![Biochar Soil Quality]()
Biochar dramatically improves your soil quality.Soil health just about everywhere is declining. The minerals that were once plentiful in soil are now present at much lower levels. For example, in 1998, you had to eat 26 apples to get the same amount of iron you could get from ONE apple in 1950!
Minerals are not only important for health, but they also form the compounds that give fruits and vegetables their flavor. Is it any wonder so many foods don't have the same full flavor – or nutritional value – they had decades ago?
The vegetables, fruits, and sprouts you grow can only be as nutritious as the soil in which you grow them. And the good news is scientists have been actively seeking innovative ways for home gardeners and sustainable farmers to improve the quality of their soil to grow healthy, nutritious food.
It's an exciting movement indeed, and I'm excited to bring it to Mercola.com.
It All Starts With Biochar… A Living Coral Reef That Promotes Healthy Soil
Biochar is a type of charcoal that's sustainably produced in the U.S. by slowly heating wood waste and forest residue in a controlled atmosphere. When "finished," it's a coarse material that offers many benefits when mixed with soil.
When you add biochar to your garden or lawn, it absorbs carbon dioxide from the air and locks it in the soil for hundreds or even thousands of years. You not only help the environment but you also introduce an amazing substance that dramatically improves your soil.
Acting like a coral reef, biochar allows beneficial soil microorganisms to prosper, and it greatly increases your soil's ability to nurture plant growth.
Biochar:
- Improves soil fertility
- Provides a reservoir for soil moisture
- Increases the soil's ability to retain nutrients
- Boosts availability of nutrients to plant roots
- Decreases weeds as much as 75%
By increasing your soil's water-holding capacity, biochar can reduce your need to water by half – a critical factor for water conservation, especially in drought-prone areas!
Add a Touch of Organic Compost, Worm Casings, and Kelp Meal, and You Have the Perfect Blend to Grow Vegetables Bursting With Nutrients
Developed especially for growing organic vegetables and fruits as well as sprouts, Effortless Garden® Sprout Doctor® Soil Enhancement is designed to help you:
- Build and sustain lasting, healthy soil
- Increase the microbial life of your soil
- Grow more vibrant plants – organic vegetables, fruits, and sprouts
- Reduce the need for watering
- Retain soil nutrients longer
To create Effortless Garden® Sprout Doctor® Soil Enhancement, we've blended together 4 unique ingredients that mimic the earth's natural systems to provide the most beneficial growing conditions:
- Sustainable Biochar – Provides inorganic carbon that builds soil and acts as a nearly permanent "sponge" to absorb nutrients and water, and to create a friendly home for microorganisms
- Organic Compost – Provides immediate soil food with organic carbon, building soil tilth and humus. Combined with biochar, its benefits are even more pronounced for promoting beneficial soil microbial growth
- Organic Worm Casings – Provides nutrients, enzymes, and improves soil structure
- Organic Kelp Meal – Adds the slowly dissolving nutritional benefits of ocean plants and helps with nitrogen in the soil
By combining these ingredients, Effortless Garden® Sprout Doctor® Soil Enhancement provides nutrients that soil dwellers need – that vital network of bacteria, fungi, and beneficial microbes that make up our soil food web.
To get started with Effortless Garden® Sprout Doctor® Soil Enhancement and to prepare your soil for planting, mix 1 part product to approximately 10 parts soil in pots, containers, or your garden.