John from www.growingyourgreens.com is visited by Don Weaver, who wrote the book on rock dust and soil remineralization. In this eposide, learn about the benefits of using rock dust as well as how much to apply.
Put some rock dust into a bucket with water and stir it up and drain the water into a watering can to use on your tomatoes. You can refill the bucket many times to get the very smallest particles to where they will do the most good. Once the water no longer turns the colour of the rock dust when stirred throw the remaining dust into your garden or anywhere you like.
If beds are empty, cats will go in. If they are full of things growing; they will not. You can put some small fencing up around the beds to keep cats out. I will have an upcoming eposide about this very subject. I pick out the cat stuff when I see it in my raised beds.
In order from left to right: Azomite, Gaia Green Glacial Rock Dust, Ocean Solution trace minerals (liquid), and an un-named sample that was sent to me as a rock dust.
I have been freaking out on the plant nutrient situation in the grocery store for a while now. Finally I am in the beginning stages of back yard organic herb, veg & fruit-ology project. My main concern is getting more balanced chem free plant source minerals directly from my back yard. After hours of searching the Internet I finally tried youtube & bam! This is cool, Thanks...
These videos are so awesome!!!You are providing such a service to others!! Love how you teach and enthuse in your videos!!!! I have never had success with growing things. Now I KNOW I am going to have success.
you guys are goofy......i love how you are having a good time with this.....gardening always brings me joy......i subbed......thanks for all your great info and best wishes to you and yours.
@MrSchmallz Hello, yes I agree with you on using a diverse number of rocks. I wanted to point out that granite is not just a single source mineral rock, but has many minerals, and as you probably know, granites can vary with regard to composition from location to location, and some, depending on what you are growing, can supply most if not all of the necessary nutrients, particularly in California.
I'm totally inspired to start a garden this year. I have a 25 foot by 5 foot space with heavy clay that needs a lot of work before i begin planting. I'm planning to use Griffith Park Compost (with Zoo doo) to amend the soil. I'm also planning to use Rock Dust (Azomite or the Gaia). I'm doing research on those two products now and the gaia seems to have trace "HEAVY METALS".
JOHN, I MAY HAVE MISSED IT, BUT HAVE YOU DONE A VIDEO ON BIOCHAR (TERRA PRATA)?....THE OKLHOMA WAY IS 1.ROCK DUST 2.BIOCHAR 3.MYCORRHIZA 4.HUGLEKULTUR OR BURIED WOOD 5.GOOD COMPOST 6.GOOD WATER 7. NO CHEMICALS OF ANY KIND, AND NO TILLING OR COMPACTING OF SOIL (DON'T WALK ON)....ROY
Extensive longer term studies in the Netherlands do show that rock dust does work, meaning higher quantity and quality of produce. Please note that the nutrients/elements in the rock dust become available through microbial, mechanical and chemical weathering. Most soils (initially) lack the soil biology to digest the rock dust. Please also note that certain rock dusts work faster because the minerals they are composed of weather more easily.
I once forget there was an open bag of this in the car and drove with the window cracked and then something start blowing around and then I rolled the window all the way down.....WOW was that confusing.
@drchen054 What I meant about pulverization taking so much energy is that a lot of remineralization proponents keep saying that it will result in huge growth gains and sequester a LOT more CO2. Well, if you are using diesel to crush the rocks all the time and/or ship it in from far away.. well...
Since I have already planted my plants into the ground can I just put the azomite on the soil and water and be the same? or should I just wait till next year?
@NWOareScum Then that makes more sense thanks. Also, I realize he said somewhere else that minerals have been depleted for a long long time which is why he recommends adding so much. eh.. maybe, we'll see.. I'm adding some to my veggies right now with my own rock mix that I pounded myself. They are a wide mixture of granite, river, and multi-color gravel rocks. Can't wait to see!
If you are just starting out, what do you start out with? I have about a 5 acres I would like to get it ready to plant in the spring in Colorado. I have sawdust to add as well as very small weed chips and composted manure that is 5 years old. I have about 20 tons of compost to add as well. Should I also add rock dust? This land was used for cattle and sheep ranching. I will be the first to grow on the land. I want to make sure I am going about it the right way.
You should look into Zeolite my dad has a mine and i use it in all my plants and this guy that owns the biggest green house in calgary alberta uses it also and it makes his plants alot bigger.
Hi John-You might be giving granite a "bum rap". It actually has at least 11 compounds, made up of potassium, sodium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, siilcon, & more . These are in compounds with oxygen. To be available, the soil pH must be just right. pH breaks them apart. This is true with all rocks. Gravel only refers to size which doesn't tell us anything about what is in it (sometimes granite). Marble is calcium carbconate (limestone), but can have helpful impurities.
Editing bro, editing....All your other videos are GREAT! And you always talk about this rock dust and how important it is... and then I finally got here and that creepy tall guy started talking... and talking... and talking. I think even you fell asleep around 7 or 8 minutes in ;)
Hello John, my name is Tim and my good friend and I live on a seven acre property. He just put a second manufactured house on property. And I will be moving in the one of them in a couple weeks. And we want to start growing all our own food and maybe one day sell some of it. So for boring you, so my question is have you done or heard where you could get different kind of rock dusts in bulk? So we could get it by the truck load. Were about to put a ad up for a free dump for wood chips on Craigslist. Once we get everthing we need I want to start selling small bags to close friends and family and who ever else wants some. I just fugure since you live in california you might know. We live in wildomar, ca which is right by temecula. Thanks and hopefully you could get back to.
I don't know if its the Azomite or just a cold haha, but like the day after using it in the garden I been having this really bad sore throat, slight cough, and some mucus. Could this be a serious thing due to the Azomite because I wore a mask, not a hi-end one but a filter one. Do you think its the Azomite or just a cold? Help.
The main problem isn't that it is hard to provide a balanced mineral supplement to our soils as Sea based fertilizers (or tonics as some like to call them) are balanced and cheap and easy to obtain. The problem is holding these minerals in the soil in such a way that they are available to plant roots as required. This is why Humus levels should be focused on before mineral levels need to be addressed if needed.
I mixed Azomite into my pepper plant today! I'm excited to see the results. Will it help to prevent blossom-end rot or should I still apply some garden lime? I already used crushed egg shell at planting.
+Renee N. - i was amazed how much lime + egg shells I had to use , my peppers did fine but tomatoes couldn't get enough ( 1/4 th cup lime on peppers per sq foot did it for my cow manure based soil )
Well I'm sold on this. Just ordered a bag of Azomite rock dust for my pepper plants. They are already planted in large pots. How do I mix in the rock dust?
no, perlite is heat-expanded volcanic rock. Rock dust contains trace elements which are essential to the growth of plants and animals and which may be lacking in your soil.
I can't comment on the worm subject but as far as adding rock dust to compost I would have to say that although it is true that the minerals will leach out of the rock dust far quicker in a healthy, Humus rich compost system, it is untrue that the minerals will leach away as the humus electrostatically binds onto any metallic mineral ions until they are needed biologically.
azomite has an extremely alkalizing effect. it can burn plants for sure. i've done it a couple times BE CAREFUL (use 75% less azomite than regular rock powders) use the pelletized version to avoid this effect. also rock phosphate is great and you should use a combination of different rock powders. rock phosphate is NOT chemically processed at all. I combine 1 part gaia green glaciel rock 2 part greensand 2 part calphos and 1/4 part azomite. in my experience this works great and won't burn.
@algae1000 I think he's on target by discouraging the use of one particular rock. Granite is a felsic igneous, e.g. heavy on K-spar (KAlSi3O8). The remaining group of minerals aren't terribly diverse in composition. I think the point is to buy a dust that is composed of a wide variety of minerals, thereby maximizing the likelihood of supplying nutrients that are in demand yet deficient in native soil.
Lead and Arsenic are natural trace minerals. When man gets involved and concentrates them to un-naturally high levels, they are toxic. In small or trace amounts, I believe based on my research, they are fine and should not pose any risk.
Is there a concern with rock dust use in the garden if there are trace heavy metals in the material? Keep up with the great videos!!! Love them all. By the way sorry to see your wind damage to your garden in your recent episode. You’re a totally positive guy, would love to have you as my neighbor !!
Good video. Farmers are actually Miners =) ...for the bankers =( 4:01 I think your dog was adding urea to the garden. What about asbestos, radiation, and toxins? Some granite or gravels have high levels of nasty stuff. Some processed Limestone coming from SCRs (scrubbers) has high levels of mercury too (all approved by the EPA/USDA for farms).
how about the balance of not hitting the bag with rock dust on a consistent basis into the air next to the person standing nearby? oh yeah, don't forget to use a mask!
I wouldn't do this. Neither would i add it to my compost heap. The minerals will eventually flush out of the compostheap. Mix the rockdust with the worm castings/compost after you harvested it.
I'm very much into remineralization but I will never believe you need 1 pound per square foot. Where in nature would plants get so much rock dust or the equivalent in dissolved minerals? It sounds unnatural and a HUGE sales push. I want to hear some sound reasoning behind this.. then maybe I'll consider it. But the pulverization of rock is going to take SOOO much energy, and with a recommendation of another 1/4 pound every year after.. jesus! I've seen people say only 1 pound per 50sqft!
Okay.. chemistry from "Khem" .. meaning of egypt.. the other stuff in granite and limestone are all their own.. but the mixture is what causes the reduction reactions that due the trick when "all the right temps in all the right crys" grow big veggies for us but I am not sure why....
You guys are driving me nuts. What is on your table. What is Azomite? Is it a brand of rock dust? What's in the bottle? I guess I have to go to another video.
How do you know? If we can agree that plants and beneficial microbes use a spectrum of trace elements -- elements that might not otherwise be available in a backyard garden -- does it not seem reasonable that by introducing these trace elements, you are aiding both microbes and plants metabolic processes?
