Dear Anna: as a would-be homesteader and blogger, I was wondering what your normal day on the homestead looks like in terms of time spent in the garden versus online blogging or documenting your experiences? I'm sure it varies according to the season, but I am still curious as to what a typical day looks like for you and Mark. Thanks! Karen CleanKarma. org

You probably are faced with two problems in determining if your attention to minerals is worthwhile: [a] the small effects of mineral improvements may be masked, as you mention, by other more important factors like weather, and [b] your metric to determine improvement may be too insensitive. Taste probably has little to do with mineral content and yields from relatively small plots may show a wide "probabilistic variance," losing the effect as noise in the data.

If the effects are indeed small, one has to wonder if the extra time, effort & expense of dealing with the situation is worthwhile if you're not a commercial farmer trying to optimize input vs yield.

Hi Anna and Mark and all,

One of the more interesting things I have read/listened to is a series of 'old' consultants talking about what works. I can't remember if it was John Frank's or Bob Pike's site.

But both of the consultants were asked what measurement they looked at first when growth was below standard. (They had been called in because things WEREN'T growing!)

Both said conductivity!! That got my attention.

I am an engineer. So I have designed and built several conductivity measuring prototypes.

From what I see this measurement may be useful. You can certainly see things you cannot see any other way. And the signals are big and clear.

A recent rainstorm raised the soil conductivity in my test garden by 7 times.

I suspect that much of the soil conductivity is NOT due to salt type conduction, but due to soil fungi and microbes. I haven't figured out a good way to prove this?

Anyways, I continue to measure and learn.

1/4 teaspoon of pro-start in a 4 inch plant increases conductivity by over 10 times. Over time it goes down and eventually you can see symptoms on the plant.

So after you see it go down a bunch, you apply some more 'stuff' to fix the problem, etc.

So this measurement looks hopeful. Maybe.

Lots of fun.

John

Anna, I’ve been chewing on thoughts of remineralization since you put up these posts. I’ve concluded that I’m ready to abandon Solomon’s approach simply because the sulfate powders he prescribes are highly soluble and can readily leach out of the root zone in a few good rainfalls, not to mention the potential adverse effects on soil biology. His technique appears to be predicated on the hope that the TCEC of the soil will instantly trap the added nutrients and prevent them from leaching. I just don’t see that happening. It just rains too much here in Connecticut and my soils have too little TCEC. I’m switching to rock powders such as Azomite or granite dust, or, ideally, free basalt dust from a quarry a few miles from my house. These dusts contain key micronutrients that can be readily solubilized as needed by the soil fauna. Whatever minerals are not taken up by the soil fauna will remain in the soil in rock form and won’t leach much. I like the thought of applying rock dust because it mimics natural remineralization that would occur via glaciation, landslides, or wind transport. I’ll continue to test my soil with Logan Labs to track remineralization and keep an eye out for gross imbalances, primarily regarding calcium. Thanks for the thought-inspiring posts!