What's new
  • Happy Birthday ICMag! Been 20 years since Gypsy Nirvana created the forum! We are celebrating with a 4/20 Giveaway and by launching a new Patreon tier called "420club". You can read more here.
  • Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!

azomite not available to plant for years?

O

Oxygen_Man

Member
I read a article adding azomite to soil is not effective since the minerals are not available to the plant for 3-10 years? is this correct or was the article I read completely wrong. Ive been adding it to soil and thought it was working wonders, I just want to make sure its not the plecebo effect if this rock dust is not "broken down?" or available to the plants for a couple years..... I green sand a better alternative?
 
C21H30O2

C21H30O2

I have ridden the mighty sandworm.
Veteran
azomite availability is dependent on particle size and microbial content. The more microbes the faster its gunna break down, especially if those microbes include archaea.
 
N

Nondual

Part of that depends on how biologically active your soil is as ultimately its the microlife that break things down and makes the elements available. If your soil is pretty dead then yeah it will take a long time to become available. If your soil is kickin with life it's a different story. If you're recycling soil then over time it doesn't matter and you can replenish as you go along. Azomite is kilned to dry which kind of turns it into an ash of sorts so more available. It started as a volcanic ash deposit any if I'm remembering correctly. The dude at the local hydro store, Aqua Serene which has their Roots Organics house brand, recommended to toss a little Azomite into the res when running their products in hydro.

Azomite is an OK trace mineral/element product.
 
N

Nondual

C21H30O2 said:
azomite availability is dependent on particle size and microbial content. The more microbes the faster its gunna break down, especially if those microbes include archaea.
Click to expand...
D'Oh! Beat me to it in general. Yes the Archaea are really key here. Biozome claims to be the best Archae product available. I chatted with the owner quite a bit a few years back.
 
C21H30O2

C21H30O2

I have ridden the mighty sandworm.
Veteran
I like your avatar nondual, ramanamaharshi! Even looking at his pictures -- peace.
 
N

Nondual

Oxygen_Man said:
green sand a better alternative?
Click to expand...
Missed that one. Green sand is different and much higher in K. I think the Azomite will be available faster. Both are OK as trace sources and good to combine IMO. In open agriculture with a highly biologically active soil you see a response from greensand additions in 6 months and lasts about 3+ years. This is based on tissue/sap testing. REv of Skunk magazine says he sees a response faster with his program in containers but he's never done any tissue/sap testing and just observation but he's been growing for 35 years.

I like your avatar nondual, ramanamaharshi! Even looking at his pictures -- peace.
Click to expand...
Ha ha. Yeah read his stuff and you're never the same.
 
VerdantGreen

VerdantGreen

Genetics Facilitator
Boutique Breeder
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
it might be slow release over a long time but i cant see how it would take 3 years to even start breaking down
 
C21H30O2

C21H30O2

I have ridden the mighty sandworm.
Veteran
you can use a new mix with azomite after a couple weeks. It works great and gets better with age. We aren't just building a soil for one grow cycle. But it will produce good results the first grow. Waiting a few months is ideal but not necessary.
 
O

Oxygen_Man

Member
cool, so Im going to mix earth worm castings, green sand, azomite, sphagun peat moss, plant success which has humaic acid, sea kelp and tons of beneficial fungi strains, and a little dolomite lime. Let it sit for a couple months in a open container? should I water lightly? or is that not neccissary? also will letting everything get active and broken down creat a too hot mix for my seedlings? I have looked intensivly for a worm casting company that has ingreadients I like and I found one company that feeds this protein mix to the worms, and ONLY this mix (Ground corn, ground soybean hulls, wheat middlings, dehydrated alfalfa, cane molasses, calcium carbonate, porcine meat meal, dehulled soybean meal, ground oats, ground wheat, dicalcium phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, fish meal, dried beet pulp, wheat germ, corn gluten meal, salt, soybean oil, porcine animal fat preserved with BHA, folic acid, choline chloride, DL-alpha tocopheryl acetate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, nicotinic acid, menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulphate, calcium pantothenate, vitamin B-12 supplement, vitamin A acetate, manganous oxide, zinc oxide, ferrous carbonate, copper, sulfate, zinc sulfate, calcium iodate, cobalt carbonate)
 
Microbeman

Microbeman

The Logical Gardener
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Yes Azomite is 'processed' via microbes and root acids biologically. Don't bother buying into the Biozome archaea (IMO!). The dude claims he discovered archaea...not. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/archaea/archaea.html The archaea in their product supposedly comes from harsh environments. Why use those when archaea are naturally occurring in soil and compost. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060817103131.htm

The reason why I use the term bacteria/archaea is because they cannot be told apart visually.
 
O

Oxygen_Man

Member
thanks microbe man. tell me about my mix(not sure if your familiar with plant sucees, mine is the souluable version, not granual) also, the worm feed. the castings come out like mice droppings and are LIGHT brown, which I read is what you want and also means they are pure castings, also ship in a breathable sand bag and slightly moist so super bio active and not dead when arrive.
 
Microbeman

Microbeman

The Logical Gardener
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Oxygen_Man said:
cool, so Im going to mix earth worm castings, green sand, azomite, sphagun peat moss, plant success which has humaic acid, sea kelp and tons of beneficial fungi strains, and a little dolomite lime. Let it sit for a couple months in a open container? should I water lightly? or is that not neccissary? also will letting everything get active and broken down creat a too hot mix for my seedlings?
Click to expand...

Treat your soil as if it is more alive than your plants. It will grow better as time goes by if given the space and organic matter it needs. An initial application of rock powders is likely all you will require. [e.g. rock powders last for years] I never bothered with letting soil mixes sit. The sooner there are growing roots in there, the better, to begin the life cycle. What are you meaning by tons of beneficial fungi strains?
 
O

Oxygen_Man

Member
Mixture of humic, seaweed and yucca extracts; vitamins and
beneficial spores
13 carefully selected mycorrhizal fungi, 2 tricoderma species and 17 bacterial species
I can only read each type from the package and I do not care to type all fo their scientific names of the species lol
 
V

vonforne

You might also be interested in recycling your soil. There is a ton of information here in OS for that. Most of us are using a no till recycled living soil now. Once you have made the initial mix and grow out a cycle of plants and harvest leave the root system intact and replant. Most only add minor amendments to the soil after this such as EWC and fresh compost.

For more details on your soils microorganisms check out Microbemans website.

http://www.microbeorganics.com/#What_is_Compost_Tea_
 
O

Oxygen_Man

Member
vonforne said:
You might also be interested in recycling your soil. There is a ton of information here in OS for that. Most of us are using a no till recycled living soil now. Once you have made the initial mix and grow out a cycle of plants and harvest leave the root system intact and replant. Most only add minor amendments to the soil after this such as EWC and fresh compost.

For more details on your soils microorganisms check out Microbemans website.

http://www.microbeorganics.com/#What_is_Compost_Tea_
Click to expand...

what do you mean by harvest, leave the root system intact and then replant> im confused a little. Do you mean like taking all the soil and re composting it? what do the dead roots do? add to food for the micro organisims to break down?
 
V

vonforne

Harvest your plants.........leave the stem and root system intact and plant right in the same spot. I grow now in 50 gallons totes. Many are doing this. Once your soil is mixed plant in it right away to establish a living soil. Once it is alive keep it that way.

Have you read the Soil Food Web? Google that. Great start. Also read the book ´Teaming with Microbes´ it will give you a more detailed view of what I am talking about.

V
 
O

Oxygen_Man

Member
question, wont the root space be restricted to the newley growing plant in that container,especially if the original plant was pretty root bound all the way to the top of the soil? What happens to the original root mass in that container?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top