Rock Dust & Biochar Field Trials: 3rd Year Yield Results 

Hi Bob! Regarding increasing nutrient density, Stephen, from Alberta Urban Garden, participated in this field trial and sent crops to a professional lab for analysis. The results showed that rock dust did not increase nutrient density of crops => ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B64NywRTPck.html

Do you have a mineral analysis for the variety of rock dust you added? Would like to see the composition. Obviously there are a lot of different rock dusts available.. To say "i added rock dust.. didn't work" is meaningless. Plus you added worm castings to both, so you really evaluated the combination of rockdust, which is generally alkalinizing, with worm castings, against the control(which is obviously a well developed rich soil) and the biochar+castings. It's not surprising that adding LOTs of an alkalinizing substrate to an organic acid rich soil would immobilize a lot of those nutrients and decrease yields..

@@RU-vidTM432 Alkalinizing? Worm castings should be balanced they are compost after all... And worms don't like alkalinity either..

O

I thought we needed to give the rockdust time to become bioavailable especially if worms live in it for a while... speaking as a novice here...

microbial life is the only way all the insoluble nutrients in rock dust can become soluble.... i would like to know what kind of rock dust he used in this experiment .....lots of different kinds of rocks out there .....hahahahaha......nitrogen gas stored below ground is amazing ....imagine what incredible CEC soil could do heheheh ........dude didnt load that biochar with enough nitrogen ......and thats the best place for the rock dust........preferably micronized basalt with paramagnetic properties and some gypsum for the sulfur and either ammonia or urea or better yet amino nitrogen and mix the two up to preload the biochar or zeolite.....1/2 lb growers secret soy nitrogen to 2 lbs of micronized basalt .....inoculate this with something like rootwise and then lets see this guy do his test

i think what we need are systems which release nitrogen when plant requires this without runoff i suppose healthy soils will hold on to nitrogen more than unhealthy soils but not sure.

You're welcome, Ken! Thanks for the encouraging feedback!

Thanks so much for your kind words, Antoinette!

That's so great to hear, Sunil! Thanks for letting me know.

Thanks! With all of those great free resources at your disposal, you won't need to spend much at all on improving your soil.

Look at back to eden gardening, it doesn't cost anything. Wood chips with Paul Gautschi

i wouldnt automatically say its wasted.. if you were buying quality organic inputs there are too many nuances for a field trial like this to draw conclusions from, which is exactly what OYR is saying right now as i type this

A lot of people have to believe that if Home Depot has it on the shelf, then someone with our best interests and with THE knowledge ok'd it going to market. I bought scotts turf builder and dumped it on brand new kentucky bluegrass seed, then doused it with miracle grow, thinking I was nailing it right on target, and I was adding badly made compost, so I had a real edge on everyone. Till my first youtube video, when I found out I am a sheep. We do that. Now we have a point of reference to begin with, and its more than a lot of people will face. This is tye end of the story... for most people. Glad to see you here!🇨🇦👊🏻👨🏻‍🏭✨💖🙏🍁♻️🍁 I now own a lawncare company, organic if possible, but whatever I have do do to please a customer, you know. I am learning JADAM liquid fertilsers, and starting to look into making a compost tea bubbler soon. My lawn has biochar with about 20 inputs in it, all organic, and my worms are snakes! Lol

I have sometimes bought bagged garden products, but mostly I make compost with free leaves from my recycling center, kitchen waste mown grass, and whatever else I have available. After several years, all you really need to add is compost. This channel is great For gardening on a budget.

Thanks, Huw! There were only 2 tomato plants in each group. Though the plants were assigned randomly, the biochar group had the luck of the draw with the 2 best plants. I'm pretty sure Stephen had lower tomato yields in his biochar group. It would be great if you did a UK trial!

You're welcome, David! I agree.

Thanks, Sasha! You're welcome.

Thanks!

My pleasure, Dan!

When charging biochar he should've added kelp fertilizer for trace minerals, I make a compost tea and brew that for 12-24 hours before adding my charcoal. I start with jump start fertilizer, insect frass, kelp, fish fertilizer and worm castings. Goal is not too feed my plants at all.

Thanks!

calcium

You're welcome, Dave!

Thanks!

You're welcome, Jill!

Thanks, Chuck! Biochar will definitely hold onto water an nutrients.

Thanks for letting me know, David! I appreciate it.

Let it bleed out first.

Thanks! Oscar loves to fight with me. (I get a kick out of it too.)

lol

😵

Seriously? $100!!?? An Oregon Department of Agriculture study found that most of these products don't even contain the microbes that they claim to contain. One of the mycorrhizal amendments was nothing but colored water. I'm planning on reviewing the study in a future video.

And John Kohler is in cahoots with them !!

suDz yeah, he is crazy about rock dust. lmao

Thanks, Ramona!

You're welcome, Paul! I'm glad I helped save you money.

She's right that soil biology is the key to making ample nutrients in the soil available to plants. She goes as far to say all soils have enough of the elements needed by plants and just need to be made available by soil biology.

OYR Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening what about things like magnesium and selenium , where we are seeing there is immense lacking of these in our food and maps showing areas in the world where the soil is deficient in these? Are you saying it’s in the soil just not accessible??? These are imperative to good health , so I’m keen to know why you are saying this opposite to a long known issue?

@@peacelilly5074 I have since changed my views. See Dr Arden Andersen. He says volcanic rock dust is paramagnetic and makes your plats mature more quickly. Paramagnetic just means they attract energy. Let the soil biology including the worms eat the rock dust. They will produce amino acid chelated minerals easily absorbed by your plants. So we still need Dr Ingham's contributions. Magnesium is the core of chlorophyll. Selenium is in the earth more in some areas than others.

Thanks, Bob!

The problem was you did not feed the micro-organisms in the worm castings, so they would have significantly vanished, you basically put mainly charcoal in your soil. had you added a cuppla pounds/kilos of sugar, the micro-organisms would have hugely multiplied, so being able to significantly transform your soil, using their safe habitats in the Biochar grains as bases. You did not, imho, use Biochar, neither Enlivened biochar nor even Activated biochar, and your results suggest exactly that. Pity you had such poor advice as to what is really Biochar. I have a vegetable garden. when I start a new bed, I have been mixing in lime, - as I am in a high rainfall area, and a certified "organic' compost mixture, as the field was a horse paddock, and being basalt soil, although old, get a good crop, first time, then declining. Compost is not much good, my farm being sub-tropical, it diappears in 1 to 3 weeks, mulch a bit longer, leaving interesting new weed problems.. OK so limped along, applied bio-dynamic 500 prep a time or two got some good crops and always something to eat out there, enter my new wife, an old peasant farmer from Thailand, in the meantime I had learnt a fair bit about Biochar, got a pyramid flame cap kiln, had a worm farm, rrotary hoe etc. So, she wanted to earn money, I mixed up my patent enlivened biochar, worm castings, local horsy poo for bulk, bits of organic matter from the garden as best I could, (to supply the local micro-organisms and fungi) sugar, (to feed them and what is in the worm castings) any minerals our local soil is low in (eg Borax, almost all high rainfall soil is deficient in borax, - it is after all water soluble, you wonder why so many people have calcium retention problems?) a slurp of seweed mixture, some pee, - mainly worm pee, and rotary hoe it in. By then she has planted 4 *20 metre beds, - my old ones, prepared as normal, and after that the Biochar beds, - all weeding by hand with a knife, no artifical or poisonous anything, mainly worm wee to fertilise. In typical Thai style, every square metre of soil instantly replanted when harvested, all weeds and plant residues removed and burnt, earning a couple of hundred bucks a week, - organic sales company calling around every week to pick up their vegies, but then, some things just not growing so well, tried cowshit, - bit of increase, more wee, - likewise, money dropped somewhat, - up to about 10 * 20 metre beds at that time, finally the penny dropped for her, stubborn old bitch, only the non-biochar beds could not continually crop. Now she wants every bed Biochar, money is up to nearly 400/week, have 3 worm farms, the soil is so responsive, the 4 foot nothing one woman/tractor is happy. Certainly not as rigorously conducted a survey as with yours Patrick, although the rigour of real life was strongly there. :)

@@MrGeoffThomas ....your wife sounds amazing!...please speak nicely about her!…

I agree that biochar can be very effective with poor soil. I'm not convinced that rock dust is helpful, though. Trace minerals aren't deficient in most soils, and compost alone can usually provide them when they are deficient. Minerals in compost will be available to plants much sooner. Minerals in rock dust may take many years to become plant available.

My pleasure!

You're welcome, David!

Thanks, Inger!

Yes, biochar should definitely help in sandy desert soil.

Thanks!

You're welcome! I was most surprised by the rock dust results, because the rock dust and control beds are literally right next to each other and were filled with exactly the same soil mix (before adding rock dust to the rock dust bed).

Ya I was quite amazed with the rock dust results. Do you have a theory why the rock dust slow production. I really have no clue as to why it did this and I can't even say it was a short term effect as the 2nd year it was the same. Just goes to show how careful you have to be amending your soil. Any thoughts as to how you will repair the soil or is this something that will git fixed by adding more compost. Or will you have the soil retested and go from there? Thanks :)

It's very hard to say. Stephen from Alberta Urban Garden conducted the same trial and had similar results, so it doesn't seem likely that it was a fluke. I don't plan to do anything special to repair the soil. It's just a 4' x 4' bed and my guess is that things will come back into balance eventually.

Nice :)

You're welcome, Loren!

Thanks!

You're welcome, Thomas!

HI Jill! I'm glad your greenhouse is still rocking! It sure is nice to still have greens growing. Have you tried organic mulches to suppress weeds?

OneYardRevolution | Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening Yes, I use wood chip mulch as well. Im not totally organic. I just like using the pre-emergent on newly lain dirt BC the weed seeds are horrendous. One dose in the onset is enough to keep weeds at bad all summer, as long as I don't turn any of it up.

You're welcome! I was surprised too. I expected to see no difference at all.

Urine is high in Nitrogen. I read in Mother Earth News a few years ago that adding urine to rotting wood in soil or compost helps to keep it from soaking up all the nitrogen as it breaks down. I use fine wood shavings from my rabbit's litter box as mulch and my plants seem to love it. On the 2nd year, once the poop has dissolved and the sun has bleached it, I mix it deeper into the beds to help with water retention and to further break down. Seems to work great for my 8b climate, I also use heugalculture (logs at the bottom of each bed) and water down my own urine to a 10% mixture for additional nitrogen once the rabbit mulch is about 30 days old. I watch for a little leaf yellowing on my nitrogen hungry plants before giving urine and it greens everything right up. So far I haven't burnt any plants with it, either. I figured it was worth trying since it's free. I don't use it the last 2 weeks before harvest though, just to be safe

Thanks! Yeah, gardening is one area where you probably don't need to follow all the latest "advancements", especially when they're driven by marketing. Even so, biochar is good stuff in some situations.

Old ways? A couple thousand years? That's what Biochar has under it's belt. I agree about old ways, but people find something ignored for centuries and it's the new best thing. Regenerative Agriculture has been around in indigenous people forever practically. I love that it is being publicized because I grew up on a farm where plow was king. Destructive little bugger. Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater! Ha ha!! Thanks, everyone, for gardening!!

Thanks, Ben! I don't plan to use biochar in the future, but I definitely think it's a great amendment for soils that are low in organic matter and have poor nutrient and water holding capacity.

My guess is that it has something to do with a soil structure, soil biology, or nutrient lockup, but I'm not sure.

Thanks so much for your feedback! I'm also curious why the rock dust group did so poorly, but unfortunately don't have a good answer. Perhaps it had a negative impact on soil structure or soil life or created a nutrient imbalance. I'm not too surprised you had better results growing in your native soil. Clay can be hard to work with, but it holds nutrients very well. Vermiculite and peat don't add any nutrients to speak of, so if the top soil wasn't very good there might have been deficiencies in the raised bed soil mix.

In the future I'm going to just mix the native soil with some things to lighten it up, compost mostly and go from there. Raised beds were a necessity in my yard actually because it flooded during heavy rains so getting the garden up a few inches saved it from that. I often wish I lived in a neighborhood of other gardeners, would love to trade produce if say someone grew this better than me and vice versa. I have fantastic peppers but greens for me, not as good.

You might also try just adding organic matter on top and letting earthworms and other soil organisms mix the material up for you. This is basically what we do with our shallow raised beds.

Good suggestion and that's actually my plan this year for the existing beds. Spread a layer of compost then mulch with some leaves to keep the weeds down and hold moisture. I was thinking and reading more about soil and raised beds and came up with some ideas why some people may benefit so much from rock dust and others not at all. Just think about what many people put in their raised beds, many especially if they read Mel's books will fill their beds completely with organic compost and maybe some peat or vermiculite but their beds will contain by definition absolutely NO soil! I actually went on a reading spree to see what soil is and how it's formed and essentially soil takes thousands, even millions of years to form and it's just broken down rock from what resides under your feet and the action takes place from freezing, thawing, erosion, acid producing lichens etc. So getting back to rock dust, isn't it really the same thing as soil minus any organic material that's mixed in it? When I built my raised beds I didn't do so because I wanted to but I actually did it because my yard would flood during heavy rains and my first year of gardening was a disaster after it got flooded one too many times. When I built my beds I really didn't know much at all about what to put in them so I bought "topsoil" from my local nursery and to that added peat moss, vermiculite and other organic matter. When the organic matter breaks down every year my beds look low but I guess the actual topsoil I put in there, well that doesn't break down and remains. So getting back to the original point of why rock dust may work for some and not others may be as simple as the fact many raised beds have no soil and from what I've read a combination of 60 percent soil to about 30 percent compost and the rest humus or vermiculite is ideal for gardening compared to just compost or just soil. Putting in rock dust for those people may simply be doing the same thing as throwing a bit of native soil back in with all that compost. I'd also imagine what kind of rock your rock dust came from would also make a huge difference in it's effectiveness. John Kohler has a quite popular gardening channel and I know he's a huge fan of rock dust, perhaps his soil (I believe he lives in a desert like area) is hugely deficient in minerals compared to our native soils. This year I'm expanding the garden and since I"m not sure if I want fruit trees or a bigger garden rather than building more beds I'm going to try mounding up my native clay soil and then adding a bunch of compost to break it up and let in some air.

You're right. I'd fill deep raised beds with quality soil and compost (and maybe something to improve drainage). The soil would contain plenty of rock dust. I'd like to see a couple things from channels promoting rock dust: 1) a soil test demonstrating an actual trace mineral deficiency; and 2) a controlled test comparing crops raised in rock dust amended soil versus a control. Until then, I remain skeptical about the need for rock dust and whether it's responsible for positive outcomes in the garden.

The control bed has the same exact soil mix as the rock dust and biochar beds, except no rock dust or biochar was added. That's a brix refractometer. It's used to measure soluble solids (mostly sugars) in fruits and vegetables.

Thanks, Pat!

Thanks! Epsom salts are only helpful when there's a magnesium deficiency in the soil, which isn't very common. I've never used them and don't recommend them.

Very true. Rain is responsible for most of the watering, but I took care to water the beds similarly when hand watering. The beds were chosen because they get the same amount of sun.

Thanks, Mike! If you're not already doing it, I recommend mulching the soil. We mulch with a variety of organic materials, including wood chips, leaves, and grass clippings. Our soil is very light and fluffy and leaves have more to do with that than anything else.

Too easy! I'll do that as soon as I get some plants in the ground this spring. Thanks so mulch... I mean much haha

Mike Pettigrew You're welcome, Mike!

You're welcome, Kevin! Good thing it's just a 4' x 4' bed. 😬

Thanks, Pam! I'm not sure how to determine that either. I wonder if anyone on the Garden Professors Blog Facebook page could help?

Great idea! I didn't know there was one!

Hi Jack! I sheet mulched it with cardboard and built the beds on top.

OneYardRevolution | Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening Okay. I will try that. Did you have any problems with roots not being able to grow deep enough the first year? My new boxes will be made with 4x6, with the boards set so that soil depth is 6".

If you're planting more shallow rooted plants like lettuce or spinach, there'll be plenty of room. If you're transplanting deeper rooted crops like tomatoes or peppers, you can punch a hole in the cardboard when planting.

Hi Ken and Beverly! Yeah, if you have access to enough organic matter, biochar probably isn't necessary. Like biochar, organic matter increases the nutrient and water holding capacity of soil.

Thanks! This winter I'm testing a free homemade potting mix against a commercial organic mix. I might do more small tests like this, but nothing that requires as much garden real estate as the rock dust/biochar trials.

Thanks! The rock dust I used was volcanic in origin.

Thanks, Stephen! I'd love to see more peer reviewed research on rock dust, but based on our collective results and soil tests, I'm convinced that it's not needed in our gardens.

I agree!

You're welcome! Yes, biochar is definitely effective in poor soils, but I remain skeptical about rock dust. Thanks for watching and commenting!

I agree

We used a purchased biochar product for the field trial (so different participants could use the same product). The results I reported in this video include the 3rd year of the trial.

Thanks for the reply. I would've expected the charcoal to increase production by a lot in the 3rd year. Maybe there's too much hype about it. Personally I think your base mixture is really good, and simple.

Thanks! That's a great question. I think the Mittleider method definitely works, but I prefer an approach that focuses on the soil food web instead of supplying nutrients with synthetic fertilizers.

I agree, the results they show are pretty amazing. I would guess that adding their "chemicals" to your soil wouldn't improve the crops because you already give the plants everything they need....If the control was standard dead soil, their method would show a big difference.

Hi Jill! The purple beans were Trionfo Violetto pole beans.

Thanks!

Given the small sample size for individual crops, it could just be random.

I think you're on the right track! You don't need the fancy powders anyway.

You're welcome! I selected three 4' by 4' plots that receive nearly identical sun. The biochar bed might have a slight advantage with afternoon sun, but the rock dust and control beds are right next to each other receive essentially the same amount of sun.

Thanks, Uwe! I I appreciate your supportive feedback!

Nothing will improve your soil better than compost and organic mulches like grass clippings from untreated lawns, leaves, and wood chips. I also recommend professional soil tests to determine what specific nutrients are lacking so that you can address deficiencies with fertilizers if needed.

OneYardRevolution | Frugal & Sustainable Organic Gardening Thank you for responding! I added some worm castings as a top dressing but i will have to track me down a test. Thanks again!

You're welcome! You don't need to purchase fungi unless you want to grow an edible mushroom like King Stropharia. The best way to promote fungi in your garden is to use compost and coarse mulches like wood chips and leaves.

Great! So i don't have to buy a lot of stuffs to grow a beautiful garden after all. I really like your channel because you're always looking for efficiency with minimal efforts. thank you for the advice.

You're welcome!

You, Stephen, and I have all had the same experience with rock dust. The peppers I grew in the rock dust bed in 2014 even had blossom end rot, which is something we never see in the rest of the garden.

It must put the balance out of whack. All of a sudden the system is changed by addition of new elements that the microbes are not accustomed to.

You're welcome!

Thanks, Justin! I didn't test the pH, but Stephen from Alberta Urban Garden conducted the same trial and had the soil professionally tested. The rock dust didn't significantly alter pH. He also had much lower yields in the rock dust group.

Aha! Thanks for the response, quick at that. What about brix and/or flavor or pest resistance? I'm guessing that there were no conclusive results that favor the rock dust amendment pertaining to quality of produce?

Stephen also sent plant tissues to a lab for analysis and found that rock dust did not increase nutrient density. My brix test of tomatoes found no difference in brix. Taste test results were mixed and inconclusive. I thought rock dust greens tasted slightly better, but 2 friends, my wife, and I judged control tomatoes to be better tasting than rock dust tomatoes.