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  • From: "Jordan Fink" <jordan@riseup.net>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] rock dust - is it really necessary?
  • Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:41:39 -0800 (PST)

i have to ask the question here- is rock dust really necessary for any
permaculture site.

Dr. Elaine Ingham of Soil Food Web is saying that the evidence suggests
that all soils on earth have plenty of all necessary nutrients to grow
healthy food. Many soils, however, don't have a healthy soil food web
which means that all that nutrion is biologically unavailable. The
application of organic fertilizers and rock dusts just adds a little bit
more soluble nutrients but doesn't improve the soil biota's own capacity
to unlock the recourses already available.

A few well-designed applications of compost teach will have better
results, cost far far less and you don't have to justify supporting
dredging and mining.

-jordan


>
> neal,
>
> thanks for your reply too. I am scouting out local sources, and hope to
> find something soon.
>
> re: sustainability - my landbase is so far from what it used to/ought to
> be (was seasonal wetlands,
> now overbuilt and mono-cropped - California's Sac. Valley) that my little
> garden spae might just rejoice
> if indeed my potential source of dust, a nearby quarry of creek gravel,
> comes through, as prior to damming,
> lots of stuff came down from the hills and contributed to the flooding
> (and soil regeneration) cycle...
>
> I'm sure it's a familiar tale around the world...
>
> Wendy
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:57:13 +0000
> From: nepal <nepal.roade@googlemail.com>
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] rock dust, need help filtering the hype
> from the facts
> To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Message-ID: <20090218225713.2f5493c8@kub-804>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
> Hi Wendy
>
> On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:34:07 -0800
> Wendy Smyer Yu <creeksinger@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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.
>
> It is the nearest thing to a miracle I am likely to see in my lifetime.
>
> btw you can check to see the results of your micro-organism populations
> by the health of your plants and especially the rootball. I have never
> seen such wonderful roots as develop in rockdust conditioned soil.
>
>> 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.
>
> Having looked at the site and the ads they are running on it, I would
> say the article is there to promote FUD about rockdust.
>
>> 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).
>
> Perhaps rockdust conditioning is not really a 'permaculture' practise,
> nor is it entirely sustainable along a chain of (centralised) supply and
> demand.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Wendy
>
> happy growing
>
> neal.
>
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--
Knowing others is wisdom;
Knowing the self is enlightenment.
Mastering others requires force;
Mastering the self needs strength.

He who knows he has enough is rich.
Perserverance is a sign of will power.
He who stays where he is, endures.
To die but not to perish is to be eternally present.





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