Soil Mineralization Recipe?

I am looking to up the mineralization of my garden soil with the intention of more nutritious fruits and vegetables.  I have looked at things like rock dust, azamite, and green sand.  Wonder if the group has recommendations on these or other ingredients and a preferred recipe or ratio for their amounts.  

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

It is the microbiology of the soil that makes nutrients available to plants, not the application of more minerals.  Make the soil into good microbial habitat by disturbing the soil less, growing the greatest diversity of plants possible, maintain living roots in the soil for as much of the time as possible and keep the soil covered with plant residues and/or living plants at all times.  This will make the microbes fat and happy and they will do the rest.

What Jon said, triple strength. Until you have bioactive soil nothing you add will do much good, check my soil series if you don't believe us.

Bacteria have marvelous tools to break down minerals that are already in the soil then those same enzymes help fungi further process and transport those nutrients to the plant roots where they are taken up.
There is a series of symbiotic relations between soil bacteria and fungi that work to the end goal of plant roots (gathering up the nutrients the plant organism needs to thrive not just survive).

Redhawk

I used to use volcanic rock dust,  I have moved more toward using un sulfured molasses to help jump start the biology.


My favorite way of doing this is to make a tea with worm castings and molasses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=CxuCVCiamBw


This is a video of the micro organisms I brewed with it a few years back.

Mart Hale wrote:I used to use volcanic rock dust,  I have moved more toward using un sulfured molasses to help jump start the biology.

Thank you for your feedback.  Any details on how much to use or how you applied it?

Perry

I like 1/2 cup molasses to 3 gal. water when starting a compost tea brewing session, that gives plenty of fast food to the microorganisms I want to grow and not enough to sustain ciliates (the bad guys).
Even if some bad guys start to grow, when you add the oxygen by stirring or using a vortex apparatus, those bad guys will perish.

I have even started cultures of good bacteria and added those, agar agar and all to a compost tea when I really wanted to get things hopping right away.
If you have the ability to grow some bacteria cultures, only brew the batch for 24 hours otherwise you might run them out of food before you get them where you really want them to be living.

If a person wants an exact recipe, then they should get a soil sample taken, and the soil report will come back with a recipe of just what is needed to get the soil just what it needs.

Of course that is just a means to get the maximum growth, for the least amount of cost...

That is NOT soil health.

Soil health is what will give the food nutrition and vitality.

It is a smart farmer that uses both a soil report, as well as farming techniques that produce soil health. If a farmer does that, then they get healthy food.

I cannot give you an exact recipe because what works well on my farm, is going to be different than on your farm. Even my neighbors farm is going to be different than my farm. So it is best for the farmer to learn a variety of farming techniques, and then apply it.

Here is a case in point, "No Till Farming". That probably works really well in some areas, but where I live, our soil is just prone to compaction, and so it does not work at all. However, what we found is, minimal till farming is a great method that works here, so that is what we do, along with solid manure for tilled ground, and manure teas for grass ground. Even though we do minimum till, we still have really good soil health, and can back it up by soil reports.

So a person has to try different things to see what works best.

From what I've learned, biology first, then chemistry. Providing microbes in the form of compost and compost teas, as well as food for the microbes in the form of living plants, and dead organic matter.

The question that always arises for me is, given sufficient biologic activity, are deficiencies in soil minerals going to be a limiting factor?

According to Elaine Ingham that is not the case. She teaches that any soil will grow good crops, as long as you provide the right microbiology. I question however, if your soil simply doesn't have something, say for example boron, it just isn't there for the microbes to activate. Does it make sense then to have a soil test done, amend deficiencies, and also stimulate soil biology as much as possible?

This is the approach suggested by folks like John Kempf and Dan Kittredge and it seems to make logical sense to me. What do you think?

Good question Rick.

When you are building garden beds for vegetables specifically the first step is to create the best soil you can. Soil is dirt + healthy, active microbiome. (note, minerals are not part of this equation at this point)

Once your soil is occupied by a thriving microbiome (bacteria and fungi and all the other good microorganisms) you can then turn to a "complete" soil analysis to find out where your minerals are in concentration and completeness. (note: land based soils can have as many as 75 minerals)
If you want to supercharge your produce you would want to make an addition of a non purified sea salt (My preference is Sea-90 which has 97 minerals present) so that you are providing more than that 75 mineral count that land based soils can have.

From there, all you need to do is maintain your soil and keep it in a hydrated state. (this does not mean wet, hydrated soil can feel fairly dry, the moisture is for both your plants and your microbiome.

Most Microbiologist (including Dr. Ingham whom I admire) will state that all the minerals your plants need are already present.
I have found this to not be the case everywhere, there are places on the planet that have missing minerals, but compared to the sea, all land is missing some minerals.
My research combines the workings of the soil and the nutritional values of foods grown in the soil, I prefer to see as broad a spectrum of minerals present in my garden soils as I can provide the microbiome.
Better nutrition for the microbiome equals better nutritional values in the foods grown.
Better nutrition in foods equates to better health in those who consume those high nutrient value foods.

Redhawk

Perry Overton wrote:

Mart Hale wrote:I used to use volcanic rock dust,  I have moved more toward using un sulfured molasses to help jump start the biology.

Thank you for your feedback.  Any details on how much to use or how you applied it?

Perry

Borrow the book "Teaming with organisms "  from the library.     It has indepth details.      But Youtube has tons of videos on how to make compost tea from worm castings.

I feel I have quality garden soil already.  I started with good top soil and for the past three years have been adding compost spring and fall.  In addition, last year I started using a cover crop that is tilled under in spring.  Finally I have an aquaponic system, that I use water from to create compost tea and water my garden.  But will definitely have a  a "complete" soil analysis done.

I guess this is what I was really looking for:

Bryant RedHawk wrote:
If you want to supercharge your produce you would want to make an addition of a non purified sea salt (My preference is Sea-90 which has 97 minerals present) so that you are providing more than that 75 mineral count that land based soils can have.

Thanks RedHawk.

Perry,

I occasionally (once a year or so) remineralize with sea resources, as well. Living in a coastal state, I have the good fortune of being able to scavenge seaweed pretty easily, much to our teenage children's embarrassment haha. In the absence of gathering seaweed, I have used kelp powder, but I prefer seaweed because it is local and free. To mitigate any potential excess salt issue, I just give the seaweed a light rinse before putting it on the gardens. I have been using seaweed as a top dressing, much like one would use compost or chop-and-drop mulch, but there are other ways to use it if you prefer.

That said, I don't use much - either seaweed or kelp powder. As others have said, I largely rely on the soil biota to free up what's already in the soil, and that means just making sure they have a healthy, minimally disturbed home.

Hope this helps

~Rachel

I live in a Coastal state, and I go crabbing and clamming regularly, so I just bring back a 5 gallon bucket of water with them in it and distribute it evenly through the yard.
JohN S
PDX OR

Hi Perry,

In my opinion, if you want to grow nutrient-dense food and want to remineralise your soil.
You need to start with a soil test and a report from a knowledgeable soil consultant who understands how to interpret the results.
(Make sure the consultant and lab you send the sample follows the Albrecht principles.)

The results from the test will tell you what minerals are in the soil and the quantities of each.
The trick is to get the ratios of the minerals in relation to each other correct.
You should get a report from the consultant who will recommend the so-called recipe on what is needed to get the soil's mineral in balance.

If you would like to learn more about this subject I recommend you visit - https://bionutrient.org
Or if you need more info in this regard you can get back to me.
PS – I am a soil consultant and do this type of work in Australia.

Hope this helps.
Anthony

Perry Overton wrote:I feel I have quality garden soil already.  I started with good top soil and for the past three years have been adding compost spring and fall.  In addition, last year I started using a cover crop that is tilled under in spring.  Finally I have an aquaponic system, that I use water from to create compost tea and water my garden.  But will definitely have a  a "complete" soil analysis done.

I guess this is what I was really looking for:

Bryant RedHawk wrote:
If you want to supercharge your produce you would want to make an addition of a non purified sea salt (My preference is Sea-90 which has 97 minerals present) so that you are providing more than that 75 mineral count that land based soils can have.

Thanks RedHawk.

Perry, if youve got good living soil already I think Dr Redhawk has excellent advice, my one slight change is that I really like the sea mineral product called Sea Crop (sea-crop.com is the website). The only down side is that its a liquid concentrate (I think sea-90 is a powder) but you can use it at a .5 or 1% dilution once or twice a year and the main benefit in my mind is the super trace minerals ( things like Yttrium if you believe the theories put forth in Minerals for the Genetic Code).  How much garden space are you working with and do you live near the coast?

Turkeys!  Seriously -- turkeys are fantastic re-mineralizers.

They eat a lot more grit than chickens do, as their gizzards are much larger and more active.  As they grind their food, the grit also grinds down and passes through them.  Joel Salatan speaks of turkeys as being better for soil re-mineralization than anything else he's ever done.  He puts out hundreds of pounds of grit/gravel a year and his birds grind that all into find rock dust.

Another great source for rock dust is at a kitchen stone countertop fabricator.  As they cut slabs of marble and granite they generate a lot of rock dust.  They've got buckets of the stuff that needs to be hauled away.

Perhaps a good soil test would give you a sense for what minerals are lacking in your soil.  But a specific recipe?  That would be so dependent up on a wide variety of factors.  

Marco Banks wrote:Turkeys!  Seriously -- turkeys are fantastic re-mineralizers.

I was looking for a good excuse to get turkeys, this settles it!  :)

So we talked about sea weed and sea salt and grit for the chickens and turkeys.  My grit for the poultry comes from under the sea weed I am picking up, I consists of 1/16th to 1/4 inch sand and barnacle shell.

Bryant RedHawk wrote:I like 1/2 cup molasses to 3 gal. water when starting a compost tea brewing session, that gives plenty of fast food to the microorganisms I want to grow and not enough to sustain ciliates (the bad guys). Even if some bad guys start to grow, when you add the oxygen by stirring or using a vortex apparatus, those bad guys will perish.

I have even started cultures of good bacteria and added those, agar agar and all to a compost tea when I really wanted to get things hopping right away.
If you have the ability to grow some bacteria cultures, only brew the batch for 24 hours otherwise you might run them out of food before you get them where you really want them to be living.

====================================

Hey Bryant: I dug up all of my raised beds this year. The 4 large beds were sprinkled with 1 large bag of real charcoal pieces then tilled again. I've added a good layer of compost/manure mix (purchased) and then about a 3" layer of mulch (also purchased). I want to make a mix that will start the microbial activity early in Spring.  I did this in late fall hoping that some winter time activity of microbes happen under all of that cover.

SO, in your 'compost tea' you're using 1/2 cup molasses to 3 gal. water, and what and how much do you add for the compost? Would Alfalfa pellets do the job? OR, would already composted material from the bottom of compost piles work better? Would that mix cover my 4 beds that are 3 ft wide and 16 ft. long - 192 sq. ft. ?

IF I want to spray this on I guess I should filter it also  so it will go through the sprayer. Any other hints, tips, tricks that will get the microbes roaring in the Spring?

I believe using turkeys for soil remineralization was also mentioned in Mark Shepard’s Restoration Agriculture. It seemed to be most effective in rotational mob grazing systems with free choice supplements of individual minerals. That allows the animals’ appetite for what is lacking in the land inform their diet. I recently learned on the Jon Kempf podcast this free choice pf a diverse diet has been proven to be great for animals, from humans to livestock, in addition to the land they live and poop on.

Helen Atthowe and Carl Rosato's website here has a great article about balancing soil using organic minerals which you may find interesting: https://woodleaffarm.wordpress.com/enlivening-soil/

Helen is also the Garden Master Course instructor at permies and incidentally has a new excerpt available to watch below. Take a look if you have a few minutes to spare.


Watch the Garden Master Course: Soil Health with Organic Plant Residue and Living Mulch clip

For those interested, you can join in the discussion about the excerpt here:
https://permies.com/w/organic-plant-residue