adding selenium to soil

Are there veggies, flowers or herbs that I can plant to add selenium to my soils?

Or do I need to acquire volcanic ash?

Selenium helps block the formation of free radicals. Can be found in egg yolk, seafood, poultry, kidney, liver, muscle meats, whole grains and seeds but the soil needs to have selenium for these to uptake... So I read....

http://www.naturalnews.com/016446_selenium_nutrition.html

No plant can 'create' selenium. Any dynamic accumulator can mine it from the soil if it exists there already.
Selenium is a very rare element.

Some plants require it in order to thrive. If you have any species of locoweed in the genus Astragalus growing, then you have an abundant supply in your soil.

If you want to import it into your soil, Azomite has selenium in it. Azomite is a byproduct of a volcanic eruption.

Thanks John.

No, but you can add selenium through tree spikes that slow release the selenium to the trees who then deposit it in the soils through their leaf shedding and wood decay when they fall down go boom. Additionally you can add it through something like kelp or other supplements. However, you'll need to keep adding it as the selenium washes out. Our farm is fortunate to have good selenium in our soils as we're up in the mountains where it comes from. Farms down in the river valley have less as they've had it washed out and in some places they have next to none. Selenium deficiency can cause serious problems with animal growth. See:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2012/03/24/mineral-deficiencies/

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2012/06/25/katya-gambling/

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2011/12/30/insulating-sand/

Lancaster Ag sells a .06% selenium product. Not very potent. But. I use it in planting hardneck garlic and onions.

Dave Rogers

A couple of thoughts Frolf..

First, Minnesota is interesting as parts of the state seem to have good seleniumlevels while other areas are low..It's right on the line. Here is a US gov. interactive map, you could check your county and see what local soil levels are.

selenium map

If you have livestock and are feeding them a mineral supplement, then the composted manure can be a source for micronutrients for gradual soil building. (Or maybe you know someone who has..) Organic sources are absorbed best by animals.

Interestingly, with livestock there can be problems from selenium deficiency in some regions and at the same time high-selenium toxicity issues in other areas.

People are increasingly finding they have low selenium levels as industrial agriculture gets bigger and more concentrated...lots of feedlot animals are fed up on grains that are grown on selenium deficient soils. If you eat meat, you might want to just source out a local farmer who pays attention to herd nutrition...maybe you can score some naturally raised grass-fed beef

This comes up while i am looking into adding sea water/sea salt to my desert soils.

Instant Ocean, and other salt water aquarium mixes have high selenium levels, but true ocean water is not supposed to be as high, but lots more trace elements too.

I think i am going to try a split down the middle of the garden....

If you want to increase selenium in your vegetables or fruit add:

Sodium selenite or Sodium selenate.

15 grams per hectare per year will give you high/optimum content of selenium in your soil.

1kg of sodium selenite or selenite cost around 60$ - the price of selenium supplement for 2-3 people for a year...

I will make a youtube viedo about it soon.

there's a yeast based selenium feed supplement too