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  • From: Keith Johnson <keithdj@mindspring.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] rock dust, need help filtering the hype from the facts
  • Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:25:54 -0500

Wendy,
I've been using rock dusts for 20 years now on hundreds of landscapes, on all types of soil, and the results, time after time after time, are conclusive. My clients are consistently amazed by the improvement in the health of their plants and the character of their soils. In Indiana, where I live now, the common material quarried is limestone which is not enough. Consequently I depend on other bagged mineral products like rock phosphate, greensand, humates, azomite, and for trace minerals, seaweed concentrates. I shop at http://ohioearthfoods.com but if you check in at ATTRA <http://attra.ncat.org/> (Appropriate Technology Transfer to Rural Areas) you will find other regional sources listed. Certainly metal toxicity CAN be an issue but all quarries are REQUIRED to supply an assay of the elements found in their media. Do your homework and ask good questions. You'll find something that works for you.
The best source for information about it can be found at http://remineralize.org
Here are some other links pasted from the site. See especially Resources for supplies near you. Fertrell <http://www.fertrell.com> is a good source, as well.
Keith

A Remineralization Primer
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=58>
Why Remineralize?
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=43>
A Rock Dust Primer
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=44>
Soil Remineralization in Context
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=45>
Soil Remineralization and the Climate
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=46>
Latest News
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=58>
Latest News
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=1&Itemid=39>
Press Releases
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=15&Itemid=40>
Recent and Upcoming Events
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=16&Itemid=41>
Magazine
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=5&Itemid=47>
Research
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=6&Itemid=48>
Forum
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=151>
Archived Forum
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=81>
Resources
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=17&Itemid=90>
Mineral Health Supplements
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=178&Itemid=174>
Links
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=41&Itemid=86> <http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=58>
Meet the Staff
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=51&Itemid=89>
Contact Us
<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_fabrik&Itemid=117>

* Gardens and Farms

<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=10&Itemid=91>
* Landscapes

<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=175&Itemid=173>
* Forests

<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=156&Itemid=132>
* Climate

<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=85>
* Commercial Products and Industry

<http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=144&Itemid=122>



Wendy Smyer Yu wrote:
I'm in the beginning phases of looking into rock dust as a garden soil
amendment. There's some info out there and some people swear by it. From an
uneducated point of view, it makes sense to add it if it seems the mineral
content of one's soil has been leached away. I have no experience with it
and would like to solicit opinions.

I would assume that that results really depend on what your rock dust is
composed of (for example I live near an area that has serpentine soils and I
probably wouldn't want dust if it came from a serpentine quarry near here)...
and not many of us are equipped to do nutrient testing on our vegies and
fruits, or to check to see if micro-organisms have in fact increased as a
result of application, so I wonder how much of the positive I hear is wishful
thinking and how much is really based on results.

I came across this http://www.canadafreepress.com/2003/main011303.htm (titled "The
Greening of Arsenic" in which it's noted that one supplier's dust contains a lot
of arsenic and lead in addition to other more beneficial things... but there's not much
of a conclusion at the end of the article.

In the end, I'm just researching this because I've moved into a suburban
rental with some garden space after years of limited access to land and I'd
like to make a really lovely perennial/annual mixed garden (probably heavier
on the annuals until I get the ok from the landlord, but at least it's a
start)...

Anyway, this isn't so much about what my plans are, but I'd like to know if
rock dust is being touted as a panacea that it really isn't. (I've read back
through about 3 years of archives here and only seen it mentioned a few
times).

Thanks!

Wendy

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--

Keith Johnson
"Be fruitful and mulch apply."
Permaculture Activist Magazine
PO Box 5516, Bloomington, IN 47407
(812) 335-0383
- Permaculture Activist <http://www.permacultureactivist.net/>
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- Bloomington Permaculture Growers Cooperative <http://bloomingtongrowers.locallygrown.net/>
- Bloomington Permaculture Guild Blog <http://bloomingtonpermacultureguild.blogspot.com/> - Calendar <http://my.calendars.net/bloomingtonpccal/>
- Continental Bioregional Congress Blog <http://bioregional-congress.blogspot.com/>
- Switch to Solar Power the Easy Way <http://www.jointhesolution.com/KeithJ-SunPower>





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