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Earth Surface Soil Remineralization Rock Dust  & Seaweed

Right now if you are a smart inventor, you will invest in the Rock Dust supply chain, the last thing you want to be invested in is chemical fertilizers namely those with a petroleum source. Infinite Industries is currently building a rock dust supply chain.

ROCK DUST could be called Magic Dust, what it can do, is eliminate three things that plague the world,

• Malnutrition

• Starvation

• Global warming

Pretty awesome feat, which is why it is going to get so much attention.

The details are below, but I had often wondered if the surface soil is soon depleted of minerals leading to the end of plant life then there must be a system in place to naturally remineralize the worlds surface soil. Otherwise plant life as we know it would have ended long ago. The process of remineralization of the earth naturally (designed by who?)  would include global warming triggered by naturally increased CO2, volcanoes, and ice age with glaciers to push and grind, and great storms. Perhaps man can assist nature as outlined below and stave off or lesson the effects. Otherwise we may see the effects of this planetary cataclysmic cycle. The immediate effect is bumper crops of radiation, disease, and pest and drought resistant produce, loaded with currently missing minerals and of superb size and quality compared to current produce. They are also organic.

Using Rock Dust Helps To Control Atmospheric CO2 Buildup and the Greenhouse Effect 

Minerals & Media

With the prospect of an earth made infertile from over-production and mass reliance

Rock Dust Puts Out More Than You Think

Progressive Review

Rock_Dust!   personal experiences

Rock Dust Grows Extra-Big Vegetables and Might Save Us from Global Warming

Research shows that many of our ordinary everyday foods have taken a significant dip in mineral content over the last half-century.

Food and the Climate Crisis: What You Eat Affects the Sky

Effect of Green Waste Compost on Peach Production
 

    Remineralize the Earth this site has some of the best intelligence regarding the matter

    We want real food the campaign starts now

This is what Rock Dust does, see the carrots on the left?

http://www.wewantrealfood.com/ We want real food the Campaign Starts Now

Using Rock Dust Helps To Control Atmospheric CO2 Buildup and the Greenhouse Effect

by Donald J. Supkow, PhD

Introduction

The atmospheric CO2 content has varied significantly during the past 150,000 years oscillating between about 200 and 300 ppm (Barnola et al, 1987). However, during the period between 1959-1989, the atmospheric CO2 content has risen from about 315 to 350 ppm (Keeling et al, 1989), with 1995 projected to average about 360 ppm. The modern rate of atmospheric CO2 buildup, therefore, is many times greater than previous rates.

The scientific community estimates that global temperatures are currently rising at the rate of about 0.45 degrees C. per century (Balling, 1992). There is still some controversy regarding the rate of global temperature rise and whether global temperatures may actually be decreasing or about to start decreasing (Hamaker et al, 1982).

Public perception is that the global temperature rise is caused by the burning of fossil fuels and forests which in turn is raising the atmospheric CO2 content faster than natural processes can remove the excess CO2 from the atmosphere. The concept that global temperature rises are caused by atmospheric CO2 build up is referred to as the Greenhouse Theory (Arrhenius, 1896; Chamberlin, 1898; Plass, 1956; Budyko and Ronov, 1979; Fischer, 1984). Other factors which are believed to be contributing to global warming are deforestation, desertification, urbanization and the buildup of greenhouse gases other than CO2 (Balling, 1992). In modern times atmospheric scientists have developed sophisticated computer models which attempt to predict how much global temperatures will rise at various assumed rates of atmospheric CO2 buildup (Krause et al., 1989; Hough ton et al., 1990, Annex).

Scientists world wide express concern as to how global climates may change as a result of the atmospheric CO2 buildup (Mintzer, 1992). Anticipated changes include overall global warming, global cooling, or dramatic changes in weather patterns such as increased storm violence or shifting rainfall belts. Most environmental scientists generally agree, however, that atmospheric CO2 buildup is not good for the environment. Scientists and environmental activists generally propose that one way to reduce the rate of atmospheric CO2 buildup (and presumably thereby reduce the rate of global warming) is to reduce the rate of burning of fossil fuels (Leggett, 1990; Ehrlich and Ehrlich, 1991; Mintzer, 1992). This paper will present evidence based on published data which indicates that it is technically feasible to halt the present buildup of atmospheric CO2 content without reducing the existing rate of fossil fuel consumption.

The Global Carbon Cycle

The pioneering work of Berner (1991) has shown in a mathematically rigorous manner that under natural conditions the atmospheric CO2 content is controlled primarily by the rate of weathering of silicate rocks. Berner (1991) showed that there are about 15 factors which control the atmospheric CO2 content but indicated that the primary control factor is the rate of weathering of silicate rocks, such as granite, basalt, gneiss and extrusive volcanic rocks. Silicate rocks contain significant quantities of calcium and magnesium, As the silicate rocks weather, the calcium and magnesium combine with atmospheric CO2 to ultimately form calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate (Urey, 1952; Berner, 1991) which is deposited primarily in the oceans in the form of limestone and dolomite deposits. The CO2 is ultimately returned to the atmosphere by volcanic eruptions.

Since the silicate rocks weather and remove CO2 from the atmosphere, this means that the faster the silicates rocks weather, the faster CO2 is removed from the atmosphere thereby causing the CO2 content of the atmosphere to decrease (Berner, 1991). Berner (1991) gives several factors which control the rate of weathering of silicate rocks, the primary factors being the total land area exposed above sea level and the type of vegetation growing on the land. Under this scenario, it is obvious that with a lower sea level, the total land area of the continents above sea level is larger and therefore the area of silicate rocks exposed to weathering is greater. Vegetation growing on the land produces organic acids (Berner, 1991) which percolate downward and increase the rate of weathering of the underlying silicate rocks situated within the zone of percolating ground water. Berner (1991) indicates that the rate, of weathering increased in geologic time because of: (1) the evolution of vascular plants which produce more organic matter and organic acids than primitive plants such as moss and lichens, and climaxed with 2) the evolution of angiosperms broad leafed trees) which produce a prodigious quantity of organic debris which falls to the ground, decomposes and then produces significantly greater quantities of organic acids which weather the underlying silicate rocks it a faster rate than plants such as mosses, ferns and gymnosperms (needle bearing trees).

The angiosperm trees not only (1) serve as a mechanism to increase the rate of weathering of silicate rocks, thereby releasing calcium and magnesium which combine with atmospheric CO2 to ultimately form limestone and dolomite deposits in the oceans, they also (2) serve as a mechanism to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and lock it up in the form of organic debris which is buried in marine sedimentary deposits which ultimately form fossil fuels (Berner, 1991). The quantity of carbon stored in trees and surface vegetation (560 billion tons) and soil (1400 billion tons) is significant, but is small compared to the quantity of organic carbon stored in marine sediments (12,000,000 billion tons) (Hoffert, 1992). Although trees recycle much organic matter, part of the carbon which is fixed by trees in the form of leaves and other plant parts is eroded from the soil every year and reaches the ocean in the form of organic debris (Berner, 1991).

Increasing the Weathering Rate of Silicate Rocks

Under the natural scenario modeled by Berner (1991), the silicate rocks are weathered by organic acids which percolate downward from the overlying surficial soil zone. It is therefore easy to visualize that unweathered silicate rocks at depth below the land surface have the highest content of calcium and magnesium and that weathered rocks (including weathered alluvial soils) at and near the land surface have the lowest content of calcium and magnesium. This weathering process reaches its climax in tropical rainforest areas which develop laterite soils that are virtually devoid of calcium and magnesium. One can therefore visualize an historical process whereby the evolution of a rainforest is accompanied by the evolution of a laterite soil and a deepening of the interface between unweathered and weathered silicate bedrock. Because laterite soils have a high clay content and therefore a relatively low hydraulic conductivity, one can intuitively expect that the rate of weathering of the underlying silicate bedrock will tend to decrease with time as residual clay soil accumulate overlying the unweathered bedrock.

Considering the natural scenario of silicate rock weathering, one can visualize that: (1) the greatest potential rate of silicate rock weathering exists within residual top soil at the land surface because the top soil has the highest content of organic matter and microbial activity, which, according to Berner (1991), increases the rate of weathering of silicate rocks compared to underlying zones, and (2) under natural conditions the top soil zone has the lowest actual rate of silicate rock weathering because the top soil contains weathering byproducts rather than unweathered silicate bed rock.

The global rate of silicate rock weathering can therefore be increased artificially by adding finely pulverized silicate rock (commonly called rock dust in Remineralize the Earth) to vegetated soil at the land surface world wide. Weathering of the pulverized silicate rock in the soil will then extract CO2 from the atmosphere and lock it up in the formation of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate deposits thereby reducing the atmospheric CO2 green house effect.

The average igneous rock contains 3.49 % Mg0 and 5.08% CaO (Pettijohn, 1948). The weathering of 1 ton of pulverized igneous rock when added to soil will therefore lock up 0.0327 ton of atmospheric carbon. The burning of fossil fuels and forests contributes about 3.4 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere annually (Oeschger and Mintzer, 1992). It would therefore require the weathering of about 106 billion tons of pulverized silicate rock per year to remove the 3.4 billion tons of excess carbon from the atmosphere each year. With a total global land area of about 33 billion acres (exclusive of Antarctica and Greenland) this would require adding a maximum average of about 3.2 tons of pulverized silicate rock per acre per year world wide. Obviously, adding pulverized silicate rock to desert areas would not be very effective because of the scarcity of precipitation and plant life in deserts. Therefore areas of rapid vegetation growth such as tropical rainforests would require higher application rates to maintain the annual 3.2 tons/acre average rate. Such a project of adding pulverized silicate rock to soils world wide at an average rate of about 3.2 tons/acre is feasible from an economic and a technical view point. For starters, pulverized silicate rock is available as a low cost byproduct of rock quarries world wide. In New Jersey, U.S.A., pulverized basalt (locally called stone dust or mill ends) costs about $10.00/ton delivered within about 50 miles of the basalt quarries. When this supply of rock quarry byproducts is used up, crushed stone can be pulverized at an incremental cost.

In reality, significantly less than 3.2 tons of pulverized silicate rock per acre of soil would be required to be added each year to halt the buildup of atmospheric CO2 because the weathering of the silicate minerals in the top soil releases trace elements which increase the productivity of tree and plant growth (Hamaker et al, 1982), sometimes by as much as a factor of four times. The increase of plant productivity would increase the storage of carbon in vegetation living above ground and in the underlying soils as well as increase the rate at which organic debris is deposited in ocean sediments. When factoring in the increased productivity of plant life, it can therefore be estimated that the average amount of pulverized silicate rock required world wide to halt the buildup of atmospheric CO2 is in the range of 0.8 to 3.2 tons per acre, assuming a halt to world wide deforestation. Increases in the value of agricultural crops and timber products resulting from adding pulverized silicate rock to soils would offset part of the cost of applying the pulverized silicate rock to the soils world wide. When other benefits of soil remineralization are factored in, such as saving dying forests, reducing world wide hunger and disease, averting disastrous climatic changes, and saving precious top soil, the cost of worldwide soil remineralization can be repaid many times over.

Acknowledgements

The author is indebted to Prof. B. H. Wilkenson of the University of Michigan Department of Geological Sciences for introducing me to the work of Robert A. Berner which forms the rigorous basis for demonstrating that adding pulverized silicate rock to soils can control atmospheric CO2 Special thanks to Don Weaver for reviewing the manuscript.

References

Minerals & Media

[5/1/2001]

Minerals most commonly added to soil or growing media include perlite, vermiculite, zeolite and mineral rock dust or granules. Always wear gloves and a dust mask when handling these materials, particularly the siliceous materials like perlite, vermiculite and zeolite, as the dust can cause symptoms like asbestosis.

Perlite, pure white in colour, is made by rapidly heating volcanic glass to about 1,200°C. It is sterile immediately after production and has no water-holding capacity. It is quite expensive, and its main use is for lightening potting mixes.

Vermiculite is made from a naturally occurring flaky type of clay. It, too, is heated, to 1000°C, producing hard shiny-brown flakes. Vermiculite is expensive and is not used much in potting mixes these days. However, it can be used as a covering for seeds to aid germination since the flakes retain moisture well.

Zeolite occurs naturally in many parts of Australia and is a product well worth looking out for since its use improves long-term soil quality and gives better plant yields. Its great value is its capacity to hold other nutrients, making them available to plants. Plant nutrients, such as ammonium, nitrogen and potassium carry positive electrical charges which are attracted to and held by any negatively charged surfaces in the soil. Leaching occurs if there are insufficient negatively charged surfaces. Because zeolite has a honeycomb structure and strong negative charges, it is able to attract and hold the positively charged cations for the future use of the plant. This makes better use of added fertiliser, meaning less can be applied. Australian soils are low in potash because it usually leaches out. Zeolite holds the nutrient so the plant can use it later.

When applying zeolite, wear goggles to protect the eyes, especially in windy weather. Use 250-500gm per square metre of soil, together with fertiliser, and water in well. It can also be added to pot plant growing media before applying liquid fertiliser. Zeolite has the added benefit of being an effective odour eater, so is useful on any kind of manure, including that of your pets.

Mineral rock dust is the dust of finely ground rock which has been quarried and crushed. It contains most of the minerals that plants need. These are released slowly by microbial action and by reaction with the acidity in the soil. In high rainfall areas the slow -releasing capacity is important.

It is also possible to get enhanced nutrient mineral dust in the form of granules. The granules are made using bentonite which not only holds the particles together but also provides calcium.

Tasmanian olive growers are getting great results from rock dust. In the home garden mineral rock dust or granules can be broadcast over the soil before or after planting. If changing to mineral dust as a fertiliser, remember it is slow-releasing, so gradually phase out the use of other fertilisers.

Contact: Zeolite Australia Ltd, P.O. Box 6, Werris Creek, NSW 2341 for more information.

Rock Dust Puts Out More Than You Think

Barrie Oldfield (Australia)

[Conference Day 4 @ 12:00 - Submitted paper]

Twelve thousand years ago the great glaciers of the last Ice Age finally melted away revealing a deeply scoured, rock-strewn landscape pregnant with new life. Ice sheets three kilometres thick are heavy. They creak and groan their way down the valleys. They grind the igneous crust of the earth mercilessly. And in 90 thousand years, the length of an Ice Age, they leave behind a bed of pulverized rock dust up to three meters thick.

This rock dust is the mineral base of the soil; rich in elements needed for plant growth, complementing the hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere.

In Europe, North America, and Russia, agricultural soils have been renewed ten times in the past million years. But not so the soils of Australia, for our country was too close to the equator to be covered by ice.

Australia's soils are, as a consequence, extremely poor. Phosphorus, copper, zinc, molybdenum, cobalt, and sulphur, are all in short supply. Our native vegetation is highly adapted to scavenge for every last atom of these elements in the litter of past life. Conventional farming knows nothing of this, pours on synthetic plant food to grow a crop, treats the soil as a hydroponic base, the cruelest blow to the last surviving life forms in the darkness of our land.

Six years ago Men of The Trees in Western Australia began work on rock dust, a by-product of the quarrying industry, to see if they could restore our 'non-glacial' soils. The results were astounding. Tree seedlings grew at five times the normal rate in the nursery. When planted out they continued to leap ahead, helping restore degraded farmland in our semi-arid wheatbelt.

But was it the plant food in the rock dust that did the trick or were other factors at work? Certainly adverse effects were apparent when rock dust was tested on wheat crops at the Society's trial farm, Amery Acres, near Dowerin.

Rock dust improves soil hydrology, it tends to buffer acid soils, it can provide potassium to plants on demand. But, most striking of all, it may defend trees from the effects of harmful electromagnetic radiation such as the excesses due to our thinning ozone layer.

This paper explores our observations to date.

Rock Dust - A Lesson From The Ice Ages

In the past million years or so the Earth has gone through possibly ten Ice Ages. For reasons we don't quite understand the planet cools down by a few degrees. As a result, the ice sheets, which normally cover only the poles, spread out and extend as far as the mid latitudes. In fact they reach almost half way to the equator. This period of glaciation lasts for about 90,000 years. Then, just as inexplicably, the Earth warms up a little and the ice recedes back to where it is today down in Antarctica, or up around the North Pole.

Ice sheets are very thick. They can be anything up to 3000 metres deep. Not only that, they move slowly, slipping their way down hill, grinding out valleys and rubbing down mountain sides. They are tremendously heavy. You know how heavy a bucket of water is. Imagine lifting that bucket if it were solid ice and twenty times as high as the Central Park tower!

This slipping, grinding ice scours away at the bed rock of the Earth itself. As it moves it loosens bigger rocks and boulders and these too help grind away at the granite underneath. And after 90,000 years of this there can be a whole new layer of ground-up rock up to three metres deep!

So when the ice melts there's this deep new bed of freshly ground rock containing all the minerals needed for the foundation of a good soil. This is why the soils of Russia, Europe and North America are so good today. They are rich and deep and farmers can go on ploughing them year after year.

Australia missed out. Our soils are millions of years old. The minerals in them have almost leached away so that what is left will only grow crops if we pile on superphosphate, potassium and all sorts of trace elements such as copper, zinc, manganese, boron and molybdenum. Of course if the soils are lacking in the essential minerals the plants will be lacking too. In fact some plants won't grow at all unless we constantly feed them with all kinds of supplements.

The Role Of Micro-Organisms

Now even though plants may take up some elements directly through their roots, there are other minerals essential to life which feed the micro-organisms in the soil. Every gram of soil contains perhaps a billion living organisms! Astounding isn't it? And only when all these single-celled creatures are healthy and thriving do all the processes of life come into full play. The micro-organisms provide food for other creatures; they help fungus to spread through the soil, the fungus attaches itself to plant roots and helps the plant to take up nutrients whilst the fungus takes a wage in sugar from the plant. And there are probably many other little games going on about which we know very little. All we can be sure of is that when everything is in balance the whole system is healthy and the plants really flourish.

Now that is what Men of The Trees is all about. We want our trees to flourish. We want them to grow fast and reliably under the most exacting conditions of our semi-arid country. So we are adding rock dust to the potting mix.

The first time we did this we made an astounding discovery. Every species we tried grew twice as tall as the control - and twice as healthy too! So that is one reason why Lucy Rogers has rock dust included in all the potting mix we use today at St Barbe Grove Nursery. It's also the reason why Men of The Trees has leased 23 hectares of land just east of Dowerin so that field trials can be undertaken to find out what we can about rock dust, how it works, and how it might benefit not just trees but all our crops and pastures as well.

But it will take many years before we can really be certain how rock dust works. One thing is sure. Being in at the beginning of a research project like this, discovering how to reverse the trend to desertification, how to grow healthy crops to feed healthy people, how to restore prosperity to our country is very exciting. And there's plenty of room for you to share in this venture too!

We hope that what we learn may also benefit farmers throughout the third world who also missed out on those Ice Ages and finished up with impoverished soil like ours.

Background

The Men of The Trees is an International Society of volunteers dedicated to tree planting for the protection of landscapes from desertification. The Society began in Kenya in 1922. Its first task was to save the tribal lands of the Kikuyu people from the advancing desert. The work was largely successful, not only in planting trees and stabilizing the soil, but in bringing about a new ethos, that this task was the responsibility of all people. Social forestry was born.

The idea spread world-wide. Today the Society is active in 48 countries around the world. In Australia there are branches in all mainland States. In Western Australia members number 1500. In 1996 they collectively planted 589,030 trees. Mostly in the wheat belt.

The Quest For Excellence

Being volunteers, the only reward members seek is the knowledge that they have done the best possible job. This has led to a considerable sharing of observations and experience over the years and the undertaking of a number of specific trials related to improvement of tree survival under semi-arid conditions. Today the Society holds an enviable record in this regard.

Trials aimed at improving seedling quality included, among other things, the incorporation of granite quarry dust as a fraction in the propagation mix. The results were outstanding. (Slides were shown demonstrating the growth rates and vigour of nursery seedlings grown in the 1991 trials.) Granite dust from the Pioneer quarry at Herne Hill was added at a rate of 15 to 20 tonnes/hectare. As the seedlings are grown in 50mm square pots this means each plant gets about 3.75 to 5 grams. Not very much indeed - yet sufficient to set that tree on its way, growing anything up to five times faster than without dust. Moreover, experience has shown that once the seedlings are propagated in this way they need no more rock dust even when planted out. They just keep on growing!

The success of the nursery trials in 1991 brought pressure on the Society to continue these trials in the field. In particular it was felt that the technique of using rock dust, sometimes referred to as 'remineralisation', should be assessed under semi-arid farming conditions for its possible value in improving the inherited non-glacial soils of Australia.

The Establishment Of Amery Acres

Largely drawing upon its own resources, the Society in short time leased an area of land from the Dowerin Shire Council and set about providing machinery, accommodation, infrastructure and a resident Manager to establish a 23 hectare trial farm.

We were delighted to receive offers of active support from the outset in the practical conduct of the field trials and in the tabulation and assessment of results:

1.      Bob Gilkes, Professor of Soil Science, University of Western Australia, provided considerable support and encouragement. In 1993 he supported the setting up of eight initial trial plots under the supervision of Visiting Fellow Dr Philippe Hinsinger from INRA, Montpellier, France.

2.      Dr Mike Bolland, Plant Nutrition Officer, WA Dept of Agriculture and Mike Baker, Technical Officer worked with us in the field giving excellent instruction in the setting up and conduct of field trial plots. At harvest they assessed and tabulated results and provided commentary.

3.      In 1994 support continued in the work of Masters Student, Catherine Coroneos, working under supervision on pot trials at UWA. Her report showed not only a potential for uptake of potassium from rock dust but also a greater availability of this element to the plant than in the soluble form.

A side effect upon which she made comment was the increased water infiltration rate noted in non-wetting soils in the presence of quite small amounts of rock dust.

4.      In 1994 a complex field trial was undertaken involving the setting up of 96 trial plots in an attempt to observe a range of hitherto anomalies and anecdotal observations in one scientific trial precinct. The result of these trial plots was to reinforce an observation made by a neighbouring farmer, Malcolm Borgward.

The Local Farmer Who Showed The Way

Malcolm Borgward farms 3040ha at Minivale, East of Dowerin. He has been applying modest dressings of rock dust (not granite) since l991.

He describes the land as 'medium mallee country', sandy loam over clay, maintaining a steady pH6 because he always puts the trash back and reckons this is the key to preventing acidity.

In 1992 the paddock had produced a Lupin crop. The land was top dressed with 250kg/ha rock dust and the Lupins were sown with 40kg/ha 'double super' in the box.

In 1993 he observed that weeds were becoming a 'rare and endangered species' so he decided not to cultivate nor apply herbicide. He spread another 250kg/ha rock dust. Having ascertained that the residual phosphorus in the soil was 25ppm he decided to use no artificial fertilisers at all, and with an offset disc air seeder put in the wheat crop. The wheat (Cadoux) was sown direct into the previous year's lupin stubble.

As the crop emerged, he again observed that weeds were no real problem, and decided against using a post emergent herbicide. As the season moved into September he noticed some germination of the Lupin, but again, before the critical flowering stage was reached the wheat took hold and out-grew the competition.

At harvest his crop went 2.2 tonnes/ha with protein in the range 9.5 - 10.8%. He had broken out of the exclusively chemical approach to cereal farming and demonstrated the possibility of meeting the Australian Wheat Board's target of 'Two by Ten by 2000' whilst reducing his costs and, in all probability, improving his soil.

Linking With Other Researchers At Home And Overseas

Malcolm Borgward's experience goes down in our books as 'anecdotal'. Much more work needs to be done in the field to verify his observations and to replicate his results.

The Society is therefore engaged not only in promoting field trials at Amery Acres and in providing every assistance to researchers but it is also forging links with those engaged in similar research overseas.

1.      In 1994, Sallie (Oldfield) and I visited Austria to make personal links with those who have already done a great deal of research in this field.

2.      A videotape was produced featuring Professor David Bellamy (explaining the principles of remineralisation) and Georg Abermann who markets rock dust successfully to dairy farmers in Austria. (That tape, Bellamy's Big Bang Theory, is available for $50.)

3.      The Society produces a report describing work done majoring on results of scientific trials. The emphasis in these reports is upon good science although interesting observations and anecdotal remarks are included to give insights into possible future directions for research.

A mailing list is maintained numbering some 550 recipients as at October 1996. Two thirds of these are in Western Australia. All are named individuals who are on the list as a result of expressing interest in the work. I am happy to include your name and address as a free service provided you give me a request in writing.

The cost of printing and mailing the Rock Dust Reports is met by Pioneer Quarries.

The Field Trials At Amery Acres For 1996

It is our policy to follow local farming practice in all we do at Amery Acres. The crop sown last year was Lupin as we were then in the legume phase of the rotation.

Feedback from Austria and earlier observations made in the nursery trials phase lead us to believe that soil bacteria, and particularly N-fixing bacteria, may be enhanced by the rock dust. The results were most interesting. Lupins grown on granite enriched soil outperformed those grown on the plot with the superphosphate/urea treatment. A heavier yield had been obtained at a 'fertiliser' cost of one twentieth that of conventional farming practice.

Yet when the trials had been conducted for wheat a year earlier the performance was quite the opposite. In one plot we even managed to grow headless stalks! And so simple explanations based on nutrient supply do not necessarily hold up. Other factors are at work.

Rockdust Trials - The Scientific Imperative

The following is a brief summary of our experience in the application of rockdust as a soil amendment. We believe that whilst numerous theories exist on how rock dust works, and even more anecdotal stories abound, none of this work will come to anything unless there is good science to back it up.

Whilst our nursery and field trials have been conducted under scientific supervision even these results must be treated with caution. Field trials on one location, over a four year period of contrasting seasons, can have only modest empirical value. Nevertheless they do give an indication for further trials on wide ranging sites. If resources and funding can be found we will extend the trials and fit together the mounting evidence.

Two things beyond all: we need the trust, gifts and goodwill of those who share the vision of healthy landscapes, and we need the patience to do all things well. May both prevail!

A Summary Of Our Reporting To Date:

1.      Granite dust promotes the fast and healthy growth of tree seedlings in the nursery.

2.      Granite dust particularly benefits nitrogen-fixing trees.

3.      Granite dust can provide some potassium to plants on demand.

4.      Although granite dust has a high pH it does not seem to raise significantly the pH of acid soils.

5.      Granite dust has been shown to reduce the yield of wheat under field conditions.

6.      Diorite dust may reduce weed competition to the benefit of a wheat crop.

7.      Quarry dust improves water infiltration rates to the benefit of non-wetting soils.

8.      Quarry dust improves water retention in free draining soils.

9.      Quarry dust benefits dairy pastures by promoting legume growth at the expense of less productive species when applied as an additive to slurry from cattle sheds.

10.  Granite dust has given a marginally higher yield from a lupin crop than either chemical fertiliser or a commercial rockdust blend.

11.  Composting earthworms prefer a feed ration to which rockdust has been added.

12.  Quarry dust may affect the way plants respond to electromagnetic radiation, in particular excess solar radiation.

13.  Granite dust does not seem to benefit well-nurtured gardens.

14.  Nevertheless a granite and marble dust mixture appeared to benefit garden crops grown on an alluvial loam.

15.  Granite dust contains 27ppm lanthanum, a rare earth considered by the Chinese to be a plant growth promoter.

16.  Quarry dust may deter wingless grasshoppers.

17.  Tree seedlings raised in a soil mix containing 5% granite dust appear to resist insect predation.

18.  Tree seedlings raised in a granite dust enriched potting mix appear to continue fast healthy growth after planting out under adverse climatic and soil conditions typical of the West Australian wheatbelt.

19.  There could be a link between the use of rock dust and the noted absence of fungal attack in the early stages of seedling growth.

(Putting observations 10 and 19 together may indicate a direction for research into controlling Anthracnose, a fungal disease threatening a $200 million industry in WA alone!)

Valued Input

Throughout the past seven years since the first very tentative rockdust trials were begun we have been well served by our Western Australian scientists:

·         from Curtin University Assoc Prof J. E. D. Fox and Assoc Prof Jonathon Majer;

·         from the University of Western Australia Prof Bob Gilkes, Assoc Prof Lynette Abbott, Dr David Jasper and Visiting Fellow Dr Philippe Hinsinger;

·         from Edith Cowan University Dr Frank Flanagan and Dr Adrienne Kinnear;

·         from Agriculture WA Dr Mike Bolland and Mike Baker.

To these and all their students who did so much of the field work and number crunching we offer our warmest thanks. As for the hundreds of days of voluntary work by members of Men of The Trees, well we just do that for the earth in the style of our founder, Richard St Barbe Baker, who set so rich an example.

The Radiation Stress Theory

Let me conclude with an observation which may be just as valid as any based upon more conventional science. It has been suggested by a group of Austrian researchers, among them the late Dr Gernot Grafe, Dr Maria Felsenreich and Dr Alexander Fries Tersch, that our planet and the life forms upon it are now suffering radiation stress. Their experience stems from the desperate need to restore Europe's dying forests and their observation that the worst affected forests were close to the alignment of the old Iron Curtain along which both sides were in the habit of aiming high intensity radar at territory on the other side.

In order to find a remedy they began by using humus materials in a logical move to restore good organic material to the soil. They chose grape remains from the vineyards. Grafe had already spent many years perfecting the composting of this material, one of the best ingredients for any compost heap! But as their work developed they found a need to include fresh minerals, and this they derived from quarry rock dust.

From the rock dust they developed a range of cylinders, castings and egg-like stones whose properties were able to benefit life forms, and particularly the water bodies over a wide range. Placed in the ground they acted rather like acupuncture treatments for the forest and the farmlands.

Have I an explanation for all this? There is one good example. Think of your watch. Possibly it is called a 'quartz watch'. If so it has a crystal of quartz (Silica) as its regulating mechanism, and it keeps very good time too! Granite comprises up to 70% of quartz . When stimulated by a small voltage the quartz crystal oscillates at a very precise rate.

All plants require solar electromagnetic stimulation for their life energy. Perhaps, just perhaps, there is something in the rock dust, a crystalline resonator for instance, that amplifies the beneficial radiation energies whilst blocking out the spurious radiations which we have inadvertently introduced through weakening the protective ozone layer and introducing all our communication technologies, our power grids, X-rays and atomic accidents, etc.

From around Australia, and many parts of the world, evidence is mounting that electromagnetic stress needs all the study and remedial treatment we can muster. The Felsenreich observations open a window of opportunity and action. In her wake a small but expanding group has taken up this work in Western Australia.

Like DDT, electromagnetic radiations of our making do not disappear harmlessly. But unlike DDT it is inconceivable that civilisation, as we know it, could not exist without its radiation generating tools of communication and welfare. Protection and remedies are therefore imperative.

References

1.      Philips A., Mayhew N., and Williams T., Living with Electricity, Powerwatch UK, 2 Tower Rd. Sutton, Ely, Cambs CB6 2QA. £9 +p&p.

2.      Kervran Prof C. Louis, (English translation, Abehsera M.), Biological Transmutations, Happiness Press, Magalia, California.

3.      A number of information sheets are available on our rock dust trials taking place on our farm 'Amery Acres' at Dowerin. Drop a line to Barrie Oldfield, 3 Over Avenue, Lesmurdie WA 6076.

4.      Remineralise The Earth, a periodical published two or three times a year by Joanna Campe, 152 South Street, Northampton, MA 01060, USA. Subscription $US25.

5.      The Felsenreich Manual, published by the Natural Resonance Study Group, $25. Chair: Anne Miller, 23 Morley Street, Maddington, WA 6107.

The hard-hitting science department of the Progressive Review has long argued for more attention being given to the remineralization of the soil as a way of increasing productivity. Now there seem to be other ecological benefits.

PAUL KELBIE, INDEPENDENT, UK - With the prospect of an earth made infertile from over-production and mass reliance on chemicals, coupled with an atmosphere polluted by greenhouse gases there seems little to celebrate. But belief is growing that an answer to some of the earth's problems are not only at hand, but under our feet. Specialists have just met in Perth to discuss the secrets of rock dust, a quarrying by-product that is at the heart of government-sponsored scientific trials and which, it is claimed, could revitalize barren soil and reverse climate change. The recognition of the healing powers of rock dust comes after a 20-year campaign by two former schoolteachers, Cameron and Moira Thomson. They have been battling to prove that rock dust can replace the minerals that have been lost to the earth over the past 10,000 years and, as a result, rejuvenate the land and halt climate change. To prove their point, the couple have converted six acres of open, infertile land in the Grampian foothills near Pitlochry into a modern Eden. Using little more than rock dust mixed with compost, they have created rich, deep soils capable of producing cabbages the size of footballs, onions bigger than coconuts and gooseberries as big as plums. "This is a simple answer which doesn't involve drastic life changes by anyone," Ms Thomson said. "People don't have to stop driving cars to do this, just spread some rock dust on their gardens. We could cover the earth with rock dust and start to absorb carbon in a more natural fashion which, along with reducing emissions and using a combination of other initiatives, will have a better and faster response.". . . The couple claim the technique may also play a significant role in the fight against climate change as calcium and magnesium in the dust converts carbon in the air into carbonates. Such is the interest in the theory that NASA in the US is examining it in preparation for growing plants on other planets. The couple say that the rock dust means that crops don't need water to produce harvests of magnificent vegetables. "It would be perfect for Third World countries that are usually unable to grow crops because the land is so dry," Ms Thomson said. "This could hold the solution for them."

BBC, APRIL 2004 - Cabbages the size of footballs and onions that fill the palm of your hand are now being grown in the barren soil and harsh climate of a Scottish glen where nothing has been grown for human consumption for the past 50 years. Moira and Cameron Thomson (on either side of BBC presenter Steve Chalke in picture) put their success at growing such healthy vegetables down to rock dust - powered rock from the local quarry. The anecdotal evidence is so strong that it has persuaded the Scottish Executive to invest almost L100,000 for the Department of Environmental Chemistry at the University of Glasgow to do some serious scientific research. If their claims prove to be correct, there could be huge implications for gardeners, for farmers, for human health and, according to the Thomsons, even in the fight against climate change. It seems impossible that a discovery of such importance can start in a Dundee garden, but the Thomsons are on the brink of finding out whether their work really has all the benefits they think it has in terms of better produce which improves human health, taking more carbon from the atmosphere, holding it in the soil and therefore helping fight climate change, making positive use of waste (including stockpiled rock dust), reducing the use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers, and improving poor soils in some areas of Scotland with few other economic opportunities. If it is proved to work in just some of these areas, it will be of enormous significance for all of us.

SUSTAINABLE ECOLOGICAL EARTH REGENERATION CENTER

PROGRESSIVE REVIEW, MAR 2000

- In one experiment in North Carolina, 500 five-year-old red spruce and fraser fir trees were treated with rock dust applied at various rates. After six months it was found that all of the rock-dusted trees had survived, while only 77%-87% of the non-treated trees had. Growth rate increases, depending on the size of application, varied from 5% to 39%.

- At the Hardin Brothers farm in Queensland Australia, rock dust has been used since the mid-80s. Among the results: fertilizer applications have been reduced by 80 percent. There has been a saving in fertilizer costs. There has been less environmental damage caused by runoff contamination. 25% higher yields. 20% increase in growth rate. There has been an 80% increase in production even using less fertilizer.

- In another case, glacial moraine gravel dust was spread on 10 acres. In an area of sparse rainfall and dry summers, and with no irrigation, the corn produced 65 bushels per acre, compared to yields of under 25 bushels per acre from other local farms.

- A study in Bavaria found that after 24 years the wood volume of the treated area was four times higher than in the untreated area. In the case of new pine seedlings remineralized with basalt rock dust, there were gains over the untreated area after the sixth year. After 24 years, the wood volume of the treated area was four times higher than in the untreated area.

- Another experiment by Jared Milarch, an undergraduate at Northwestern Michigan College, produced, by the 67th day, startling increases in immature tomatoes treated with montmorillonite clay.

- Your editor, who worked on his parent's organic beef farm even before the publication of "Silent Spring," is aware of the slow osmosis from ridicule to acceptance in matters of natural agriculture. My father had a hard time even finding a lawyer when he sued the Central Maine Power Company in 1960 for spraying along the farm power lines. The town lawyer took the case and won a settlement that to this day bars CMP from spraying power lines if the owner does not wish it. The remineralization movement is presently in a somewhat analogous position of odd novelty. The one person I have met in Washington who is sympathetic to the idea is Pentagon whistleblower Ernie Fitzgerald, who recalls steel mill tailings being successfully used on Alabama farms when he was growing up.

Everything,
plants and animals, need trace minerals to thrive and that is missing
from our fertilizers. A good example of trace element uptake is
selenium in Brazil nuts. Apparently Brazil nuts from the Amazon region
are very high in selenium, whereas Brazil nuts from most other regions
in the world don't contain it. Consequently Brazilian brazil nuts (and
now this just sounds silly) get a premium price.

Rock dust is a great way to replace trace elements in the soil. What
trace elements your plants get will depend very much on what's in the
dust that you use, but I have read several studies on it, none of
which have yet discovered any adverse effects.

Research shows that many of our ordinary everyday foods have taken a significant dip in mineral content over the last half-century.

Adding finely ground gravel dust to soils is a tremendous boost to organic agriculture and can make it truly viable by adding up to a hundred elements and trace minerals needed by all life. Rock dust also nourishes the microorganisms in the soil, whose protoplasm is the basis of all living things.

Mineral deficiencies due to soil deficiencies could be behind dozens of common complaints, for without minerals, vitamins don’t work. The body depends heavily on enzymic reactions for the production of many of the living biochemicals needed for full health. Enzymes in turn are heavily dependent on minerals and trace elements. Minerals are the bedrock of life.

Adding rock dust to horse manure increases the nutritional / mineral value of the manure.

Adding rock dust to your compost raises the energy level of the compost, increasing the bacterial levels of the compost.

Feeding the soil rock dust, you will be feeding the soils bacteria that is present in the soil, replenishing the soil with the vital minerals it now lacks.

Andy Lopez, The Invisible Gardener ( www.invisiblegardener.com ), seen on PBS and heard on Don't Panic It's Organic every sat mornings on CRNI.NEt radio, operates a worldwide club called Club IG and has over 8,000 members  speaks on Rock Dust,

The Invisible Gardener Andy Lopez goes to work with vinegar, a bag of flour, garlic cloves, peppermint soap, and a bottle of Tabasco sauce. He may sound like a Cajun chef, but he's actually one of the worlds most respected organic gardeners. He uses these items as pesticides. As time passes, more and more so-called safe chemicals are outlawed, he says, after society has been used as a guinea pig.

 Food and the Climate Crisis: What You Eat Affects the Sky

The typical American diet creates nearly as much carbon dioxide as the typical car! But it's easy switch to a climate-friendly way of eating.

Few of us realize it, but the food we put in our mouths each day dramatically affects the global climate. The typical American diet requires the staggering equivalent of 400 gallons of oil each year.1 That, in turn, generates, nearly as much planet-warming carbon dioxide as the average U.S. car creates.2

We all know cars cause smog and contribute to global warming. But our chicken nuggets? Our winter strawberries? Our Häagen-Dazs fudge swirl? You betcha.

Our country derives almost all of its energy from fossil fuels - oil, coal, and natural gas - whose use generates millions of tons of CO2 annually. And nearly one fifth of that energy is devoted in some way to food.3

Backyard gardens. Save the world!

Effect of Green Waste Compost on Peach Production

Harry Andris, Fresno County Farm Advisor, Fresno, California

Scott Johnson, Extension Specialist, Kearney Agricultural Center, Parlier, California

A research trial to evaluate the effectiveness of green waste compost, as compared to the standard orchard fertilizers of ammonium nitrate, manure, composted manure, and pelletized chicken manure, was initiated in 1992 and is currently in its final season of evaluation (1996). All soil amendments were applied at a rate of 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre in a replicated block of Elegant Lady peaches. Plot size is 49 trees per treatment plot and each treatment is replicated four times. All nitrogen sources are compared to an unfertilized control. Both furrow and microsprinklers are utilized in this 15-year-old orchard.

The following parameters have been evaluated: yield, disease incidence, insect damage, plant nutritional analysis, soil nitrate movement, trunk circumference, number of fruit per tree, fruit size, leaf water potentials, light bar readings, soluble solids content, acidity, fruit flesh pressure, postharvest characteristics related to storage, internal browning, etc. In addition to the cultural aspects and the postharvest storage aspects, a consumer taste test evaluation was performed on fruit which was harvested during the 1995 season. Two consumer taste tests were performed to evaluate fruit which was ripened for three days following harvest and on fruit that was held in cold storage for one week; then ripened to simulate shipments to the east coast.

The data thus far indicates that green waste compost compares favorably to our standard orchard fertilizers, when applied at the same rate of nitrogen. Significant differences are developing in leaf nutrient levels, organic matter content in the upper six inches of soil, and in the movement of the nitrate ion in the soil. An interesting observation with regard to brown rot disease was noted where the green waste compost was applied. In 1993 and 1994, less storage brown rot developed on the peaches where the green waste compost had been applied. This reduction in disease incidences has been attributed to the presence of Aureobasidium pullalan spores located on the surface of the fruit. When there are 2,500,000 spores or more, there appears to be no brown rot developing in stored fruit. Why the green waste compost treatment seems to accumulate more of these spores on the surface of the fruit than the other treatments is still under study.

The consumer taste test evaluation included three of the treatments from this study. This evaluation included fruit from the ammonium nitrate plots (petroleum based fertilizer) and from the manure and the green waste compost treatments. All fruit were comparable in size, color, firmness, and soluble solid content. Consumers were allowed to handle, smell, and evaluate fruit from each treatment prior to their tasting of similar fruit from each treatment (from which the soluble solid content and pressure had been predetermined). The results indicated that the consumers could not determine differences among the fruit except for texture. The consumers determined that the fruit flesh from the petroleum based fertilizer treatment was firmer than either of the organic fertilizer treatments. This was validated through statistical analysis, by using a UC firmness tester on each fruit prior to it being tasted by the consumers. The consumers could not determine any differences in any of the other parameters of color, size, shape, texture, or soluble solids. Prior to tasting the fruit, the consumers were asked to choose which of the three peaches they would prefer to buy. After tasting the fruit they were told the fertilizers used and then asked which fruit they would prefer to buy. When shown information about the fertilizer treatment used on the peaches, 84% of those who initially selected the peach that was later identified as "grown with conventional, petroleum-based fertilizers," switched to one of the two peaches labeled as 4 6 grown with natural fertilizers." None of the respondents who initially preferred a peach grown with one of the two natural fertilizers switched to the fruit grown with petroleum based fertilizer.

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