There is seemingly limited research available on this topic at this time. Preliminary research and anecdotal experience show that inoculated biochar can be a positive, even in container grown plants. Maybe I'll have to do a more rigorous grow journal at some point with controls for the benefit of others? Never hurts to try and experiment. I appreciate the points you've raised as it has made me look deeper and do the due diligence on this substance (I was unknowing of the pH raising ability of char for instance). But again, it is still a very emergent practice from what I have been able to find, and I am excited to see more about it.
How could one be so sure that soil pathogens were the causing factor? Seems that there could be a lot of other variables unaccounted for in why this farmer suffered kidney failure. Just my speculation, but what do I know? ...Part of what I do understand is, that there are good and bad organisms. When you have healthy animals and healthy soils, the good bacterias and organisms balance out and keep pathogenic organisms in check. It is by the same understanding that I am comfortable in drinking raw milk when I can source it.
This is nothing personal to you, but I am highly skeptical of what veganic farming and vegan practices even implies. To me it may very well be a misnomer. I may be new to cannabis cultivation but I have several years experience in cultivating other crops as well as my field of study is RegenAg/Permaculture/Agroecology/Agroforestry. It is my understanding that soil science is a field of study still very much at the precipice of a vastly undiscovered frontier.
"Microorganisms constitute a formidable challenge to anyone trying to understand soil processes, many of which in
one way or another are mediated by, or at the very least involve, microorganisms. The identity of most of these microorganisms, however, remains largely a mystery. At this point, it is estimated that 99.5% of organisms in soils have not been cultivated (e.g., Gest, 2008; Zengler, 2009; Alain and Querellou, 2009)."
https://www.soils.org/files/publications/csa-news/soils-still-a-frontier-of-science.pdf
"EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Soils are one of the most poorly researched habitats on earth. The functioning of this thin dark covering on the surface of the earth is vital for the survival of the biosphere in its present form. The impact of burgeoning human populations has destroyed the soil physico- chemical environment and the soil's species through activities such as: inputs of chemicals from the atmosphere, disposal of waste products in soils, ground water contamination, and physical modification or removal of soil by cultivation and erosion. Soil degradation has also resulted in the mobilization of carbon and nitrogen as greenhouse gases forcing climate change. Information on the effect of these impacts on the loss of soil biodiversity and the loss of key functions [e.g., biogeochemical cycles of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), sulfur (S), potassium (K), phosphorus (P), oxygen (O)] in the biosphere is fragmentary. Ecological principles derived from macroscale above-ground research have been transferred without basis to soil organisms that function at the microscale, providing an incomplete foundation for predicting sustainability. Nevertheless, ecologists have shown the importance of soil biota to ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling, carbon storage, and maintenance of plant diversity, through studies that combine a number of taxa into functional or trophic groups. Global change research examining the effects of soil warming has revealed the key role of the soil biota in regulating methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and carbon dioxide (CO2) losses from soil, which impact processes in aquatic and atmospheric systems. Research has continued to show the value of soil biota to the biological control of human and agricultural pests, in biotechnology, and for remediation of hazardous wastes......"
http://wp.natsci.colostate.edu/walllab/files/2015/07/lifeinthesoil.pdf
Even amongst some of the prominent soil scientists (such as Elaine Ingham) there is some dispute or discrepancy of understanding on this subject....
