green sand

[baymule]

Thank you for reviving this thread, I just learned about green sand. :tools

 

[majorcatfish]

where do you buy greensand i don't think I ever saw it in a big box store.

do not know where you live but here is a link to your or anybodys area dealer, you may have to call around to see if they carry it or not.
the first couple dealers that i called in my zip code, never heard of it.

http://www.espoma.com/p_consumer/find_dealer.cfm
buy the 36 lbs bag

 

[bj taylor]

i used green sand when i was starting & building my garden beds. i used it as "a little bit goes along way". not because it was hot or anything, but i was using it to input minerals into depleted soils. i used it in conjunction with lava sand and worm castings. in my, non professional opinion, that threesome is dynamite. the problem being cost and availability and labor (i needed little elves helping me & they never showed up). you will never find the three in a big box store. on rare occasion, i have found lava sand or tiny bags of worm castings.

after a bit i quit putting in the green sand because i felt i had added enough . then i piled on the lava sand & put as much worm castings in as i could afford. that stuff is priced slightly less than gold bars. over the years, i have concluded that the lava sand is the best bang for the buck. it is good for sand, good for clay, good for loam.

my landscape is geared toward low water usage, good drainage, and minimal help from me. especially as the years pass and my age advances

this tactic of mine has been directed toward landscape/plantings - not vegetable gardening, to which i am a newby and know next to nothing about

in my case i have clay hard as brick.

 

[majorcatfish]

i used green sand when i was starting & building my garden beds. i used it as "a little bit goes along way"

in my case i have clay hard as brick.

bj have you tried adding leaf compost to your soil??

 

[catjac1975]

I would not replace greensand for compost but use them both. I have found it at a grain and farm store but bought it online previously. It is recommended for a tired garden. I could never form a beet before I used it. The label should give an application rate. I just sprinkle it like heavy salt. And I am a she not a he. Cat as in Cathy. Hahahahaha.

For Slow-release Potassium & Trace Minerals New Jersey Greensand (also known as glauconite) is an organic source of potassium (3%). Mined from a 70-80 million year old marine deposit consisting of iron-potash-silicates and marine trace minerals. Naturally high cation exchange capacity, resulting in a slow release of potassium, useful for building the soil's potassium reserves, but not appropriate for quick remedy of a potassium deficiency. Apply at 1-2 lb/plant or 5-10 lb/100 sq ft, 500-4000 lb/acre, depending on soil analysis.

Catjac1975 mentioned adding green sand to tired soil in one of his posts yesterday. How much does it take? We were thinking about getting compost from a local dirt/rock company and adding it to our raised beds this spring (where we originally got the soil for our raised beds). Even though we compost and our chickens add fertilizer when they are out enjoying the garden, it has been 5 years since we built the raised beds Which is better, compost or green sand? If I am misspelling green sand please forgive me.

 

[bj taylor]

major, I have added leaves for many years. I am the lady who drives around in the fall picking up bags of leaves left on the curb. oak leaves compost very slowly here. in fact anything composts slowly here due to our dirth of rainfall. they're a help, but now I mostly use mulch for ease of labor purposes. it's not ideal, but it puts organic matter into the soil via it's breakdown

some of my beds are mulched with pea gravel. I enrich those soils by adding lava sand and worm castings periodically. i'll use a scuffle hoe to work it in slightly and top off with a little more pea gravel. this works well for the drought tolerant plants I gravitate to. it makes growing the mediterranean plants easier because it improves my drainage vastly. my lavender, for one, is very happy this year.

my raised beds for vegetables get more water from me, so things break down faster than in other spots. this gets the compost, manure, etc.

 

[majorcatfish]

yup greensand is good stuff, this spring while tilling up the main garden put down around 50lbs of it, everybody looks a lot happier than last years garden.
also mixed it in while adding soil to the raised beds.

 

[Nyboy]

where do you buy greensand i don't think I ever saw it in a big box store.

do not know where you live but here is a link to your or anybodys area dealer, you may have to call around to see if they carry it or not.
the first couple dealers that i called in my zip code, never heard of it.

http://www.espoma.com/p_consumer/find_dealer.cfm
buy the 36 lbs bag

Thanks for the link found place 3 miles away!!!: