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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Robert, I haven't got any thoughts on
Hugelkultur I'm sorry to say. Actually, never heard of it before
!<br>
<br>
Clay won't get you any mileage. You want basalt dust. The fines
are an unwanted by-product fromn a quarry. You want it as fine
as possible, like talc actually and what buy from a quarry will
have some of this, but only a small percentage. The bulk will
be maybe 2 - 3mm, pretty small and it will work, but the smaller
the better. Bacteria are surface feeders and the smaller the
particle, the greater the surface area and therefore the higher
the pupulation of bacteria you can support. To get a good result
from rock dust, you should use it with compost.<br>
<br>
DJM.<br>
<br>
On 09/12/2013 4:22 PM, Robert Deutsch wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Rock
dust is a by-product of rock crushing plants, I think
granite is preferred dust for Ag use (could be wrong on that
point).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext">From:</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext">
Gasification
[<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:gasification-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org">mailto:gasification-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org</a>] <b>On
Behalf Of </b>Jeff Davis<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, December 09, 2013 12:10 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and
gasification<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Gasification] Biochar et al.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">David,<br>
<br>
<br>
I really hate to ask this but how does one make rock dust?
Kind of sounds like clay. Could I dig clay out of a pond and
spray it on my compost pile?<br>
<br>
What's your thought on Hugelkultur?<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
Jeff<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 12/07/2013 11:15 PM, David Murphy wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Joe, you might find it of interest to
look up John D. Hamaker on the net. He was an American
Mechanical Engineer who turned his mind (and subsequently
devoted his life) to improving soil by the addition of rock
dust. He saw global warming as a precursor to the next
ice age. He saw an ice age as essential refurbishment of
the earth's resources. His argument has a lot of good
solid logioc to it and it's worth adding to your store of
knowledge on the general topic. If he's proven right,
then we're in a lot of trouble ! If you want to study it
further I have a DVD I made from a tape he produced I could
let you have.<br>
<br>
Rock dust is a storehouse of minerals, all of which are
essential to growth. First to plants and then to the
animals which eat them - including us humans. Rock dust is
insoluble to water but not to enzymes which are produced by
soil benevolent bacteria - bacteria which are present in
soil with good OM and in compost. Many readers of this
string will be aware of it's benefits when used as
fertiliser.<br>
<br>
Seeking to remedy climate change purported to be caused by
anthropomorphic global warming is an extraordinarily complex
question. And seeking to make a contribution by
sequestering carbon as charcoal is in itself another complex
range of issues. The charcoal must be first ligneos
carbon - wood - and it is probably almost as good to lock up
some of that carbon in timber for building houses or making
furniture.<br>
<br>
I'd promote the first step by making the sequestration of
the carbon as part of a broader program of building building
soil organic matter OM. This includes animate carbon as
well as vegetative. At least get it up to 5% to plough
depth, say 10 inches (250mm) as a minimum, aiming at 20%.
That in itself locks away a lot of carbon, but of a
different nature, in that it's available to contribute to
plant growth, growth without the need for chemical or
artificial fertilisers. <br>
<br>
Every 1% increase in soil OM (world wide) would be a lockup
of around 30 billion tonnes of carbon in a world which
generates now (probably) 20 million tonnes annually. Just
for the record, the biggest emitter of CO2, bigger than
every other agency combined - every factory, airplane, car
truck tractor etc and so on - is the soil of the earth as it
respires. So, the more land we put down under crop to
feed the increasing billions, the more CO2 we produce and
put into the atmosphere. <br>
<br>
So, it's a race against a proven runner - so called mother
Nature - and she's a proven stayer.<br>
<br>
On the other hand, some of the wise owls are now saying it's
not CO2 at all, but PCB's causing the damage. Maybe
they're right - who knows <u>for sure ?</u> Nobody I'm
aware of despite what they say. It's all conjecture, some
of it soundly based, but still conjecture relying on
historical info compiled over a geological blink.<br>
<br>
Using charcoal and zeolite together is a bit like wearing
belt & braces with self-supporting trousers. It
certainly works !<br>
<br>
The easy and less costly way is to just get the OM into the
soil and plant stuff to grow and suck up all the CO2 and N.<br>
<br>
But whatever you do, don't stop the good work.<br>
<br>
David Murphy.<o:p></o:p></p>
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