New Rock Dust info.mineralisation.

[michael johnson]

For those of you who are interested in more info of the benefits of Rock dust, here is a very explanitory web site.

www.truehealth.org and click on (poison free agriculture) and then on- remineralisation.

There is also some interesting articles on charles H. Wilbur and his world record 350lb of tomatoes per tomato tree, and also a pear tree that bore 1,500 pounds of pears being fed by grey water from the kitchen sink drain.

[dice]

I recall once reading pre-WWII research results that
found 30% higher earthworm populations in compost
to which granite dust had been added (compared to
same compostable materials without the granite dust).

(I don't have the book anymore, so I can't give a
title/ISBN#/etc for it; IIRC it was a late '40s, maybe
early '50s college horticulture text that I happened
to find on a bookshelf somewhere. Your guess is as
good as mine on kilos/cubic_meter to add for best
results.)

[michael johnson]

Yes- there realy is something in this Rock dust thing,-I have been using it for a couple of year now with superb results,

On the website also-under (remineralising the earth) if you click on mineralisation it takes you to various details of rock dust scources of supply, both in the UK and also the USA.

[dice]

For making compost more earthworm-friendly,
I would guess that basalt dust would work
just as well as granite dust. Earthworms require
grit as well as organic matter, and a variety
of mineral compositions will probably work.

This may be a useful way to incorporate other
mineral soil amendments like greensand and rock
phosphate into one's soil, having it do double
duty as an earthworm grit source in compost
and eventual source of mineral nutrients once
the compost is added to soil.

The one thing to watch out for is pH effects in
soil. Granite and basalt may not have any dramatic
affect on pH (slow to weather), but other finely
ground mineral additives may have more dramatic
effects (a la limestone).

[DavidinCT]

Wouldn't the type of feldspar the granite is composed of make a large difference? In my area we plagioclase feldspar and potassium (alkali) feldspar granites. Because the latter was extensively quarried and cut here, gardeners have been using the dust for a while. How effective, if at all, it is, I have no idea.

[stew008]

Im using Seer Rockdust this year. Im doing a trial, to see just how effective it is, so far, the results have been very interesting.

What sort of differences have you noticed after using it?

I think its only certain types of mineral rich volcanic rockdust that have the magic properties, Id think any old rockdust probably wont have the same effect.

Cheers,

Stew

[dcarch]

In typical (if there is such a thing) garden soil, you have lots of organic matter, then some sand and small pebbles and them lots of "mud".

What is in the mud? Would that be some kind of rock dust?

dcarch

[michael johnson]

Hi-Stew, I also has the Seer rock dust last year,and found that plants were much healthier, virtualy no leaf disease was seen, also not so many tomato pests for some reason or other, very good leaf and tomato colour, a much darker richer green colour to the leaves.

[dice]

"What is in the mud? Would that be some kind of rock dust?"

Out here west of the Cascade Mountains
the mud is mostly clay, with the silt/clay
and sand/clay ratios rising in river valleys.
(I've never seen a rigorous definition for
"silt", but I'm guessing that it is broken down
organic matter, "used to be humus".)

A geology student told me that the clay itself
was the local feldspar from the mountains before
weathering.

As for the "type of feldspar" question, sure, the
eventual effect on soil pH may depend on that,
but my guess would be that both types of feldspar
mentioned (and probably any other kind of feldspar)
dissolve very slowly in garden soil, so one is not
likely to see dramatic short term changes in soil
pH regardless of the specific source of the granite
dust one might add to compost.

(If I am wrong about that, I would be glad to know
about it.)

Someone mentioned in a post in another thread
that pulverized lava incorporated into garden beds
weathered out and lowered pH fast enough that
he needed to add lime to correct it, but ground
lava is not nearly as hard or dense as ground
granite or basalt.

And finally the question implied but not specifically
asked: in an area where granite is abundant, clay
subsoil should contain almost the same trace elements
that local granite dust would have, with perhaps lower
percentages of anything in the granite that might be
water soluble once it is exposed by weathering, cutting,
or grinding the granite. Compost would probably do
better with the rock dust than with dried clay mud
added to it, though (even if earthworms are satisfied
with the clay for a grit source, the rock dust would allow
better aeration in the compost).

Perhaps a good opportunity for an experiment...

[mresseguie]

It was last year about this time that I heard people's praise for glacial rock dust. When the Oregon Tilth came to our coop to sell fertilizers and amendments, I picked up 5 lbs of it. I honestly don't know if it helped or not. Then, a couple months after that, I met a dozen people who use "Azomite" powder regularly. They were so enthusiastic that I followed up on that with my own research on the web (where??). I was convinced enough to buy a large sack of it. Unfortunately, I wasn't clever enough to do a controlled side-by-side study to determine its value, so I can't comment there.

Hmmm. That makes me a <convinced> user without an opinion! Oh, well.

Let's see what my Google search turns up:

http://www.azomite.com.au/

This next one I remember from last year.

http://www.azomite.com/

http://www.basic-info-4-organic-fert...m/azomite.html

Enjoy your reading.

Michael

[michael johnson]

That Azomite stuff sounds good for stopping young seedlings surning blue of purple in the stem, a little sprinkle around each pot and water in-should do wonders.

It sounds very simular to the stuff that we get -called trace element Frit.