I was outside this morning adding things to my newly started compost pile until I noticed something in my bucket of rock dust.. life. To my surprise there were two small sprouts growing out the rock dust! Then hit me how important rock dust is as a mineral/soil additive. I already knew the importance of rock dust, but to see that it alone can support life is truly amazing. Just something I thought some of you organic folks might find interesting.. Heres some pics:
That's pretty neat. I purchased some composted rock dust a few years back and after having it for awhile went to use it one time and was pretty amazed to see evidence of fungal growth. Like you said (sic) "growing in the rock dust". That was something but your example is much better. Kewl....
Wow pretty cool to also know that the rock dust is able to support fungal growth as well. Im aware of it being used as like an anchor for the fungae to latch on to, but how or why it got there I do not not know. It seems to me like fungae would need some sort of nutrition to grow other than rock dust (assuming you were using pure rock dust). If only someone could explain..
Possum's working definition of 'compost' is required because it's obviously outside the paradigm of either thermophyllic or vermicomposting technologies. We're in new territory here! A new science if you will......
So in other words, its going to be hard to fully grasp the concept behind how fungae can establish itself in a rock dust only medium. Mainly because none us truly have the knowledge/sources to back it up. Is that correct? Lol.
Er, no. Knowledge or sources aren't required. Words have meaning and compost, composting and vermicomposting are good examples. Composting is a process that requires organic matter structured in such a way to provide for the development and growth of microbes using Carbon and Nitrogen materials. You could stack rock dust 100 miles long and 10' high and it could not, would not compost. It would just be a pile of rock dust. CC
I think I misunderstood your post (or you misunderstood me). Yes im aware of the process of composting. It is a no brainer that rock dust cant compost by itself. My question was how and why the fungae grew in solely just rock dust as possuum mentioned with his experience. I would like to know the process behind this.
So how did the rock dust arrive? Did it sit outside in the elements? How long did it sit? Did you buy it in a bag or at a landscape yard?
One tousand pardons. Words are important, very important. I used the word 'composted' inappropriately. The correct term to have used is 'decomposed'. The material was 'granite dust'. How to explain the difference between the two is not part of my memory and I'd have to look it up and cut-n-paste (not my personal MO). It was a subject 'decomposted granite dust' here in this thread 4-5 years ago, before the first software updrade that started slowing this site down with all the 'push' of BS addon's (LOL). I don't like content management addon tools and the internet. I like vanilla, simple search, text based. Anyway................... Sorry for driving y'all into the weeds for what have should have been a simple story LOL. The other potential 'issues' with my story is the bag of decomposed granite dust was never stored in an air tight container, it was always left in the dark, and concerns of humidity or air quality were never made. It is entirely possible that obvserance of mycellium was a result of something taken in by the air. I had, and still have the product, and it is now ~4-5 years old. .... words are important and I do stand corrected. .... and leaning slightly to the left. EDIT: I purchased this product through maestro-gro. It was a long time back.....
Possum So you're saying that a pile of rock dust 'decomposed' from sitting outside? Seriously? So I guess if I put a cup of rock dust in a gallon of water and sealed it and mounted it on a paint-shaker machine that in some period of time I would have liquid basalt? This is a joke, right?
Lump it seems to me you are always on my ass and I don't get it dude. I've done something to you in the past 5 years - FIVE years man - and I have not one fuckin' clue what it is, was, or coulda, shoulda, woulda been. In fact I've only ever given you public praise which I stopped doing a few years back. Decomposed Granite Sand FWIW I don't make shit up. I don't fabricate. I doon't cut-n-paste. And I always correct my errors and own up when I'm wrong. I just don't getcha.
Possum I looked at your link and took their description and ran it just through Wikipedia. Decomposed granite, also known as DG, is granitic rock that has weathered to the point that it readily fractures into smaller pieces or chunks of weak rock. Further weathering produces rock that easily crumbles into mixtures of gravel, sand, and silt-sized particles with some clay. Eventually, the gravel-sized particles may break down to produce a mixture of silica sand or silt particles and clay. Weathered, erosion, decomposed, etc. isn't composting...
A silly question, WTF is composting if it's not the decomposing of 'stuff'? I mean as a lowest common denominator, not splitting hairs as to the means. I've heard of rotted granite, which simple common sense tells me it is the same or similar to what Possuum (or the sellers), calls composted and I call weathered. Big deal, a rose by any other name and all that. It is sure as hell not the same as dust made from a fresh chunk of granite and hammered down. Wet
I'm not going to waste time going through the thermophyllic composting process. If you are having trouble distinguishing plant materials vs. rock particles then what's the point? Rocks are shattered, broken apart, et al. by things like ice deposits expanding in the cracks, lichen, falling from above and hitting boulders below, etc. besides erosion. Rock dusts are manufactured using rocks hence the inclusion of 'rock' in the description.