North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Jim Fruth" <jimfruth@charter.net>]

Mathew Waehner asked, "It seems that a lot of people use greensand without 
ill
effects.  Any documentation, beyond your own soil tests?"

  My information mainly comes from what my soils people tell me when I send 
in a soil sample from my raspberry beds.  I've got raspberry plants that 
exhibit the chlorosis normally seen in plants that were sprayed with Round 
Up.  Some time in the past, greensand was broadcast in that area.  I 
normally would not expect manganese to be a problem until the pH drops below 
5 but some other, unknown, mechanism seems to be at play.  Removing the 
spent canes away from that area is slowly lowering the incidence of 
toxicity.
   I'm glad you asked the question because, after checking online, it 
appears there are two compounds called "greensand", greensand and manganese 
greensand.  The person who broadcast "greensand" here bought his product 
from a water filtration business, a company that uses manganese greensand. 
Checking my Handbook of Chemistry, I learned that the other greensand does 
not contain manganese.  So it is me that was confused and if you hadn't 
asked the question, I'd still be confused.

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
For jams, jellies, syrups and more:
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1-877-265-6856 (Toll Free)
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