|
| Has anyone here sent a soil test to soilminerals.com and gotten their recommendations? What were your results? Anyone read/used their book The Ideal Soil? Would you recommend it? Anyone bought their mineral supplements? Results? In a way, it seems to make sense, but my radar is also up, hoping it's not just another way to spend money (which would also be okay, since spending money on the garden is fun.) |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
| elisa, I have reviewed a lot of their site. I have never ordered anything from them, but have used one of the products they sell...Azomite. My opinion is that there is a lot of knowledge there. I am not inclined to order much though. Perhaps the soil book could be informative. The Azomite was cheaper elsewhere. The soil testing links are likely good high tech places. The Agricola link is interesting to me as it cuts through some jungles. |
|
| Thanks, Wayne. I did notice that in the Q and A they are very specific about not just throwing minerals on your soil without knowing what the balances are first, but then they sell that 69 dollar a bag stuff that's a mix of lots of great stuff -- but if you put it on, you are doing what they say not to do. Hmmmm. I just got my soil test back, and from the results I should have fantastic yields--except for the fact that the minerals are not "in balance" according to their site. I do have fantastic yields some years, and not other years. Still looking for the magic bullet, I guess. Elisa |
|
| Elisa, I could be wrong here, but every gardener I know, have good & bad years. Most of the organic/ natural gardeners have good & better years. But most have a bad crop or poor yield year now & then. I agree you/we should work for the goal of a prefect garden. |
|
| What they post is oriented toward the products they sell and not so much what should be of more concern to organic growers, the organic matter in your soil. Your soil microorganisms need organic matter to convert the minersls in your soil into something the plants you are trying to grow can use. Since most all of the necessesary minerals plants need are micro nutrients and since most all are readily available in compost and other sources of organic matter, if a gardener were to add adequate amounts of organic matter they most likely would not need to purchsse mineral supplements. |
|
| For sure one must be very careful about introducing minerals in salt form. That is why over-using wood ash is a problem, for example. When not in salt form I think it is hard to over-do it so long as one keeps OM levels where they should be (5-10%). Even so there isn't going to be much harm to it unless it is so much material as to dramatically alter the mineral make-up of the soil. I used a lot of stone dusts last season, and where the OM was low there was really no measurable result. |
|
| I look at it this way...If there are products leaving the garden to never return, then to be optimum, you need to bring in material from sources outside your domain. These can include composts, manure, mineral amendments, and much more. |
|
| Thanks for the info and suggestions, everyone. I've been trying a different, *interesting* addition each year (humectates, then bio-dynamics, now maybe minerals) |
|
| The term salt when used by a chemist usually refers to a solution. However, anything with Chloride in its name is a salt. elise, have a good, reliable soil test done so you know what your soils pH is as well as the ratio between Calcium and Magnesium and what your soils levels of available Potassium and Potash are. Then knowing what the level of organic matter is, about drainage, tilth, smell, and life of your soil is can also help. |
Here is a link that might be useful: definition of
|
| But we aren't chemists, were gardeners. There is an accepted meaning to the term "salt fertilizer", and covers a lot more than chlorides. Why obfuscate? Some salts are much less problematic than others. Calcium sulfate for instance can be used pretty liberally. So there are low-index vs high-index salts. The chlorides are high-index for sure and to be avoided accordingly. |
|
| The misuse of common terms is what obfuscates, not the clarification. |
|
| The fact that you don't know that nutrients are frequently in salt form doesn't mean that other people can't grasp it. |
|
| A salt is a metal and a non-metal that share an ionic bond. As Kimm's link points out, typically one of the products left over when an acid reacts with a base. (The other product is water). Sodium - chloride Potassium - sulfate Calcium - nitrate etc. The term is not synonymous with solution. A salt can be in a solution but solution does not equal salt or vice versa. Most things with chloride are not salts. Chloride is a common element involved in scads and scads of things. I would also also say that getting someone who sells these sorts of products to look at your test results and give recommendations is likely to yield a rather biased interpretation. |
|
| Thanks for a little clarity, Garg. And would you agree that when a salt is in a solution, and that solution is in the soil at too high a strength, that can be bad for microbes? |
|
| Sure, that's a reasonable statement. |
|
- Posted by toxcrusadr 5 (My Page) on Tue, Dec 11, 12 at 11:47
| Well put garg. You probably meant chlorINE on that last part though: "Most things with chlorINE are not salts. ChlorINE is a common element involved in scads and scads of things." Chloride being the ionic form of chlorine, by definition anything with chloride in it is a salt. Anything with covalently bonded chlorine is not, but would not be referred to as a chloride. Not to split hairs. :-] |
|
| Yeah, chlorine. I actually do that a lot with that one so don't be surprised if you see it again some day. :P |
|
- Posted by toxcrusadr 5 (My Page) on Wed, Dec 12, 12 at 18:07
| Depending on how old the chemist is, you may hear them doing it too...what is now dichloromethane used to be methylene chloride, NOT a salt...oh what a tangled web we weave. |
|
| Y'all lost me a while back, though it's still interesting. Pat, what motivated you to use stone dusts? Where there was higher om levels, you got noticeable results? |
|
| Old spelling also for chloride was chlorid...oxide was oxid....and more |
Here is a link that might be useful: Cyril G. Hopkins circa 1910
|
- Posted by toxcrusadr 5 (My Page) on Thu, Dec 13, 12 at 10:27
| Ah yes, the great E Famine of 1910. |
|
| I was motivated to use stone dusts by reading about re-mineralizing. I have noted some results in some situations using azomite. |
|
| Glad to hear that, Pat -- I was leaning toward just getting some azomite. Tox --did you know that the E Famine of 1910 was known to snyesthetes as The Great Yellow Famine? (because, obviously, E's are yellow) |
|
| Notably my corn crop survived (and went on to produce an excellent harvest) a severe drought this summer that in my considered opinion wasn't possible (not in the soil I was using). This is hardly scientific of course, but in my mind the explanation was the interaction between the azomite and the fertilizer. |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Soil Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.