I was wondering about this as well.... I used to work as a tennis court resurfacer and we would add pure, really fine silica sand to the paint. I might try to get a sack or 2 for the garden/compost piles.
StickyFiskers Mr. Lisle's approach is unique to this discussion because he's coming from Steiner's Biodynamic Farming tenets. Good book that you'll find very helpful and full of information. Remineralize The Earth is a good source for information as well as sources for rock dusts around the world. This is an international group and not a supplier's blog. HTH LD
Kitty Litter anyone? agriculture-livestock Formerly Western Industrial Clay Products; my source at one time for bulk montmorillonite, pyrophylitte, bentonite, calcified DE I hope they still sell by the ton.
mossback1953 Yes you can. I will doing so when it finally becomes available in the Pacific Northwest which is pretty weird as Basalt is everywhere. Even my home is built on a basalt ledge that overlooks the confluence of the Willamette and Clackamas Rivers. Part of it is that the price on the Canadian glacial product is <$12.00 for 50 lbs. and this product pretty much dominates the scene here. My understanding from the farm store is that the Basalt product will be priced competitively with the Canadian product. I was thinking about mixing equal amounts of each as a 'rock dust mix' - maybe toss in one of the alumina-silicate clay materials for sh*ts and grins. LD
SF Got a link, or a cite, or a point in the right direction? I don't mind doing my own research, but figured a diatom is a diatom, is a diatom. Perhaps the way it's processed? IDK I had DE filters for both my pool and fish tank. Talk about gin clear water! Miss the fish, but not the pool. Wet
I have some potassium silicate made by a company called DNF (Dutch nutrient formula) would this be safe to use? It does not say much on the bottle and I do not want to mess up my soil by using this. I can easily get DE as well so this is good news.
[quote name='"wetdog"'] SF Got a link, or a cite, or a point in the right direction? I don't mind doing my own research, but figured a diatom is a diatom, is a diatom. Perhaps the way it's processed? IDK I had DE filters for both my pool and fish tank. Talk about gin clear water! Miss the fish, but not the pool. Wet[/quote] Wet - IIRC it has to do with the heat process used to treat pool DE. It turns the silicon dioxide to crystalline silica. Food grade is the stuff to use because of the levels of arsenic and lead to obtain food grade.
Doesn't DE breakdown into aluminum? I was instructed to stop using it... But I have used it since at least the 80's until recently
SkunkPatronus You're more than welcome. I've got 10 other cites that I'm reformatting to make them readable on this venue. With the horrible HTML support at GC it's a tough one. Think HTML 2.5 - circa 1994 if that. LOL LD
I thought I would bump this thread with a very useful study out of Australia that my friend LD emailed me today. LD, thanks for keeping the information train rolling through Grasscity. http://agripower.com.au/doc/4_A_review_of_Silicon_and_its_benefits_for_plants_English.pdf chunk