Greensand as a soil conditioner?

Discussion in 'Soils, Fertilizers and Composting' started by chagey, Mar 27, 2006.

  1. chagey

    chagey Member

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    Does anyone have experience with greensand ? As an organically minded gardener, this has been intriging to me yet I've not found a lot of info on it.
    thanks much,

    Chris
     
  2. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    What matters is what's in your soil already and if this stuff would supply something that was needed, in the right amounts--and if it might even overload your soil with something.
     
  3. Cakes

    Cakes Member

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    Greensand is green and green is good in gardens.

    It is an iron-potassium-silicate.

    it has 5-7% plant available potassium

    It is an undersea resource and contains most of the things found in the sea.

    It's famous for being a water and nutrient gatherer.

    I used it and I will again but it was like a sci-fi flick. the possibility of being eaten by the things it can grow is quite serious.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 11, 2008
  4. chagey

    chagey Member

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    I just turned in several boxes to the extension service today to analyze soil and one of the areas being tested is a place where a Kousa dogwood has been slightly chlorotic for years, even though we have tired to lower the pH with chelated iron. Am pretty sure they do not show what microniutients may be deficiant though so that may limit how much I can be sure of greensand adding or overloading as you suggest . (of course what you say makes sense though) .

    I was wondering if anyone had some anecdotal experiences with greensand ...thanks much for your reply.
     
  5. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    I doesn't matter what greensand has done for somebody else unless they have the same soil and irrigation water as you. Same Product For Everyone is an artifice having nothing to do with the realities of garden soils and how they vary.
     
  6. Cakes

    Cakes Member

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    Love for everyone would be art and a feat, but yours smell Ron B.

    loss of color is usually a mineral deficiency, you are right. It was wise to search for a mineral filled stable and yet highly available substance like greensand.

    sometimes if you find a nutritional deficiency and want to correct it; then it is possible to diagnose the problem. It can be a lot of cross checking or what not and Yea, I'm like you, I'd like to find a great soil testing service
    >>I have volcanic pumice to test in particular. It comes in all colors, it's really neat. and I expect that each kind is a wonderful source of minerals and potassium that are especially valuable because they have been cooked so much. The manzanita bark grows very red and I think that it is special that every bush has a slightly different flower color although, taken as a whole, they all look incredibly similar. I am thinking of using the flowers to make pH strips.

    great pH paper can be made by boiling down red cabbage

    i'll post it here, wish i knew how to test for other stuff

    uh, Yea, back to the show;

    deficiencies in plants can be noted for their pattern of color loss, and shade of tissue left

    if the veins of the leaves are green and the tissue in between is losing color or vice verse, then it's prolly a micro deficiency (maganese, magnesium, calcium or such) and some of these would require cross checking for me

    but

    if the color loss is uniform, then, if the color left over is

    yellow - it can be from zinc deficiencies.

    or if it's

    white - it can be from iron def.

    Maybe zinc/ since dogwood gets yellow in the fall?<maybe i'm reaching

    you prolly know this rest, but i'll say it anyway>

    Tree leaves themselves are a good source of minerals. The manure from animals who eat things like leaves (like hay) is very good too. Pine needles would be acidic.<mulching and composting for a purpose. These things also might help toughen up the tree's tissues and thereby help it to retain it's heavy minerals/metals too? idk, maybe

    worms can help a lot when it comes to getting this stuff down to the roots

    Kelp (a.k.a. seaweed and sea vegetables) is also full of micros and metals (and it's a good toughener, known to help prevent freeze damage). and you can get all different kinds if you go online, and every kind is just a little bit different. Kelp can also come as a solid or liquid, and liquids are a good way to apply nutrients directly to someone. Plants soak up nutes through their pores and those stomata are on the bottoms and on the tops of their leaves. Stomata are usually open their widest when it is about 70F/21.1C
     
  7. Cakes

    Cakes Member

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    who's Moby?

    hey hey hey -

    Moby just called and they say magnesium salts might be ideal for your situation too. magnesium has a lot to do with chlorophyllic manufacture and such stuff and one of it's symptoms of deficiency is loss of color in plant tissue<although the veins of leaves have been reported to stay green< I don't know what the symptoms are for dogwood. Mg deficiency in soil is a widespread situation though. It manifests itself in plants as a slow developing problem that can be expected to progress from paling to browning of foliage.

    Besides having mg in it, it also has salt and salt will help make available the other minerals and metals in your soil. I know there is hype about how salt ruins soils but salt is also good for soils. and for soil life. For instance, mineral salts are a main food that microbiologists use for their bacteria when cultures are grown.

    Dolomite has mg in it too, although, being on the RightCoast, you might have alkaline soil? if so, you might want to add just moderate amounts of lime<hard to get dolomite without lime, as well as moderate amounts of greensand <which is idk how alkaline-but it's some.

    besides your soil being prone to alkalinity,
    dogwoods are also prone to like acidity
    =
    bad combo.

    (some dogwoods can even grow straight on rotted wood better than they can grow without it<they like acidity that much>composting and mulching for a purpose is fun)

    Sea water is a good fert for mg. it has lots of things in it, 70+ things generally. and you can even get salts from different seas online.

    oh, Moby reminds me to also document at this fine forum that magnesium salts are also called epsom salts and cost about $1 at the drug store and it can be applied at one tablespoon per gallon of soil.
     
  8. Cakes

    Cakes Member

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    sorry Ron B.

    Ron B., you were right about caution being called for when it comes to irretrievably large doses of fertilizers being applied to our substrates. I want to support you emphatically since i was counter productive a minute ago when i ignored your contribution.

    It's totally possible to have a great fertilizer be also an extreme pH and extreme pH's can kill you.

    example:

    my books say ash is a great source of phosphorus, but i used two tablespoons on a five gallon plant and almost killed it

    the pH change had caused a maganese lock out (or was it managanese? magnesium hows it spelt Ron B.?)

    Woe. i put me feet in it that time
     

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