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
_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live^(TM): E-mail. Chat. Share. Get more ways to connect. http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t2_allup_explore_022009
_______________________________________________
permaculture mailing list
permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Subscribe or unsubscribe here:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
Google command to search archives:
site:https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/permaculture searchstring
Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.