| Biochar land application research in elevated rainfall areas (980 millimeters of annual rainfall) of the U.S. Pacific Northwest is lacking. A proof-of-concept field study examined the effects of spruce-pine-fir wood chip biochar (slow pyrolysis; 450-500 degrees Celsius; 35 megagrams per hectare), dairy manure compost (105 megagrams per hectare), compost + biochar (35 and 105 megagrams per hectare, respectively), and a control (no biochar or compost) on glacially altered soil (sandy or loamy skeletal, isotonic, mesic humic or aquic Dystroxerepts) chemical properties and growth characteristics of vetch and sweet corn over a growing season. In-season liming (5.4 megagrams per hectare) occurred to raise the soil pH for adequate crop growth. Biochar, alone... |
