jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 6, 2021 12:48:46 GMT -5
So a comparison test was done side by side back in spring 2017. South American arrowhead was grown in pots filled with slurry next to pots filled with yard clay. All were fertilized equally. To the far left is 6 pots filled with slurry from moss agates and other agates collected from the Rio Grande area in S. Texas. The four whiter pots to the right were filled with slurry from highly alkaline coral rich in calcium carbonate. The left most pots with the agate slurry is leading. Note larger leaves, taller growth. Note root growth is more progressed in slurry too: The high alkaline coral slurry freaked out and distorted the leaves probably due to the high ph: In many cases slurries have promoted accelerated growth. Not with Borax added of course. Difficult-to-germinate Thalia Dealbeta seeds would germinate in slurry tailings better than generic clay soil. Micro-nutrients from the agates probably lent a helping hand in bettering growth and general plant health. Rest assured if tumbling rocks containing copper/antimony/lead/boron and other 'poisonous' metals the outcome would have been very different. Other materials like salt, extreme ph materials,etc would have also had different outcomes. It is hard to say if tumbling particles that make up slurry are small enough for the plant to process them on a higher level. Probably so.
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by tkvancil on Mar 6, 2021 13:00:05 GMT -5
Interesting... I had wondered about this...
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 6, 2021 13:06:01 GMT -5
Interesting... I had wondered about this... People have made comments about the make up of slurry for years on this forum Ken. There are so many many chemical and ph variations that it is near impossible to know what is causing gas (for instance). Or will their slurry kill grass or not. A mineral rich in copper like malachite should kill the heck out of plants. Granite dust is a fine additive to most plants. Lime would certainly help acidic soil.
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reeniebeany
starting to spend too much on rocks
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Post by reeniebeany on Mar 8, 2021 21:53:03 GMT -5
That is fascinating jamesp. We have mostly poor soil here and our housemate spends a lot of time making good soil to plant in. Ours tends to heavy, sticky, rocky. Slurry probably wouldn't be helpful here. But my mom's soil, about 25 miles away, is almost pure sand. It might be useful there.
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Post by fernwood on Mar 9, 2021 5:02:56 GMT -5
Interesting on the distorted leaves. This might provide a clue for those who use tap water for plants. Distorted leaves could indicate impurities in the water that people cannot pick up, but plants can.
I dumped some slurry water in my petunias a couple years ago. They took off faster than ever. Several wondered what kind of fertilizer I was using. The water did not have any Borax in it and minimal grit residue.
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RWA3006
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Post by RWA3006 on Mar 9, 2021 20:18:55 GMT -5
I put slurry in my garden and it seems to help. I try to be careful with material from southern Utah because some of it is radioactive and I figure I ought to play it safe lest I start glowing in the dark.
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USMC15
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I feel like I just came out of the tumbler ...
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Post by USMC15 on Mar 9, 2021 20:24:01 GMT -5
Interesting... I had wondered about this... People have made comments about the make up of slurry for years on this forum Ken. There are so many many chemical and ph variations that it is near impossible to know what is causing gas (for instance). Or will their slurry kill grass or not. A mineral rich in copper like malachite should kill the heck out of plants. Granite dust is a fine additive to most plants. Lime would certainly help acidic soil. I want to quote, " it is near impossible to know what is causing gas" and I have 1 word for that .... beans
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 11, 2021 4:36:14 GMT -5
lol
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 11, 2021 5:06:13 GMT -5
Most likely the ph determines whether or not a given slurry is plant friendly. A slurry must be ph 5.5 to ph 8 to make plants happy. More specifically ph 6.5 +/- .5 for acid loving plants and ph 7.5 +/- .5 for alkaline plants. The water source has a bearing on ph too. Florida peat bog soil averages ph 4.5 but Florida well water averages ph 8.0. Upon mixing the 2 plants grow exceptionally well. Rain normally closer to 7.0. The green zone is favorable for plant conditions and nutrient access(the wide sections of the black bars at ph 6.5 to 7). Aluminum at the bottom of the chart loves to kill plants. Plants have no use for it. And too much of any metal other than perhaps iron will kill plants as well. boron in Borax for example copper in copper sulfate
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 11, 2021 5:20:17 GMT -5
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Wooferhound
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Post by Wooferhound on Mar 11, 2021 14:01:36 GMT -5
I would have thought the Silicon Carbide would be hard on the roots ?
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 15, 2021 6:46:04 GMT -5
I would have thought the Silicon Carbide would be hard on the roots ? Maybe so woofer. They sure do deal with gritty sand well. University of Georgia horticultural department found that plants growing on the shoulders of gravel roads prosper more than normal. The gravel on such roads are constantly being crushed. Dust is shed and washes or gets blown onto the shoulders of these roads. Most gravel roads in the test zone are paved with freshly crushed granite. It only takes a couple of months of traffic to grind the sharp edged gravel into much more rounded stones. Does that mean we could do step 1 by dumping our rocks to be tumble shaped on a busy gravel road ?
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 15, 2021 7:05:38 GMT -5
Does road dust improve plant growth ? The grinding action of heavy vehicles does heavily grind the gravel laid on a road surface. This link brings up questions about the possible effects of dust: www.farmprogress.com/management/how-much-does-road-dust-affect-cropsAs mentioned above, the University of Georgia found that granite gravel dust improved growth. But granite dust is a known soil improver. Other type rocks may be detrimental. Limestone gravel adjacent to overly acidic soil should greatly help plants in overly acidic conditions. "The Georgia Cooperative Extension Service recommends 5 pounds of lime per 100 square feet, but that is for a standard plow depth of 8 inches. I prepare my garden patch to twice that depth, so I add triple the amount of lime. I use pulverized lime, which is finely ground and gets into the soil more quickly." 5 pounds of lime dust to 100 sq ft is the same as 2178 pounds of lime dust to 1 acre. I usually lime at a rate of 3000 to 4000 pounds per acre depending on soil test. But only every 3 years. Good plant growth is all about proper soil ph in the central clay belt of Georgia where high acidity occurs.
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karldubya
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Post by karldubya on Mar 16, 2021 14:09:51 GMT -5
This is interesting, I have a creek behind my house that I could (pan handle) clean my rocks in between stages but I wasn't sure if there was anything in the Grit or Polish that would hurt the wildlife.
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Post by greig on Mar 16, 2021 14:29:07 GMT -5
By me, it's not the road dust that helps plants but the winter salt that hurts them. There is enough salt thrown down that it is an attractant to deer and moose in the spring. Many get killed by vehicles when attracted to the salt. I should probably put out a salt lick in my forest to keep them safe there.
I am not sure about dumping slurry onto my garden, but have noticed the leftover acid from HCL etching will kill any plant it touches. I prefer to dump my leftovers onto a gravel driveway.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 18, 2021 5:07:21 GMT -5
By me, it's not the road dust that helps plants but the winter salt that hurts them. There is enough salt thrown down that it is an attractant to deer and moose in the spring. Many get killed by vehicles when attracted to the salt. I should probably put out a salt lick in my forest to keep them safe there. I am not sure about dumping slurry onto my garden, but have noticed the leftover acid from HCL etching will kill any plant it touches. I prefer to dump my leftovers onto a gravel driveway. Road salt surely not going to help plant happiness greig ! But it does attract salt loving mammals ? Not good, especially when attracting 1 ton curbside moose. Moose accounts for something like 40% of serious auto accidents in Sweden if article falls true. I have dumped step one slurry on the graveled greenhouse floor for years. The floor is now like concrete due to tumbling limestone rich coral making poor man's concrete along with a loss in permeability for water to drain thru. Some difficult-to-germinate seeds germinate better on the lime slurry floor.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 18, 2021 5:16:59 GMT -5
This is interesting, I have a creek behind my house that I could (pan handle) clean my rocks in between stages but I wasn't sure if there was anything in the Grit or Polish that would hurt the wildlife. Most clays are simply mother earth's slurry. Worn rock. Some rocks make healthy clays, some rocks make poisonous clays, just depends. Felspar based clay formed from eroding/worn common granite known as kaolin is valuable the world over for mining slurries and dozens of other liquid suspensions. The tastiest tomatoes and collard greens grow in kaolin rich soils. And corn that makes the finest moonshine. Iron rich kaolin make clothes real dirty and makes killer slurry additive due to it's high conductivity, lubrication qualities, and colloidal suspension capability.
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Benathema
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Post by Benathema on Mar 22, 2021 20:13:23 GMT -5
Been pondering a while... How far off are our rock slurries from clay? There are many videos out there showing how to isolate and purify clay from soils. It's not particularly complex, just suspending and decanting a few times. I've wondered if tumbler slurry could be cleaned up and used as a pottery clay. I have a small furnace for smelting copper and aluminum... Could test fire some small bowls.
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Post by stephan on Mar 22, 2021 22:04:55 GMT -5
I put slurry in my garden and it seems to help. I try to be careful with material from southern Utah because some of it is radioactive and I figure I ought to play it safe lest I start glowing in the dark. Just think of how big those plant getting the radioactive swarf would get. Of course, they would also be sentient and try to eat you.
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Post by stephan on Mar 22, 2021 22:10:14 GMT -5
Interesting... I had wondered about this... People have made comments about the make up of slurry for years on this forum Ken. There are so many many chemical and ph variations that it is near impossible to know what is causing gas (for instance). Or will their slurry kill grass or not. A mineral rich in copper like malachite should kill the heck out of plants. Granite dust is a fine additive to most plants. Lime would certainly help acidic soil. Depending on the dose, copper can help, especially where soil is acidic (not our problem, where I live). It is in many fertilizers, in form of CuSO 4. It is what gives it the blue color. Copper is also fungicidal. It does cause a problem if it builds up.
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