’s light weight nature and high water holding capacity!
• Hydroponics – swap out that not so sustainable stuff like perlite, vermiculite or peat for biochar!
• Turf or golf courses – fight compaction, reduce watering needs with biochar!

Filtration medium for:

• Rain gardens
• Storm water treatment applications
• Infiltration trenches/basins
• Detention basins/ponds
• Sewage treatment
• Mine land reclamation projects

For those of you wondering about the  composting toilet picture that may seem slightly out of place in the picture, you might want to know that the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation is investing in research  to develop solar powered toilets using biochar ‘down under’.  This is largely due to biochar’s ability to absorb odors and prevent leaching.  As odd as it sounds this ‘marriage’ of excrement and biochar is actually a very good way to retain and redirect the high levels of nitrogen found in human waste.  There is no end to the wonders of biochar, eh?

(Time to give the exclamation key a break now…)