If you've spent any time reading gardening blogs, watching YouTube, or browsing garden centers lately, you've probably heard someone talking about biochar.
It's become one of the hottest buzzwords in gardening over the last few years, often promoted as a solution for everything from drought tolerance and healthier plants to bigger harvests.
At Soilutions, we're often asked a simple question:
"Why don't you use biochar in your compost or soils?"
The answer is simple.
Not because we think biochar doesn't work.
But because we don't believe every popular soil amendment belongs in every soil.
First Things First... What Is Biochar?
Biochar is often confused with wood ash, but they're actually very different materials.
Wood ash is what's left after wood burns completely. Biochar, on the other hand, is made by heating wood or other plant material in a low-oxygen environment, creating a stable form of charcoal.
That charcoal is full of microscopic pores that can hold water, nutrients, and beneficial microorganisms. Research has shown that biochar can improve certain soils, particularly those that are acidic, nutrient-poor, or lacking in organic matter.
There are absolutely situations where biochar can be a useful tool.
But that's the key word:
Tool.
A Hammer Isn't the Right Tool for Every Job
Imagine trying to tighten a screw with a hammer.
There's nothing wrong with the hammer.
It's simply the wrong tool for the job.
Soil amendments work the same way.
Just because an amendment has benefits doesn't mean it's the best choice for every climate, every garden, or every soil.
Healthy soils aren't built by adding every product on the shelf.
They're built by adding the right product for the soil beneath your feet.
New Mexico's Soils Are Different
One of the biggest mistakes gardeners make is assuming advice from other parts of the country automatically applies here.
It often doesn't.
Many regions of the United States have naturally acidic soils. In those environments, biochar can provide benefits that make a lot of sense.
New Mexico is different.
Our native soils are naturally alkaline and typically low in organic matter. They often struggle with poor soil structure, limited biological activity, water retention, and nutrient availability—especially micronutrients like iron.
Those are the challenges we focus on solving.
Why Soilutions Doesn't Use Biochar
At Soilutions, every ingredient we choose has to answer one question:
Will this meaningfully improve soils in New Mexico's high desert?
After years of evaluating soil amendments, biochar simply isn't one we've chosen to include.
Most biochar is naturally alkaline (ph 8-10.5, typically). While its effect on soil pH is generally less dramatic than wood ash, it still raises an important question:
If our soils are already alkaline, why would we choose to add another alkaline amendment?
Instead, we've chosen to focus on something that consistently delivers measurable results for New Mexico gardeners:
High-quality compost.
Compost adds organic matter, improves soil structure, supports beneficial soil biology, increases water-holding capacity, and gradually releases nutrients—all while addressing the challenges our soils actually have.
For us, that's a better investment.
Biochar Isn't a Stand-Alone Product
Another thing that often gets overlooked in the marketing is that fresh biochar isn't typically applied by itself.
Most experts recommend "charging" or activating biochar before use by mixing it with compost or another nutrient-rich organic material.
Think of biochar like a brand-new sponge.
A dry sponge has thousands of tiny holes, but until it's soaked, it doesn't hold much of anything.
Biochar works much the same way. Those microscopic pores need to be filled with nutrients and beneficial microbes before they can provide their greatest benefit in the soil.
Ironically, that usually means pairing it with compost.
What About Wood Ash?
This is another common misconception.
Wood ash is not biochar.
Many gardeners assume they're interchangeable because they both come from wood, but they behave very differently.
Wood ash is highly alkaline and is sometimes used to raise the pH of acidic soils.
Here in New Mexico, where our soils are already naturally alkaline, adding fireplace ash to soil or compost is not something we recommend.
Again, it's about choosing the right tool for the job.
The Bottom Line
At Soilutions, we don't formulate our products around what's trending.
We formulate them around what consistently works for New Mexico gardeners.
Biochar has earned plenty of attention, and in certain soils and climates, it can absolutely play a valuable role.
But our responsibility isn't to follow every new gardening trend.
Our goal is to build the best compost and soils for the environment we know best: New Mexico's high desert.
That's why we've chosen to focus on building organic matter, supporting healthy soil biology, improving water retention, and creating living soils through quality compost.
Because healthy gardens aren't built by chasing the latest trend.
They're built by understanding the soil beneath your feet.
