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MrSterling
Ys, thanks for that re:granite.
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Living organic soil from start through recycling
- Thread starter Gascanastan
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RE: Granite Rock Dust
The statement about Granite having too much Quartz comes from Sigfreid & Uta Luebke in an article about their work titled Controlled Microbial Composting and Humus Management: Luebke Method which everyone thinking about setting up a compost pile should read - no question about that. This is the 'real deal' in several ways.
Then there's this point that they make: Granite dust is not recommended for compost because of its quartz content. The larger size and slickness of the quartz particles resist breakdown and inhibit the attachment of organic particles necessary for proper humus crumb formation
I have never read that before and after the discussion with YosemiteSam, MM and others, I headed over to Remineralize the Earth which is a worldwide organization that has been involved promoting the use of rock dusts for several years.
Their research database is unparalleled in this area with scientific, peer-reviewed studies from every continent and almost every variety of rock dust can be looked-up and studied. I have not been able to find one single reference to Granite relative to the Quartz component - good, bad or indifferent. That doesn't mean the Leubke's are wrong. Theit statements do not in and of themselves make it accurate. Like MM's signature line that 'anyone can be wrong about something'
What would be more of the criteria is the mesh size. It could be something as minor that perhaps quality Granite RD is not available in Austria where the Leubke's live and work whereas on the East Coast of the USA the mining and use of Granite slabs goes back to the earliest days of this country. In Boston in the nicer neighborhoods it is not unusual to find curbs made from Granite vs. poured concrete that most of us are familiar with. New Hampshire - The Granite State and all of that.
In England, Granite RD is the big player - stonemeal as it's called. The chances of an English farmer having Glacial RD available are pretty remote. Same here trying to find Granite RD on the West Coast. At $15.00 a bag there's not a lot of room for goofy distribution systems.
Same with the Glacial RD out of British Columbia - that may be a West Coast thing. Areas of the world without a history of volcanos won't have Basalt or Pumice easily available.
So what I would say is this - hang out at Remineralize the Earth, read as much as possible and make you own decision. If I were living on the East Coast then I would use Granite before incurring debt trying to bring bags of Pumice & Basalt from the PNW.
The original tenet of this organization was to use local materials to increase the tilth of farms and not to zero in on this specific material vs another one.
That's what I think about that - Forest Cootz
The statement about Granite having too much Quartz comes from Sigfreid & Uta Luebke in an article about their work titled Controlled Microbial Composting and Humus Management: Luebke Method which everyone thinking about setting up a compost pile should read - no question about that. This is the 'real deal' in several ways.
Then there's this point that they make: Granite dust is not recommended for compost because of its quartz content. The larger size and slickness of the quartz particles resist breakdown and inhibit the attachment of organic particles necessary for proper humus crumb formation
I have never read that before and after the discussion with YosemiteSam, MM and others, I headed over to Remineralize the Earth which is a worldwide organization that has been involved promoting the use of rock dusts for several years.
Their research database is unparalleled in this area with scientific, peer-reviewed studies from every continent and almost every variety of rock dust can be looked-up and studied. I have not been able to find one single reference to Granite relative to the Quartz component - good, bad or indifferent. That doesn't mean the Leubke's are wrong. Theit statements do not in and of themselves make it accurate. Like MM's signature line that 'anyone can be wrong about something'
What would be more of the criteria is the mesh size. It could be something as minor that perhaps quality Granite RD is not available in Austria where the Leubke's live and work whereas on the East Coast of the USA the mining and use of Granite slabs goes back to the earliest days of this country. In Boston in the nicer neighborhoods it is not unusual to find curbs made from Granite vs. poured concrete that most of us are familiar with. New Hampshire - The Granite State and all of that.
In England, Granite RD is the big player - stonemeal as it's called. The chances of an English farmer having Glacial RD available are pretty remote. Same here trying to find Granite RD on the West Coast. At $15.00 a bag there's not a lot of room for goofy distribution systems.
Same with the Glacial RD out of British Columbia - that may be a West Coast thing. Areas of the world without a history of volcanos won't have Basalt or Pumice easily available.
So what I would say is this - hang out at Remineralize the Earth, read as much as possible and make you own decision. If I were living on the East Coast then I would use Granite before incurring debt trying to bring bags of Pumice & Basalt from the PNW.
The original tenet of this organization was to use local materials to increase the tilth of farms and not to zero in on this specific material vs another one.
That's what I think about that - Forest Cootz
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bajangreen
Ha! i been reading this tread from the first post, just a bunch of old farts. They cool though, will poke at you some, but still gonna give ya the right answer, unless you ask a dumb question.
M
MrSterling
Cc, I'm out of rep to give but you know I love ya.
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bajangreen
And the sea salt thing................. i use straight sea sand and sea weed in my soil mix never even thought to wash out the salt and my plants are still growing.
Hear, hear.
BigShrimp
Do you have a link to this product? I can't seem to find anything on it.
Do you have the list of ingredients - you mentioned that it's mostly granite so I take it that it's a mix of rock dusts perhaps?
CC
Swayze
I can't offer you much more information than what you found and posted. Kelp contains uber levels as well - that's what gives the kelp that slimy feeling when fresh or even the kelp meal we use in our soils - take a teaspoon and drop it into a cup of water for a few hours to let it rehydrate - pour some of the globs into your hand and you'll see what I mean.
Comfrey contains 290,000 ppm of this compound which is partly the reason you can't dry borage or comfrey like other field crops - alfalfa and others. It turns to muck long before it can dry out - you have to hang it in hands like tobacco leaves and let it dry and then store it.
I don't know of any way to harvest this compound but it would explain why adding shredded comfrey leaves to your potting soil before letting it sit for a few weeks ('cook') is a very good use of these plants. I've seen what it does to the top few inches in the raised beds from using it as a green mulch (modified) with some compost or vermicompost added on top of that. There's a quality to the soil that evolves that's hard to describe.
I doubt that I'll be doing any more 'comfrey tea' in the future after using it in more traditional ways. The whole tea deal was an afterthought that didn't appear in the writings from the developer of the Bocking Series until 20 years after his work was released in the early 1950's. It wasn't until the revision of his book in 1973 that mentions a tea in any way and even then it's only 1 short paragraph in passing.
Green mulch or pulverized and mixed with potting soils will be the way I use Comfrey in the future. Using it this way you'll get this and other compounds from the leaves directly into the soil where it matters and will do the most good.
CC
when our water well was drilled; the drilling co hit a strata of decomposed granite {had to change drills and go to a smaller casing so we are 8" down to a certain point {the granite strata} then 6" from there on down
anyway; there's been a pile of this stuff laying on the ground by the well for years and years {idk when the well was drilled} AND; last spring i stuck a shovel full in my compost pile
sometimes it does seem like it would be good to get some of these things tested and quantify the effect of inputs {particularly w/ compost} as it is; i do 'experiments' and @ the end, my data set is 'well; that is some pretty good compost'
not such a bad deal ~right now i do have some pretty good compost
@ bigshrimp FWIW; there you see i have used granite w/ no perceived ill-effects {but also w/o the means to quantify effects other than observation/application} i would say that if your rock dust source is varied; its a step further down the road than my efforts applying specifically and exclusively granite
anyway; there's been a pile of this stuff laying on the ground by the well for years and years {idk when the well was drilled} AND; last spring i stuck a shovel full in my compost pile
sometimes it does seem like it would be good to get some of these things tested and quantify the effect of inputs {particularly w/ compost} as it is; i do 'experiments' and @ the end, my data set is 'well; that is some pretty good compost'
not such a bad deal ~right now i do have some pretty good compost
@ bigshrimp FWIW; there you see i have used granite w/ no perceived ill-effects {but also w/o the means to quantify effects other than observation/application} i would say that if your rock dust source is varied; its a step further down the road than my efforts applying specifically and exclusively granite
As it should be. If you have sand and horse shit, use it.
well said mate!
I tried to give some for you but I had the same problem lol
I have been told by rock dust lovers. Go for quarry s not gravel pits... The fines are a left over product, if you have a good quarry source around you go there with a bucket and you can probably get it for free.
Timbuktu
Timbuktu
W89
Isn't stonemeal pretty much the only rock dust you have available? I've read a few articles in newspapers from Scotland, Ireland and England on this subject. Seems as though there's more of a 'national interest' than in the states.
The local store sold over 200 tons last year of the Canadian glacial rock dust - just that rock dust. But you would have a hard time finding it in Los Angeles perhaps. Certainly wouldn't find it in New York City
CC
Isn't stonemeal pretty much the only rock dust you have available? I've read a few articles in newspapers from Scotland, Ireland and England on this subject. Seems as though there's more of a 'national interest' than in the states.
The local store sold over 200 tons last year of the Canadian glacial rock dust - just that rock dust. But you would have a hard time finding it in Los Angeles perhaps. Certainly wouldn't find it in New York City
CC
Sure i agree.
What makes this forum exceptional is the high level of knowledge and experience of its contributors coupled with thier expectation that people asking questions have a decent understanding of what they are asking about.
Look at the other weed growing forums, its just noobs asking the same questions over and over again because nobody tells them to do there homework first.
RanchoDeluxe
Member
W89- I'm curious as to what you have to say about stonemeal or granite dust as well. I've got a friend that works at a shop cutting granite and marble countertops and he said I could take 55gal drum as long as I brought the empty drum back.
Thanks for your experience using it xmotobox.
Thanks for your experience using it xmotobox.
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