permaculture

["Johnny Gregory" <johnnyg8@bellsouth.net>]

Lawrence,

  Where is the quarry you used here in NC and what type of rock do they 
offer? Didi you use "fines"?

Thanks,

Your neighbor in Greensboro,

Johnny Gregory

 3. Re: Rock Dust (Lawrence F. London, Jr.)
> Message: 3
> Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 14:54:50 -0500
> From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] Rock Dust
> To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <424EF88A.3050007@intrex.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Eugene F. Monaco wrote:
>
> > I've never used rock dust but have a question from a skeptical 
> > perspective.
> > I don't doubt that it can be good in the short term much the same as
> > fertilizer can be good in the short term, but does it go beyond there? My
> Q:  Where does SOIL come from?
> A:   Rocks
>       ..... which are broken down by mechanical action (quarry rock
> crusher, NYC rats, glacial action, rockslides),
>      ocean or lake waves, rivers, weathering above and below ground,
> fracturing and grnulation by cold weather freeze-thaw cycles,
>      dissolved by low pH water or organic matter, maybe fungi also
>
> Rock quarry pond fines usually are made of of a fin aggregate most of
> which consists of extremely fine particles that cannot be seen with
> the naked eye, a fine powdery silt often the consistency of talcum
> powder. This is the best material to use to tilth and remineralize your
> garden or farm soil. Use it by the hundreds of tons.

Microorganisims
> will mine the micronutrients in it for their own use and ultimately
> deliver them to plants.  The quickest way to improve the flavor of your
> food crops is by adding large amounts of quarry rock dust
> to your growing beds or rows. Using limited amounts of rock and
> colloidal phosphate, New Jersey Greensand, azomite, aragonite,
> high calcium limestone is also very worthwhile.
>
> LL