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Post by maricybele on May 18, 2011 11:24:48 GMT -5
Just wondering if anyone has used the rock dust compost method in the videos below? Would love to hear about other folks experience with it. I have always used a little rock dust, but this year I plan on being extra generous. Rock dust remineralization with rock dust/compost mixture. My new cheap amendment. I went to the rock quarry and got 10- fine gravel and powder and mixed around the garden and compost. I filled my station wagon cargo area up for $5 at the feed shop 50 lbs is $8 and that is a fine powder, I may buy a bag of that strictly for watering to add minerals that way. YouTube - Rock Dust Organic Remineralisationwww.youtube.com/watch?v=M4co_pfmJxA&feature=youtu.beYouTube - Landward the Rock Dust One!YouTube - Grow Larger Vegetables with Rock Dust - Benefits and How to ApplyThe video shows folks in Scotland who had super duper veggies and excellent results with compost and rock dust. It didn't sound harmful so I tried it. It didn't act like cement in my beds, actually like an aerator. I will let you know how it goes, already my plants are standing taller after just 12 hours. I want giant, strong long lasting veggies so I tried it, because the dust also will help my worm herds throughout my garden and if it really works without other fertilizers thats a huge savings! Free amendments - wood chip pile (free from tree trimmers just tell em to dump it free at your place) I will add in effective microbes and some rock dust and get it rocking. My chip pile took 2 years to compost, I will try this next time with the em and other materials and see how much time it saves breaking down. |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 18, 2011 12:48:49 GMT -5
Does the dust count that blows into my garden from the desert?
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Post by steev on May 18, 2011 19:45:20 GMT -5
I expect that if blown-in dust is adequate, I should get huge, mutant veggies, since I'm down-wind from China and Japan.
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Post by michaeljohnson on May 19, 2011 9:31:07 GMT -5
I can tell you from first hand experience with it, as I used it all over my garden and in the greenhouse too, and it came from the same place in Scotland as well.
It does a very good job and works a treat,- there are only two problems with it:-
When it is delivered to you home, it weighs a ton, and you have to be very careful how you carry it otherwise you will soon give yourself a hernia,
Also after you have spread it on the garden and anywhere else, you have to rake it in within an hour or so, because if you happen to leave it overnight or for rain to fall on it-it sets like concrete and is as hard as a rock, but raked in straight away there is no problems afterwards,
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Post by maricybele on May 19, 2011 10:20:13 GMT -5
So were your veggies bigger and longer lasting from the generous application? I can tell you from first hand experience with it, as I used it all over my garden and in the greenhouse too, and it came from the same place in Scotland as well. It does a very good job and works a treat,- there are only two problems with it:- When it is delivered to you home, it weighs a ton, and you have to be very careful how you carry it otherwise you will soon give yourself a hernia, Also after you have spread it on the garden and anywhere else, you have to rake it in within an hour or so, because if you happen to leave it overnight or for rain to fall on it-it sets like concrete and is as hard as a rock, but raked in straight away there is no problems afterwards, |
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 20, 2011 6:56:45 GMT -5
Quarries are all over the place here. There is a lot of granite here and it's used in construction from houses to roads. I'll have to look into this. Thanks for posting.
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 20, 2011 7:08:18 GMT -5
My husband gets material from our local quarry for various things. He's just told me that our quarry rock dust is former ocean bottom. Sandy, crushed shell... I would imagine and different content of sorts. However, couldn't that be a positive amendment as well?
If we don't know, how could we test? I'm thinking I could acquire a sample and take it to the extension office.
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Post by steev on May 20, 2011 20:21:30 GMT -5
At the very least, if it's much shell, it's plenty of Ca, so good for liming.
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 21, 2011 7:19:51 GMT -5
Very true. And that is certainly needed on our land.
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Post by bunkie on May 21, 2011 9:11:45 GMT -5
'ocean bottom' jo? wouldn't that have some salt in it?
many years ago we watched a film/documentary about how the glaciers distributed rock dust, minerals, etc... over the areas where they travelled and melted. it was some ice age film i think. since then, we have used silt from nearby rivers, and sand from are pits. i like the idea of remineralizing our soil.
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 21, 2011 16:19:54 GMT -5
I would imagine there would be some salt Bunkie. The question to get answered is "how much"? That should be an easy thing to measure though.
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spud
gopher
Posts: 43
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Post by spud on Jun 1, 2011 22:11:06 GMT -5
Here in nw ohio our limestone has too much mg in it and this is not good. Trying to find another source. I am currently using azomite but it is rather pricey.
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Post by steev on Jun 2, 2011 21:19:56 GMT -5
Magnesium can be a problem in sea bottom minerals. The Pacific Coast Range is the west side of the valley my farm is in, and it is very high Mg, lots of serpentinite, not good to drink a lot of that area's water. The east side is a range of Central Vally shale buckled up by the pressure of the Coast Range, not so full of Mg, lots of iron in the water. I've no idea how my farm got all its yellow silt, drains like a sieve, dries like concrete. The summer I was putting in fence, we literally drilled pilot holes for the T-posts with a jackhammer and a breaking point. I suppose we were quite a sight, one on the jackhammer, and another pushing a gas-powered generator like an ice-cream cart ( which would have been so welcome! ).
All things considered, once that soil is broken and amended with plenty of organic matter, it's not half bad, but breaking it up the first time is truly laborious. If I had the sense to pour piss out of a boot, I'd have bought the farm at 30, instead of 60, but I don't and I didn't; better late than never.
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Post by 12540dumont on Jun 9, 2011 11:44:48 GMT -5
San Martin has two kinds of soil, lose your boot or break your shovel. They are one in the same, a nice loam about 4 feet deep over solid shale clay. Hence the soup in the winter and the summer cement. We did the Greensand from NJ, and the Azomite from Utah. We got some glacier rock dust from Canada. Every year I take three leftover sandbags from the local flood control and feed them to the chickens. There's lots of fines left in the bottom and I sprinkle those as well. The result of all of this? Well, I have higher brix levels in some crops. Now I take this chart with a grain of salt. One, because they didn't tell me what varieties and what time of year the test was taken. For example Spring Mara Des Bois are 10 in the AM and 12 in the PM and in the Summer anywhere from 12-13. I have never had a 14. Everyone one of my vegetables/fruits is on the line between Good and Excellent. What else has changed? Our weeds. Before compost/oyster shell flour/sulpomag/reimineralization/chicken manure, etc., We had foxtails - an indicator of compacted soil Wild Morning Glory - improper breakdown of humus Mallow - lack of calcium Now we have Amaranth, sillybum, and lambsquarters. So, I'm off to weed. Will we add do it again? Maybe in another 10 years. Meanwhile, I keep an eye on brix. I would just once like to try a 20 blueberry or a 14 honeydew. (Mine are 12). Someday? Attachments:
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Post by steev on Jun 9, 2011 15:24:24 GMT -5
Sugar tends to be converted to starch during the night, I think, which is why i pick melons late afternoon, when the plant has produced, but not converted,its sugar. I think that goes for many, if not all fruits and veggies. I suppose one could easily test this hypothesis by taking readings from morning to afternoon. No doubt it's been done.
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