Don't Need Rock Powders for Soil Fertility?

lloyd kinder (lkindr@hotmail.com)
Tue, 15 Sep 1998 19:10:18 PDT

(See Vol. I,
>#3, of the International Permaculture Solutions Journal). The same
>is true of other rock powders (with the same reservations), etc.
>* Keyline cultivation deserves a mention here because it is the only
>way I know to build soil using conventinal agricultural equipment.
>It too, releases the P already in the soil.
>
>If one has an absolute shortage of P, and it is essential for people to
live
>in that place for some (unimaginable) reason, then hiring people to
destroy a
>patch of earth somewhere else may be pertinent. Be sure to go over
your rock
>phosphate with a geiger counter though--it is often radioactive as it
often
>occurs with uranium which may be why you see it produced and marketed
>by nice folks like Kerr McGee. ... I promise to try hard to avoid
responding to further discussion on
>the theme.

[Why?]

>For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications
>(since 1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture
>Design Courses, consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and
>annual correspondence courses via email. Next course starts in
>November. Copyright, 1998, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52,
>Sparr FL 32192 USA Internships. YankeePerm@aol.com

Hi Dan. Glad Steve posted your note. What does it take for a person,
who's me or not, to get in your email correspondence course? Does it
take something like money? If so, how much? Or can I barter? What's this
Keyline cultivation business? What's the story? We have a small farm
which we just started to convert partly to organic this year. We had
some pasture ground that hasn't been treated chemically for a long time.
We got some info out of Acres, USA and from various organic folks and
decided to put granite dust and soft rock phosphate on our organic
ground and other fields. So now you and others seem to say it's likely
unneeded. That'd be great, but does it mean we'll have to learn some
special techniques? Or would just the Keyline cultivation thing be enuf,
whatever that is? We don't know much of anything about permaculture so
far, unless it's just along the lines of organic gardening. Does
permaculture work on a farm, or is it just for gardening, or small scale
growing? I'm posting this to the list, so if you don't answer
everything, I hope someone else will. A recent soil test showed that
we're low on calcium, phosphorus and sulphur mainly. I don't remember
how many pounds per acre of each, but none was near zero. Can we
actually get by without putting any lime on our fields too? I've been
reading literature from CASI, Christian Agricultural Stewardship
Institute of Dexter, Mo. From what you're saying, they must be wrong
too, since they advocate applying rock dusts, when soil analyses
indicate certain mineral needs. Organic growing is turning out to be
about as complex as the alternative health field. It's hard to determine
which school of thought is most correct. I sure hope our rock dusts
didn't give us radioactive soil. Aloha. Lloyd

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