Grow Larger Vegetables with Rock Dust - Benefits and How to Apply

John from http://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.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• rock
• dust
• powder
• soil
• remineralization
• don
• weaver
• nutrient
• density
• fruits
• vegetables
• plants
• organic
• omri
• fertilizer
• grow
• larger
• healthier
• microbes
• compost

[timmybuchanan]

Thanks John,

Question... what do you know about cat crap in gardens? How to make your gardens less appealing to cats, does it break down, etc.

[growingyourgreens]

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.

[Irineosgirl123]

4:00 I see a Chihuahua. :) 

[DocGreen15]

I thought it was Volcanic (basalt) rock dust that has the "special" properties?

[carlojpf2]

how can I keep rats away from my garden?

[NWOareScum]

@drchen054 - yeah you can probably get away with adding less and still get results, especially if you are using other fertilisers and techniques too.

[drchen054]

@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!

[NWOareScum]

@VonLeachim - 'thank goodness for worms, rock dust, comfrey /nettle tea's an home made compost..'

and green manuring, and turning the crops back into the soil or just leaving them to decay naturally.

also loos should be compost loos, then no pollution of water, and no dodgy energies from sewage instead of clear ley lines....and after 2-3 years, compost.

[NWOareScum]

@drchen054 - i think they use quarry dust, so it'd be produced anyway. don't know if anyone has harvested lava rock or even lava itself & then cooled it?

i'm no fan of mining, but i think the general idea is salvaging stuff. it's possible to get steel from river bed minerals, metal work doesn't have to be unsustainable and damaging or even require powered machinery. obviously it never used to do either....

[drchen054]

@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...

[drchen054]

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!

[darthvader5300]

And use ally cropping using nitrogen fixing trees between the crop rows so that over the 1st, 2sd, and 3rd decade they will be growing roots down to subsoil and drawing it up to be used as fertilizer in the form of leaves dropping into the soil. As the rock powders, sand, and gravel is used up then the biological system, enriched by the rock dust powders, sand, and gravels will take over to continuously enrich the soil permanently for thousands of years.