Soil mineralzation myths debunked

VTMi'kmaq · Sep 9, 2016

backtracker said:
Here's a great place to get soil tested and it's cheap.
https://soiltest.umass.edu/services

uvm up here will test yer soil for free

Dr. Who · Sep 9, 2016

backtracker said:
Beans are high in potassium when you sell the beans you are selling your potassium along with other minerals and if you don't bring in potassium from off the farm you will eventually deplete the soil of potassium so how do us organic farmers get that potassium back on the farm.

#1: Did you even bother to read the whole post?

And more importantly!

#2: Potassium is not a mineral! We were talking about minerals!

But what the hell - here you go.
Plenty of potassium is replaced by spreading that manure sport! Not to mention that grains are rotated by field to prevent nutrient depletion.....Like I said earlier - Did you actually read my first post? Or is it you don't truly understand farming?
Not trying to be a prick but, I Farm!

Rrog said:
There needs to be an ample mineral base in the soil, and since you're not going to do harm with too much (within reason) rock powder, why not add it up front, right?

Then of course you are re-amending minerals when top dressing.

Mineralization is always a good thing

Exactly! I build my MM soils from scratch but, Um, didn't I say that at the start of my first post?

Dr. Who said:
First off, we (most of us here) build our own soils from scratch - right? When we build, we usually add a SRP or a RP. Along with some of us adding garden gypsum - correct?

The point I'm making is that when you re-charge your used soil. you don't need to use any more RP or SRP if you add back any compost or EWC......If you don't, (can't understand that - personally) you will have to at the same time you would your base material....Like Peat. Or at around 1.5 years of continuous use.

Dr. Who · Sep 9, 2016

VTMi'kmaq said:
uvm up here will test yer soil for free

Around here it's the MSU extensions or send it to the main campus.

Rrog · Sep 9, 2016

Whew. What a thread. You'd think minerals were toxic, expensive or just rare.

Mineral supplementation is good.

Rasta Roy · Sep 9, 2016

Rrog said:
Whew. What a thread. You'd think minerals were toxic, expensive or just rare.

Mineral supplementation is good.

Minerals are just easier to add to your soil and not as lacking as the sellers of bags of rock dust would have you believe. Mineral supplementation is great, you just might already be doing enough without dust, but are doing more than you need to, because of information from a cosmopolitan article from the early 1900's, that's all.

platt · Sep 9, 2016

Rrog said:
Mineral supplementation is good.

yeah if we repeat it twice we land in wonderland. Yipie!

Rrog · Sep 9, 2016

Minerals are like money in the bank. More is generally safer, and you wouldn't test if you had enough before getting more

DonBrennon · Sep 9, 2016

Where I am, the cheapest soil test I could find costs around £90 (the basic NPK & ph=£15 + £6-£10 per extra macro & micro), a 10kg bag of volcanic rock dust costs £5. Ok.......a soil test would give me more knowledge about my soil, for sure, but reading your plants can give a pretty good indication. I'd say, as long as it doesn't contain a high amount of something unwelcome, like with azomite and aluminium, go heavy with it, it's not as if it's soluble.

I can see the need for testing if you are running a farm and we are talking about huge amounts of rock dusts and minerals, but when your talking £5-£10 to re-mineralise a lot of soil................

edit........this test lab is also the only one who don't want to send a consultant around to take the samples.........that could be awkward LOL

Rasta Roy · Sep 9, 2016

DonBrennon said:
Where I am, the cheapest soil test I could find costs around £90 (the basic NPK & ph=£15 + £6-£10 per extra macro & micro), a 10kg bag of volcanic rock dust costs £5. Ok.......a soil test would give me more knowledge about my soil, for sure, but reading your plants can give a pretty good indication. I'd say, as long as it doesn't contain a high amount of something unwelcome, like with azomite and aluminium, go heavy with it, it's not as if it's soluble.

I can see the need for testing if you are running a farm and we are talking about huge amounts of rock dusts and minerals, but when your talking £5-£10 to re-mineralise a lot of soil................

edit........this test lab is also the only one who don't want to send a consultant around to take the samples.........that could be awkward LOL

I can't argue with that logic! Lol

VTMi'kmaq · Sep 9, 2016

backtracker · Sep 10, 2016

Ya I read it, "Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal" "Calcium is a soft gray Group 2 alkaline earth metal" for simplicity they are referred to as minerals or you can get technical. You will deplete the mineral or salt if you don't bring it in from off site unless you have figured out alchemy. I farm too and ya you are a prick.

Dr. Who said:
#1: Did you even bother to read the whole post?

And more importantly!

#2: Potassium is not a mineral! We were talking about minerals!

But what the hell - here you go.
Plenty of potassium is replaced by spreading that manure sport! Not to mention that grains are rotated by field to prevent nutrient depletion.....Like I said earlier - Did you actually read my first post? Or is it you don't truly understand farming?
Not trying to be a prick but, I Farm!

Exactly! I build my MM soils from scratch but, Um, didn't I say that at the start of my first post?

The point I'm making is that when you re-charge your used soil. you don't need to use any more RP or SRP if you add back any compost or EWC......If you don't, (can't understand that - personally) you will have to at the same time you would your base material....Like Peat. Or at around 1.5 years of continuous use.

backtracker · Sep 10, 2016

so sayith the expert.

The point I'm making is that when you re-charge your used soil. you don't need to use any more RP or SRP if you add back any compost or EWC......If you don't, (can't understand that - personally) you will have to at the same time you would your base material....Like Peat. Or at around 1.5 years of continuous use.[/QUOTE]

VTMi'kmaq · Sep 10, 2016

we;; backtracker i dont understand why we cant just let wont dont apply to us fly? You seem like an adult, and although i dont agree with your arguments at times i dont let that disuade me from listening to your thought process man. This is the internet brother. You and i are adult men who back in the day could beat the shit outa each other and have a beer afterwards without any police involvement....slowly our society has changed to asshates with tons of opinion(Not directed at anyone in this thread btw) and no fucken moral compasses or commen sense. I dont want folks storming off from these threads cause folks wind em up, if i can help it be resolved i will.

If anyone here thinks there an expert i got some meds for em.

Dr. Who · Sep 10, 2016

backtracker said:
Ya I read it, "Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal" "Calcium is a soft gray Group 2 alkaline earth metal" for simplicity they are referred to as minerals or you can get technical. You will deplete the mineral or salt if you don't bring it in from off site unless you have figured out alchemy. I farm too and ya you are a prick.

A big one, some say too!
I think the only thing you farm is your imagination! You sure didn't understand what I wrote in the first post!

backtracker said:
so sayith the expert.

YUP!

No farmer spreads rock phosphates on any regular sched. ! We don't need to!
So why ad RP or SRP back to every recharge?

THAT'S THE POINT OF THIS THREAD!

VTMi'kmaq · Sep 10, 2016

I grew up with a super sarcastic mother.......the marines taught me thats not a verygood way to gain folks respect in life.....

Rasta Roy · Sep 10, 2016

VTMi'kmaq said:
I grew up with a super sarcastic mother.......the marines taught me thats not a verygood way to gain folks respect in life.....

My respect can be won with sarcasm if it's clever enough! But I like a good heated conversation, a lot of people can't do that back and fourth though without taking it personal. But if you served time in the Marines you got my respect. Thanks for your service!

DonBrennon · Sep 10, 2016

VTMi'kmaq said:
I grew up with a super sarcastic mother.......the marines taught me thats not a verygood way to gain folks respect in life.....

I'm British.........sarcasm is intrinsic..............we often have to be careful with it, because most other cultures don't seem to understand it.............and that can lead to some major confusion...................and comedy

Rasta Roy · Sep 10, 2016

DonBrennon said:
I'm British.........sarcasm is intrinsic..............we often have to be careful with it, because most other cultures don't seem to understand it.............and that can lead to some major confusion...................and comedy

Love me some British sarcasm!

DonBrennon · Sep 10, 2016

VTMi'kmaq said:
I grew up with a super sarcastic mother.......the marines taught me thats not a verygood way to gain folks respect in life.....

Used to knock about with a gang of ex marines, while I was doing regular stints in Thailand. They were doing private security in Iraq, earning a fortune, going back to Thailand and blowing it all on Ket and Brass, they were hardcore and hard as nails. Shit, it was scary sometimes, but we had some serious laughs

VTMi'kmaq · Sep 11, 2016

DonBrennon said:
I'm British.........sarcasm is intrinsic..............we often have to be careful with it, because most other cultures don't seem to understand it.............and that can lead to some major confusion...................and comedy

Isnt it funny though....once we expose them to said sarcasm how quickly they assimilate in most cases to the sarcastic dark side lol?

All my family are navy except for the ww1 and ww2 era then my great grandpa flew in the air force over germany, his brother was attached to artillery there

I went into the marines to piss off my fathers side of the family who wanted me on a subermarine in the navy im sure.....

Soil mineralzation myths debunked

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