soil remineralization: process and discussion

[idiit]

Mineral Deficiency: Linked to Every Disease & Sickness

Mineral depletion over the last century or so has been terrible, which in turn has effected the natural mineral levels in our soils, and therefore natural mineral levels in the food that we consume. Over recent decades, this problem has only gotten worse, as we continue to strip the soil around the world of up to 80 trace minerals that are essential for optimum health.
As it turns out, every ailment or sickness that you experience is due to a mineral deficiency. Therefore, if you have sufficient levels of all of your minerals, you are the closest you will ever get to “perfect health.”
“You can trace every sickness, every disease, and every ailment to a mineral deficiency.”
- Dr. Linus Pauling, two-time Nobel Prize winner
“The lack of minerals is the root of all disease.”
- Dr. Gary Price Todd
How Important is Mineral Consumption?
Mineral Building Blocks Mineral Deficiency: Linked to Every Disease & SicknessWith these vital minerals being the most basic of building blocks for proper health and nutrition, the above statements can hardly be considered exaggerations. To put it plainly, in a world with no minerals, nothing works. Enzymes and amino acids won’t work, therefore nutrients and vitamins can’t be broken down and absorbed. The world population would have major deficiencies in both minerals and vitamins. The final result would be a disease-stricken world full of poor health, where nothing biologically really works as it should… a world we are quickly making a reality.
“In the absence of minerals, vitamins have no function. Lacking vitamins, the system can make use of the minerals, but lacking minerals, vitamins are useless.”
- Dr. Charles Northern, researcher and MD
Nature works in a way that is best described as “everything returns to the Earth.” Root systems of trees will pull minerals from deep in the soil, die, and then decompose. This process returns these minerals to the soil, but at a much higher depth that animals and even humans can benefit from. Animals that consume these minerals will also die, decompose, and be returned to the soil. On a similar level, human and animal waste matter is also returned to the soil.
In our modern and present-day world, humans have disrupted this natural “circle of life”, lowering mineral replenishment by removing most waste and dead animals, clear-cutting trees and forests to make land for crops, and over-farming virtually all soils without allowing nature the time for micro-organisms to convert any remaining minerals into a usable form for plants. As a result of the addition of petro-chemical fertilizers, today we really only return nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to the soil, which might bring lush growth, but growth that is lacking nutrients on a major level.
“The alarming fact is that fruits, vegetables and grain now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contain enough of certain minerals are starving us-no matter how much of them we eat. No man of today can eat enough fruits and vegetables to supply his system with the minerals he requires for perfect health because his stomach isn’t big enough to hold them.”
- Senate Document 264 regarding mineral deficiencies affecting U.S. farmland, (issued in 1936)

Minerals & Nutrition: Those Were the Days
We’ve applied herbicides and pesticides that actually kill off vital micro-organisms, that are responsible for converting remaining minerals into usable forms for plants, which as a result, effects animal and human mineral consumption.
As a result of extended use of “maximum yield” farming methods and fertilizers, North American soil content has had an average of 85% mineral depletion spanning over the last 100 years, making it the most depleted of any continent on Earth.
Just to offer an example, spinach we eat today contains maybe 15% of the nutrition that the same spinach would have contained 60 years ago. In the end, our society today is that much more unhealthy, and it’s obvious everywhere that you look.

http://healthydebates.com/mineral-deficiency-linked-every-disease-sickness/

^^ this is important stuff.

just because you add trace minerals to your growing medium does not mean they are available for uptake.

 

[idiit]

google "plant disease caused by mineral deficiency"

800k hits

https://www.google.com/webhp?source...#q=plant disease caused by mineral deficiency

 

[EclipseFour20]

google "plant disease caused by mineral deficiency"

800k hits

https://www.google.com/webhp?source...#q=plant disease caused by mineral deficiency

IMHO, one thing better than "googling" about plant disease and minerals is to read what the pros say.

"Interactions between plants, nutrients, and disease pathogens are very complex and not completely understood.
Nutrition, although frequently unrecognized, has always been a primary component of disease control. Most soils and
environments where plants are cultivated contain an abundance of disease pathogens. On the most basic level, plants
suffering a nutrient stress will be less vigorous and more susceptible to a variety of diseases. In this respect, all
nutrients affect plant disease. However, some nutrient elements have a direct and greater impact on plant diseases than
others. This paper discusses the more significant nutrients and their interactions with disease.

Disease resistance in plants is primarily a function of genetics. However, the ability of a plant to express its genetic
potential for disease resistance can be affected by mineral nutrition. Plant species or varieties that have a high genetic
resistant to a disease are likely to be less affected by changes in nutrition than plants only tolerant of diseases. Those
that are genetically highly susceptible will likely remain susceptible with nutritional regimes that greatly improve the
disease resistance in less susceptible or tolerant plants. As Dr. D. M. Huber states “It is clear that the severity of
most diseases can be reduced and the chemical, biological, or genetic control of many plant pathogens
enhanced by proper nutrition”. Fertilizer recommendations are developed to optimize nutrient uptake and provide
the crop with adequate nutrients for normal growth and yield. In most situations, this level of nutrients will also be
sufficient to enable the crop to maximize disease resistance. However, there are cases where nutrient applications
higher than needed for optimum growth can result in improved disease resistance."

The attached paper by Spectrum Analytic titled, "THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NUTRIENTS and OTHER ELEMENTS To PLANT DISEASES" is worthy to add to your library.

And...thinking out of the box, is the concept of "beneficial minerals"--

"Essential elements are required to complete an organism’s
life cycle. Of the 92 known elements on earth, 17 are
known to be essential to all plants. They are divided into
macronutrients and micronutrients. The macronutrients
include C, H, O, Ca, K, Mg, N, S, and P, of which C, H
and O make up roughly 95% of plant dry matter....The micronutrients (also called trace elements) include
Cl, B, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, and Zn....

Elements that promote growth and may be essential to
particular taxa but are not required by all plants are called
beneficial elements. The five most investigated beneficial
elements are Al, Co, Na, Se, and Si. All of these elements
promote growth for various taxa under certain environmental
conditions, however, the function and concentration
varies for each element and plant species."

The 2nd attachment titled "Physiological functions of beneficial elements" is a very interesting read.

BTW, very few garden/agricultural products contain all 92 natural elements--unless it is sourced from the ocean.

 

[cimenk_hel]

Old thread, let's see if anyone with knowledge sees this...

Given a choice of zeolite, azomite and basalt, and with an aim to add silica and trace elements to a soil mix, do you think I'd be alright skipping azomite (much more expensive than zeolite and basalt)? It's possible to also use diatomacious earth (here I don't mean as a pesticide, but as a soil amendment), would this add anything useful to a mix of zeolite and basalt (and possibly azomite if you insist

 

[TerraPretaGrown]

I have added basalt, diatomaceous earth, and volcanic ash in my soil for minerals. I also use biochar. I have not added azomite to my soil, my plants are all healthy.