Need help finding Rock Phosphate in Central Florida (50mi. radius of Orlando)

Hey everyone! This is a fantastic website. I love you all. There's something so profound and beautiful and simple about what's being done here, in all the different ways and fields. It's full of hope and inspiring and encouraging and beautiful. But anyway, enough of that sentimentalism,

I'm in the middle of nowhere, in Ocala, FL, horse capital of the world, home of John Travolta, a few Wal-Marts, and nothing else. I'm looking to start a little 1/16-1/8 of an acre garden, and I'm looking for organic inputs, and I have been to many nurseries hoping to find a lead, but nothing. I can't afford to pay expensive shipping costs, like $40 for a 40lb bag, but I do have a little pick up truck I'm willing to travel in. I'm looking for basic things like soft rock colloidal phosphate clay, greensand, lava sand/rock dust/balsalt/granite/zeolite/azomite, seaweed, and things of the like. If it were only one thing, I would especially like to find the colloidal phosphate clay. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Welcome to Permies, Mark!

Your list of amendments is admirable, but expensive. Would you be interested in stuff that is roughly equivalent, but free?

How about calling you local power company and seeing if they are doing any line maintenance tree trimming in your neighborhood, and can you get a load of chips? Actually, for 5000 square feet, you might need two or three dump truck loads.

Is there a barbecue joint there in Ocala? If so, they throw out lots and lots of bones every day they are open. Bones are all you need to take care of any phosphorus deficiency.

Seaweed? Like you, I'm a 2 hour drive to the coast where I could go and collect some, but I haven't done that. Wood chips and chicken manure and biochar and drywall (for the calcium) are my main soil amendments.

When you say you want to add clay, is that because you have especially sandy soil in your garden?

As far as getting some biochar for your garden, follow the advice in this video. I believe he is somewhere in central FL, like you.

Hey thanks! Would it be a lot of work to make enough bio-char for a 1/16-1/8 (whats the fraction between 1/16 and 1/8? Maybe 1/10th? Lol. ) of an acre?

I'm in love with soft rock phosphate, I absolutely am. I'm in Orlando every once in a while, and I'd love to pick up a few 50lb bags. Does anyone know where they might sell Soft Rock Phosphate in Orlando, or elsewhere in Central Florida?

The ironic part is that I heard they mine all of this rock phosphate in Dunnellon, literally a few miles from me, and that Florida is the main extractor of rock phosphate and ships to everywhere else, yet I can't for the life of me find any, lol.

Hi Mark,

I live in Clearwater Florida and shipping fee for soft phosphate rock is around 75 dollars. Where you able to find it somewhere in Florida?

im not sure what phosphate clay is exactly but the way I understand it much of Florida is very rich in phosphate Florida has some massive phosphate mines in areas like off 17 south of I-4 and up in the area of I-10 near I-75. but the phosphate dug from the ground is processed with heat somehow and leads to huge amounts of toxic waste left over that was sold as a bill of goods to water treatment people across the country as fluoride which is pretty controversial and possibly very toxic. Last time I was in Ocala it was quite a big city and anything and everything could be found there. there are big dirt and rock pits somewhere around I'm sure with a little asking you can probably get a pickup truck full of phosphate rich shell rock. maybe try looking for aggregate sales, maybe call Florida tank lines I 'm pretty sure they are one of the biggest haulers and ask where they are hauling from. sometimes all you need is a shovel at the side of the road where these big guys are hauling from to scrape up enough for home backyard usage.
if you want some real good organic stuff, find a fresh water fish farm, they have to clean out the ponds every so often and the muck they push out is very good for gardens. good luck with your search