[quote=John3;168334]Thanks Worth
BTW I talked with a big quarry company here in Alabama and they said the rock dust I want (glacial gravel or volcanic rock) would be in Texas and Calif. area as the rock around here is marble and granite.

Anybody know of any online sellers of rock dust?[/quote]

John3,

I have been reading about rock dust and remineralization in general. One product called AZOMITE and in their website you can get info of the distributors in your area.

Azomite
 

I bought a small container of Azomite (a natural mined product containing all the trace minerals) late last summer to use on my potted plants to see if it would perk them up. The Meyer lemon turned a dark shiny green in less than two weeks. The peppers started putting on new growth and flowering again. It was too late in the season to do any comparative testing but I was encouraged. I'm buying a 44lb. bag of it this spring to try in the regular garden area.

On the azomite website it looks like they have distributors all over the country.
[url]www.azomite.com:dizzy:[/url]

I have used azomite for several years-put about 60cc's in the 5 gallon container.

Rock dust is also known commercially as "azomite". Peaceful Valley has it

the link is here [URL]http://www.groworganic.com/azomite-44-lb-micronized.html[/URL]

I'm sure there other organic places you can get it from too...

We use it on our farm.

Grani-Grit is one name of chicken scratch you speak of. IMO its a presifted of too big particle size to be meaningful as greensand.

I do use it as an inert component for bonsai soil. Works good for my use.

Azomite and greensand are two different compounds - azomite also comes in 3 "granulations" - the finest being a dust which isn't easy to spread mechanically.

Since I grow organically, I can't add fertilizers as a first defense - mainly you want to build the soil. I know anecodally it works, but can't point to any studies at this point.

I am also curious are these rock powders applied annually, or over longer periods of time. I've seen reapply in 5 years as well. Any thoughts?

Has anyone tried a product called volcanite? It is a mix of five different rocks, basalt, lava sand, zeolite, greensand, and decomposed granite. Was thinking of trying some.

Hi Creister,

I'll chime in, alot of the other organic farmers I've spoken to over the years have talked about amending the soil with rock powders (soil building etc) as part and parcel of their regime, along with other methods of organic growing.

I know folks who apply greensand annually, others on a more protracted schedule.

I've never tried volcanite - but I do use greensand and azomite. It works for me. I think mostly it's about tinkering with your soil type and trying what works best for you and your soil. You know what works in one place, maybe can be optimized in another - or conversely or may not work so well in other soil types.

Talk to folks in your area and see what they are using.

A soil sample would be a good starting place. If your soil is not deficient in minerals, you could be just be throwing away money needlessly on amendments. Also, if your pH is way off, most of the added minerals will be locked up, and not available to your plants.
A [B]balanced[/B] soil should be your ultimate goal, whether you grow organic, or chemically.

Rintintin,

I agree balance is a must but when you grow organic having a healthy soil (microbes, fungi, worms, nutrients, minerals and organic matter) could be self-sustainable or regenerative. The otherwise unavaible/locked minerals in rock/soil are used by the organisms and converted to a form that becomes available for the plant roots to take. The reason I am getting interested in rock dust/azomite is to feed my soil microbes, the plants will take the nutrients and end up in my vegetables. I have been using mycorriza in my plant starts and the difference is significant, I might start adding rock dust to the soil mix soon. My ultimate goal is to just add my own good compost using the plant matter not used from the crops and cover crops as top dressing that way recycling the minerals in the plant tissue plus back to the soil as organic matter.

I am not a big scale grower. I am sure it may be more challenging to scale this up.

surf4grrl,
I will follow your progress as some day i want to venture into growing more food. Best of luck!

[QUOTE]surf4grrl,
I will follow your progress as some day i want to venture into growing more food. Best of luck![/QUOTE]

Thanks -

A good resource for you would be (no matter how large or small you are growing) is NOFA (I see your in MA) - the NOFA organization is pretty awesome - there's something for everyone...

here's the link for NOFA-MA

[URL="http://http://www.nofamass.org"]http://www.nofamass.org/[/URL]

[QUOTE=surf4grrl;199387]
here's the link for NOFA-MA

[URL="http://http://www.nofamass.org"]http://www.nofamass.org/[/URL][/QUOTE]


There seems to be a problem with the link.

[URL]http://www.nofamass.org/[/URL]

edit - I was just on the link - I could entered extra html info initially - if the link still doesn't work - just type in the address....

Thanks for the link! I have seen NOFA before when looking for local organic compost. You are right it's awesome site, I was reading the workshops, some info etc.

Good read about remineralization: [url]http://www.nofamass.org/reference/tnfnutrientdensecrops.php[/url]

Do you run a CSA?

Yes, to the CSA - I'm diversified though, try to sell in several venues etc.

You should check out the summer NOFA conference -