Biochar

BIOCHAR

A game-changing soil amendment, biochar boosts your soil’s water retention, nutrient availability, and microbial life. This means healthier, more resilient crops that can better withstand droughts, floods and other environmental stresses.

Documented benefits of biochar as a standalone addition for crop growing include:

– Crop growth: Increases germination rates, root development, and plant resilience (Lehmann et al., 2011).

– Soil health: Augments water retention, nutrient availability, and microbial life (Glaser et al., 2002).

– Environmental health: Mitigates greenhouse gas emissions, sequesters carbon, and minimizes nutrient leaching (Woolf et al., 2010).

-Pest and disease control: Provides a habitat for beneficial microbes that help suppress soil-borne pathogens and pests (Elad et al., 2010).

The Arktivate Difference

While biochar has gained traction in the field of sustainable agriculture as a soil amendment, Arktivate leverages additional characteristics of biochar to create a fertiliser that does more.

1. Adsorption: Biochar possesses a high surface area and porosity, allowing it to absorb various substances. We maximize the surface area and porosity in our manufacturing that allows the infusion of our biochar to adsorb and retain higher amounts of soluble and organic salts or molecules of essential nutrients, such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), among others.

2. Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC): Our biochar is manufactured to have a high cation exchange capacity (CEC), which refers to its ability to attract and hold positively charged ions. Nutrient cations needed for plant growth such ammonium (NH4+), nitrate (NO3-), phosphate (PO43-), and potassium (K+) interact with our biochar’s negatively charged sites and undergo ion exchange, whereby the nutrients in the fertilizer are bound to the biochar and can be released slowly over time for plant uptake.

3. Chemical reactions: We utilize the natural chemical reactions of nutrient sources when they come into contact with biochar. We utilize this process, known as chemical sorption, to further bind nutrients for our fertilizer. For example, phosphorus, for instance, can react with the biochar’s surface functional groups, such as hydroxyl (-OH) and carboxyl (-COOH) groups, forming chemical bonds that immobilize the phosphorus and prevent its leaching.

4. Microbial interactions: Biochar can serve as a habitat for beneficial microorganisms due to its porous structure. These microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi, play an essential role in nutrient cycling and mineralization. When nutrient sources are mixed with biochar and provided with moisture and favorable conditions, microbial activity increases. Microbes can break down complex organic molecules in the nutrient source and convert them into more plant-available forms. This microbial action contributes to the nutrient release and availability in the soil.

5. Slow-release mechanism: One of the advantages of using biochar as a fertilizer is its ability to provide slow-release nutrient availability. The porous structure and adsorption capacity of biochar allows for a controlled release of nutrients over an extended period. Nutrients bound to biochar are released gradually as soil moisture and microbial activity interact with the biochar particles, ensuring a sustained nutrient supply to plants and reducing the risk of nutrient leaching.

Our fertilizer infuses this black gold with high levels of organic NPK providing nutrients that plants need, all while nurturing resilient and productive soils that will continue to thrive year after year.