North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@bellsouth.net>]

On 12/25/2011 11:00 PM, Judi Stewart wrote:
> Lawrence,
> Please tell me more about your use of pyrophyllite and where would I find
> some?

> > I will try adding rock dusts to the soil mix for remineralization,
> > flavor, fruit keeping qualities and hardiness.
> >
> > This will include azomite, pyrophyllite and granite dusts. The pyrophyllite
> > promotes amazing feeder root growth, ideal for vegetable and herb starts as
> > well as fruit seedlings of all sizes and types.

What I have came from Piedmont Minerals in Hillsborough, NC. It produces 
bagged pyrophyllite for sale to the steel and ceramics industries. It is 
stable dimensionally under heat.

There is a lot of talc in it. I think that may be what makes it a great 
potting or planting medium for stimulating plant feeder root growth.
I have used other rock dusts: granite and volcanic tuff (very hard but 
ground finer that anything else I have used). The MSDS indicates .2% 
potash. At the mine it is free for the hauling - they load for free - 
you pay for hauling.

Free quarry rock dusts used on gardens or orchards will give plants 
disease and insect resistance and outstanding flavor, appearance, 
keeping qualities of harvested crops. The added flavor of vegetables 
grown in remineralized soils gives the farmer the competitive edge.

I would suggest Googling pyrophyllite mine or quarry in the US to find 
locations of companies mining this product near you.

Its uses:

seed starting medium
potting medium
field crop or orchard soil amendment

It is an unusual material and very effecting at improving soil quality 
and growing conditions for crops of all sorts. Obtain an MSDS to see the 
chemical analysis of it and percentages of minerals it contains.

Let me know if you need more info. If you're near Chapel Hill you can 
pick up a free sample at the mine in Hillsborough.

LL