Let me know if you want links to like and gypsum. I’ll grab those for you! Houseplant people you will always want to grab lime. Lime 🌱 geni.us/X8RPJ0 Gypsum 🌱 geni.us/isSrB
Thanks for helping me save 90 bucks I was going to spend on 20kg bag of Basalt rock dust. Instead I'll just mix some topsoil into my compost and get a bag of lime that costs me 5 bucks :).
Thanks for this video. Since I mainly do container gardening I started making my own mix a couple of years ago to save money. I have seen the video's of people recommending rock dust as part of a container mix. Looking at the products, they always seemed expensive. I mix large amounts at a time. 2 parts peat, 1 part perlite, 1 part top soil, 1 part compost. They I add a solo cup or two of pelletized chicken manure, and one of garden lime. Nice to know I have been adding rock dust all this time, and a 50 pound bag of garden lime is only $6.
You are awesome! I had been thinking this after watching Elaine Ingham, but I knew I was missing something somewhere. I'm going to have to re-watch this a few times 😁 thank you!
@@GardeningInCanada iirc she said there are enough minerals in the soil to feed your plant for a million years. You have the minerals, you don't have the right microbes. Definitely not her exact words but now my focus is microbes instead of nutrients and it's definitely paying off. In NC Florida it's hard to mulch enough, a foot of hay is pretty much gone in a year, but the improvement in the soil seems to be exponential
Hey, nice vids! Was really hoping to learn more about Basalt/volcanic rock dust. Its marketed to have all these minerals like you say but breaks down faster than other rock dust variants. Not sure if true? My main interest was the pH though. It supposedly buffers high and low pH. Which sounds great but its not relative to the plant im growing or explains what is considered high/low. Is it trying to bring it back to a more neutral pH (7)? As im wanting between 6 and 7. Lastly, would using gypsum to slightly lower a medium then be countered by the Basalt? Or is there any point in using both? For context im experimenting with different living/supersoil mixtures for indoor containers in a grow tent. But feel im building things without fully understanding their function beyond google and what info has been marketed. And more importantly, how they function with other ingredients or best environment, which i really battle to find info on. So apologies if it seems obvious.
Great info. I had no idea of the real benefits of gypsum rockdust etc. I have clay soil from the glaciers so I always figured it was chock full of minerals but it seems to be somewhat alkaline. If it continues to seem basic after testing, I will try adding a little gypsum. I'm really afraid to try the common acidifier as I've heard its another salt that can build up.
I just want to add a phrase that will be useful " that we know of".. I'm old and I've seen knowledge of the functions and benefits of many things change ;-)
Do you think the extra trace minerals could play a role in the micro organisms that break down organic matter making nutrients available to plants since they apparently aren't what the plants themselves need?
I've seen vids that say that coco coir is neutral in PH, so it's just peat that is acidic. So, if using coco coir in a soil recipe, don't use much regular lime. At least if what I've heard is correct.
OK ! You opened the barn door. Any benefits to green sand? I bought a bag a couple years ago (can't remember why), threw some in my beds and have used it in some potting mixes. I understand it takes months of soil microbial activity in order to make the potassium and trace minerals available to our plants. I figure it can do no harm, I have not seen any adverse effects when mixed in potting soils. I think it may be appropriate mixed into 25 gallon grow bags. Any thoughts?
I added 4 inches of sandy, alkaline topsoil that I got from a nursery. My native soil is hard clay and acidic. I can add elemental sulfur, but a rock dust vendor tells me to add granite rock dust. This sounds good to me, but I don't want to make the soil yet more sandy. My question is this: would the granite make the top 4 inches less stable? I want to plant green giant arborvitaes, whose roots go down 18 to 24 inches.
Slightly off topic, but I figured you could help. I am a retired chemist and I am very familiar with pH measurements of “clean” samples but I have no equipment at home and I was wondering if you could steer me towards “home garden appropriate” (ie very affordable) equipment and the proper technique for calibrating the equipment and sampling/testing methods. Thanks!
Yea… so right now there is not much for quality out there. But I’m actually working with some Canadian engineers to design one. We are hoping to have it available June. It’s completely inspired by the fact that it’s not available to home gardeners right now.
The term "rock dust " is a very general term , it can mean anyting , sand is rock dust so lets try to describe it better . we dont buy a bag of fertilizer that is just labled fertilizer .we dont buy it without having a NPK label .
I’m actually working on designing one with some fellow Canadian engineers. We are hoping to have it done for June this year. I’ll be making an announcement.
My water pH is 9-10 guess that's why I get tomato end rot thought it was calcium and it never helped. So if I use gypsum in the soil would that help? My father used lime . I never had a soil test done. But when there was enough rain the garden did much better . Last year was a dry year and I had the worst luck growing most everything except potatoes and garlic.
I just started to experiment with basalt dust. I think it can be a great medium for growing beneficial bacteria that would extract the minerals. I created a silt from dust and mix of some of my soil as well as coffee grounds (some sugar there too) and used tea leaves. Theoretically bacteria should better extract the minerals in such environment that in regular soil. What do you think?
Can I reuse my soil from last year if it had gnats and powdery mildew? I would revive it first with microbes and nutes. I also put peroxide in it at one point. My main concern is that the powdery mildew might come back
@@GardeningInCanada The use gypsum has here is on heavily salted soils like street boulevard strips or after a fertilizer spill it gets spread to help rid the soil of extra salt.
So you're saying there isn't an appreciable difference in the overall mineral levels and elemental composition of any of these rock dusts : balsalt, glacial, volcanic, fulvic or any other commercial rock dust products? I would also like to know if there's some value to any of these alternative rock dusts such as not altering PH of growing media or perhaps a ratio of minerals more suited to growing a particular category crop. (I'm mainly asking this from the perspective of focusing on the indoor cultivation communities that largely use soilless media/not using actual topsoil and not those who have an abundance of minerals like outdoor gardeners in North America as you mentioned) Thank you for your consideration in answering my question.
Anything without a specific heavy cat eye on our anti-exchange capacity is going to be relatively neutral when it comes to changing pH. So gypsum for example can a certify and high-quantities and small spaces. But if you have a large garden and you’re adding a small quantity then it’s pretty much inert and won’t change your pH.
How about the slurry from rock tumblers? I was going to start adding to the compost pile (as soon as it thaws out). Any harm in that? It is, after all, wet rock dust from the tumbling process. Agates, quartz and jasper, mostly.
Interesting how PH is tied to nutrient uptake. Question: if you were to start a garden, in Southern Illinois, what would be your first considerations? Earth's Medicine, I'll have to check that out Cheers Jason and Colleen 🌱🌱🌱
Yeah Ashley, could you do some research on Korean Natural Farming and JADAM stuff? Some of the stuff looks legit like the LAB serum, Fermented Fish (FAA) , and Water soluble Calcium phosphate from putting charred bone in vinegar. But some of the stuff looks iffy like gathering Indeginous Micro Organisms (IMO) on cooked rice and some were downright very questionable like the Oriential Herbal Nutrients (OHN). Also, as a Korean speaker the JADAM seminar videos in korean I listened to came off really culty. However, I agree with their general sentiment of using what you have available to you and I also appreciate how they try and help growers be more cost effective and independent. I was thinking about going Bruce Lee on this method and taking what works and discarding what doesn't.
@@francismeowgannou5322 the jadam stuff is legit. I use a few things from it but 1000 ways to skin a cat. The half cooked rice to get microbes works 100%. NKF has been around i just didnt know as much about jadam.
@@antMBTC As much as I want the rice thing to work, I'm just not sure what kind of microbes it is culturing. Would the microbes that would be beneficial for our garden and plants even be attracted to cooked rice? Not so sure. That's why I wanted Ashley to look into this stuff.
@@francismeowgannou5322 that makes sense. Tho putting the rice around leaf mold in a very active spot it whats best. Ive failed at this as well as done well.
Let me know if you want links to like and gypsum. I’ll grab those for you! Houseplant people you will always want to grab lime.
Lime 🌱 geni.us/X8RPJ0
Gypsum 🌱 geni.us/isSrB
Thanks for helping me save 90 bucks I was going to spend on 20kg bag of Basalt rock dust. Instead I'll just mix some topsoil into my compost and get a bag of lime that costs me 5 bucks :).
Ahaha that’s perfection!
Thanks for this video. Since I mainly do container gardening I started making my own mix a couple of years ago to save money. I have seen the video's of people recommending rock dust as part of a container mix. Looking at the products, they always seemed expensive. I mix large amounts at a time. 2 parts peat, 1 part perlite, 1 part top soil, 1 part compost. They I add a solo cup or two of pelletized chicken manure, and one of garden lime. Nice to know I have been adding rock dust all this time, and a 50 pound bag of garden lime is only $6.
Yea garden lime for the win
Ashley you're lovely! I admire your consistency, the past year of your vids has been consistency rewarding and educational
Thank you appreciate that
Hope you make a Kelp and Seaweed video sometime. Fish meal would also be interesting to hear about.
Thank You for the non-biased information without any agenda
Zero agenda here
This is a dream come true!!!
Hahah awesome
You are awesome! I had been thinking this after watching Elaine Ingham, but I knew I was missing something somewhere. I'm going to have to re-watch this a few times 😁 thank you!
Oh nice! She mentions it as well?
@@GardeningInCanada iirc she said there are enough minerals in the soil to feed your plant for a million years. You have the minerals, you don't have the right microbes. Definitely not her exact words but now my focus is microbes instead of nutrients and it's definitely paying off. In NC Florida it's hard to mulch enough, a foot of hay is pretty much gone in a year, but the improvement in the soil seems to be exponential
Accurate statement. It’s all there just need to extract them
Hey, nice vids! Was really hoping to learn more about Basalt/volcanic rock dust. Its marketed to have all these minerals like you say but breaks down faster than other rock dust variants. Not sure if true? My main interest was the pH though. It supposedly buffers high and low pH. Which sounds great but its not relative to the plant im growing or explains what is considered high/low. Is it trying to bring it back to a more neutral pH (7)? As im wanting between 6 and 7. Lastly, would using gypsum to slightly lower a medium then be countered by the Basalt? Or is there any point in using both? For context im experimenting with different living/supersoil mixtures for indoor containers in a grow tent. But feel im building things without fully understanding their function beyond google and what info has been marketed. And more importantly, how they function with other ingredients or best environment, which i really battle to find info on. So apologies if it seems obvious.
Still finding new and relavent videos to our research! Amazing as always! 😊
Yay, thank you!
StoneDust or RockDust is AWESOME stuff….we did a video on this. You should check it out!
love the braids and LOVE the channel
Absolutely ❤
Thanks for going in depth on the subject! Recomendations taken!
Awesome!
Great info. I had no idea of the real benefits of gypsum rockdust etc. I have clay soil from the glaciers so I always figured it was chock full of minerals but it seems to be somewhat alkaline. If it continues to seem basic after testing, I will try adding a little gypsum. I'm really afraid to try the common acidifier as I've heard its another salt that can build up.
Yea use something natural it’s also more long term
I just want to add a phrase that will be useful " that we know of".. I'm old and I've seen knowledge of the functions and benefits of many things change ;-)
This companies must hate you! For exposing they BS. No mater we Love you Ashley! Help on good work
Definitely don’t enjoy me that’s for sure 😅
Do you think the extra trace minerals could play a role in the micro organisms that break down organic matter making nutrients available to plants since they apparently aren't what the plants themselves need?
It’s possible but our soil also naturally is very high
My local shop was having a close out sale and they were selling them $5 for a 20lbs bag, just got it as an additive
very cool
Bird lands on head... doesn't miss a beat! ❤
Hahah yea. It’s a daily occurrence
I've seen vids that say that coco coir is neutral in PH, so it's just peat that is acidic. So, if using coco coir in a soil recipe, don't use much regular lime. At least if what I've heard is correct.
Basalt supplies the broad spectrum of trace elements.
Also if you have LED indoor lights your plants tend to use more calcium or magnesium or both.
Interesting!
OK ! You opened the barn door. Any benefits to green sand?
I bought a bag a couple years ago (can't remember why), threw some in my beds and have used it in some potting mixes.
I understand it takes months of soil microbial activity in order to make the potassium and trace minerals available to our plants.
I figure it can do no harm, I have not seen any adverse effects when mixed in potting soils.
I think it may be appropriate mixed into 25 gallon grow bags.
Any thoughts?
I’ll look into that. I keep hearing about people talking about it but I have no idea what it even is
EARLY'S farm and garden has it. Not too expensive either.
I have a question is wood ash a substitute for lime? Thanks for all the info your amazing.
It can but you can’t put as much because it can get toxic
I added 4 inches of sandy, alkaline topsoil that I got from a nursery. My native soil is hard clay and acidic. I can add elemental sulfur, but a rock dust vendor tells me to add granite rock dust. This sounds good to me, but I don't want to make the soil yet more sandy. My question is this: would the granite make the top 4 inches less stable? I want to plant green giant arborvitaes, whose roots go down 18 to 24 inches.
Slightly off topic, but I figured you could help. I am a retired chemist and I am very familiar with pH measurements of “clean” samples but I have no equipment at home and I was wondering if you could steer me towards “home garden appropriate” (ie very affordable) equipment and the proper technique for calibrating the equipment and sampling/testing methods. Thanks!
Yea… so right now there is not much for quality out there. But I’m actually working with some Canadian engineers to design one. We are hoping to have it available June. It’s completely inspired by the fact that it’s not available to home gardeners right now.
@@GardeningInCanada I hope that it can be done inexpensively.
I enjoy listening to your channel. Have you seen " Albert urban gardener. Leaf mold vs rock dust....
The term "rock dust " is a very general term , it can mean anyting , sand is rock dust so lets try to describe it better . we dont buy a bag of fertilizer that is just labled fertilizer .we dont buy it without having a NPK label .
Hi there, off topic but am wondering if you have a few recommendations for pH probes for around $150-$200? Thanks keep up the good work!
I’m actually working on designing one with some fellow Canadian engineers. We are hoping to have it done for June this year. I’ll be making an announcement.
Would Azomite be included as "Rock Dust", or is there other benefits with Azomite??
Yea very similar. Maybe a bit more course.
My water pH is 9-10 guess that's why I get tomato end rot thought it was calcium and it never helped. So if I use gypsum in the soil would that help? My father used lime . I never had a soil test done. But when there was enough rain the garden did much better . Last year was a dry year and I had the worst luck growing most everything except potatoes and garlic.
That is so high! for something like that I would say use elemental sulpihur
A video about zeolite would be great.specificaly clinoptilolite
What about rock dust in an aerated compost tea? Does that expedite the mineralization process?
it definitely would!
I just started to experiment with basalt dust. I think it can be a great medium for growing beneficial bacteria that would extract the minerals. I created a silt from dust and mix of some of my soil as well as coffee grounds (some sugar there too) and used tea leaves. Theoretically bacteria should better extract the minerals in such environment that in regular soil. What do you think?
1:52 calcium, magnesium, manganese, ???, iron and...
what is blibdimum???
Can I reuse my soil from last year if it had gnats and powdery mildew? I would revive it first with microbes and nutes.
I also put peroxide in it at one point.
My main concern is that the powdery mildew might come back
I would not reuse anything with powdery mildew unfortunately it is pretty insidious.
@@GardeningInCanada thank you!
How much gypsum would you need to apply to raise ph 1/2 a point on a 100 sq. meters of turf?
It’s so hard to say because things like bulk density will effect it. You only way to know is to add, water it in, wait a week and then retest
@@GardeningInCanada The use gypsum has here is on heavily salted soils like street boulevard strips or after a fertilizer spill it gets spread to help rid the soil of extra salt.
So you're saying there isn't an appreciable difference in the overall mineral levels and elemental composition of any of these rock dusts :
balsalt, glacial, volcanic, fulvic
or any other commercial rock dust products?
I would also like to know if there's some value to any of these alternative rock dusts such as not altering PH of growing media or perhaps a ratio of minerals more suited to growing a particular category crop.
(I'm mainly asking this from the perspective of focusing on the indoor cultivation communities that largely use soilless media/not using actual topsoil and not those who have an abundance of minerals like outdoor gardeners in North America as you mentioned)
Thank you for your consideration in answering my question.
There’s always going to be slight differences. But the amount difference and the bioavailability to the plant seems to be pretty much null and void.
Anything without a specific heavy cat eye on our anti-exchange capacity is going to be relatively neutral when it comes to changing pH. So gypsum for example can a certify and high-quantities and small spaces. But if you have a large garden and you’re adding a small quantity then it’s pretty much inert and won’t change your pH.
@@GardeningInCanada thanks for the scoop!
Anytime
How about the slurry from rock tumblers? I was going to start adding to the compost pile (as soon as it thaws out). Any harm in that? It is, after all, wet rock dust from the tumbling process. Agates, quartz and jasper, mostly.
That’s a really good question. Do you know with a slurry if there’s any chemicals added. Or if it’s just simply water?
@@GardeningInCanada Water, rocks and grit. That's it.
Oh yea then that’s completely fine
Interesting how PH is tied to nutrient uptake.
Question: if you were to start a garden, in Southern Illinois, what would be your first considerations?
Earth's Medicine, I'll have to check that out
Cheers Jason and Colleen 🌱🌱🌱
I would do a test. I can do a video on that
@@GardeningInCanada that would be Epic!! We took pictures and a short video of the profile if you interested.
Cheers Jason
Yea sure!
@@GardeningInCanada ok great I'll send a link and pics to your email.
Thanks again
Jason
are you referring to azomite?
What about glacial rock dust for people?
I know people who regularly add it to their smoothies.
Asking for a friend...
Oh that’s interesting! I have zero idea.
Have you done anything on jadam farming?
Yeah Ashley, could you do some research on Korean Natural Farming and JADAM stuff? Some of the stuff looks legit like the LAB serum, Fermented Fish (FAA) , and Water soluble Calcium phosphate from putting charred bone in vinegar. But some of the stuff looks iffy like gathering Indeginous Micro Organisms (IMO) on cooked rice and some were downright very questionable like the Oriential Herbal Nutrients (OHN). Also, as a Korean speaker the JADAM seminar videos in korean I listened to came off really culty. However, I agree with their general sentiment of using what you have available to you and I also appreciate how they try and help growers be more cost effective and independent. I was thinking about going Bruce Lee on this method and taking what works and discarding what doesn't.
@@francismeowgannou5322 the jadam stuff is legit. I use a few things from it but 1000 ways to skin a cat. The half cooked rice to get microbes works 100%.
NKF has been around i just didnt know as much about jadam.
@@antMBTC As much as I want the rice thing to work, I'm just not sure what kind of microbes it is culturing. Would the microbes that would be beneficial for our garden and plants even be attracted to cooked rice? Not so sure. That's why I wanted Ashley to look into this stuff.
@@francismeowgannou5322 that makes sense. Tho putting the rice around leaf mold in a very active spot it whats best. Ive failed at this as well as done well.
I have not yet! But I will. It’s been requested like five times this week
💚💚
❤️❤️❤️
i didnt even know this was a thing lol
Hahah love that
Everybody requesting reviews are cannabis growers. 😂
They love their products!
🌿🌿🌿☘☘☘🌴
❤️❤️❤️
Question, how do you get your teeth so white? 😁
I have been asked this question my entire life and I have no idea to be honest I just brush and floss