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:
www.jellygal.com
1-877-265-6856 (Toll Free)
1-218-831-7018 (My Cell)
[NAFEX] Manganese in Greensand,
Jim Fruth, 06/23/2009