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Davey SoilCare® With Biochar Gives Your Trees the Foundation to Flourish

Are your trees showing signs of stress? In many residential landscapes, compacted soil, poor water drainage, and a lack of nutrients can prevent trees from thriving. Before you see yellowing leaves or thinning canopies, invest in the health of your soil. Davey SoilCare® now includes a powerful, ancient solution backed by modern science: biochar. This organic amendment builds healthier soil from the ground up, ensuring your trees have the support they need for generations of beauty and strength.

A Time-Tested Secret for Rich, Living Soil

Biochar is a stable, carbon-rich, porous solid that is produced by partially combusting organic waste materials in a low-oxygen environment in a process called pyrolysis. In other words, biochar is charcoal made from woody biomass that can be used for soil amendments and building materials.

While the biochar soil amendment is a newer concept, researchers believe it has a long history. Thousands of years ago, Amazon natives burned jungle plants and branches slowly, combining it with manure and household waste to enrich nutrient-deficient clay soil.

What they learned is that unlike compost, biochar doesn’t decompose and continues benefitting the soil for many years. This is because the pyrolysis process fixes carbon into molecular forms which are not easily decomposed by soil microbes, allowing biochar to persist for thousands of years in soil.

Transformative Benefits for Your Landscape

biochar benefits on water in soil

Holds water like a sponge, where plant roots can access it when they need it. This is especially helpful during periods of hot, dry soil conditions.

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Conserves plant nutrients by storing them and making them readily available when plants need them.

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Strongly resists compaction in soil, keeping channels open for water, air, and root movement even if there is repeated traffic on the surface.

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Sequesters carbon, storing it in the soil and keeping it from decomposing and adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Mulch
Mulch

Order Biochar

It’s never been easier to order biochar. Simply visit the link to order the material directly. If you are interested in professional application of biochar, please complete the form to request a complimentary consultation. 

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How Davey Delivers Healthier Soil

The application of biochar can take multiple forms, including:

Soil Excavation Using Pneumatic Air Tools

This is accomplished with the use of compressed air-powered tools to excavate the soil to address issues spotted by our professional arborists. The use of these tools allow us to remove or loosen soil without damaging the tree’s root system. We use these tools for several Davey SoilCare® services, including:

Soil Top Dressing

Our specialized top-dressing services applied via a mechanical spreader or similar means utilize organic matter and biochar to improve soil health, reduce compaction, and provide necessary nutrients for trees and shrubs. This application method can also be used to top-dress newly aerated lawns in a blend with compost.

upcycling process to create biochar sustainably

The Davey Difference: Science, Sustainability, and Service

We use woodchips collected from our typical tree service jobs and, using the pyrolysis process, sustainably convert them to biochar at our state-of-the art facility.

To address soil issues, our arborists may recommend services like vertical mulching and root collar excavation. When completing the service, we backfill the soil with biochar, ensuring the benefits are delivered precisely where they are needed most.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Biochar is a highly porous, stable form of carbon created by heating organic materials, like wood chips, in a low-oxygen environment. This process, known as pyrolysis, results in a charcoal-like substance that has been used for centuries to enrich soil. Davey Tree is proud to create its own high-quality biochar by sustainably recycling wood chips from our local tree care operations, completing a natural cycle from your landscape and back to it.

While both are excellent for your soil, they serve different primary functions. Compost provides immediate nutrients but decomposes over a year or two. Biochar, conversely, is a permanent soil amendment. Its primary role is to improve the structure of the soil, creating a lasting, porous framework that holds water and nutrients. It acts like a battery for your soil, holding onto the nutrients from compost and fertilizers and making them available to your plants for years.

Absolutely. Biochar is a completely natural, organic product that is safe for people, pets, and wildlife. Furthermore, it is a powerful tool for environmental stewardship. The carbon in biochar is incredibly stable and can remain in the soil for hundreds of years. This process, known as carbon sequestration, locks carbon into the ground, preventing it from being released into the atmosphere as CO2.

Biochar begins to improve the soil structure immediately, but the visible benefits to your trees will unfold over time. You may notice improved soil moisture retention within the first season. More significant improvements in plant vigor and health typically become apparent in the second growing season and beyond. Biochar is a long-term investment in the health and beauty of your landscape.

Not at all. Our certified arborists are trained to apply biochar with precision and care. For established trees, we often use a minimally invasive technique called Vertical Mulching. This involves creating small, deep channels in the soil around the tree's root zone and filling them with a blend of biochar and compost, preserving the beauty of your lawn

That is one of the greatest benefits of biochar—for most applications, it is a one-time investment. Because of its incredible stability, it does not decompose like compost or mulch. Once incorporated into the soil, it continues to provide structural benefits for generations.

Our approach is rooted in science. The effectiveness of our biochar and application methods are validated by the research of the Davey Institute, our private research and development facility. Our arborists are trained experts who understand the complex biology of trees and soil. We use sustainably produced biochar and apply it using specialized equipment to ensure the best possible results for your landscape investment.

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