Rock dust..any thoughts?

[bobbin]

Morning All.
My allotment neighbour kindly gave me a good sized tub of Rock Dust to try. He uses it for almost everything. He's a seasoned allotmenteer and our allotment supervisor so I value his opinion. He seemed to avoid Broad bean rust and some other nasties last year that the rest of us fell foul to.
Just wondered if any of you use it, I know it has other similar names such as rock compost. The stuff I have isn't mixed with anything.
Any thoughts

[veggiechicken]

Quite a few old thoughts!
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ust_69010.html

I'm sure there are more somewhere.

[Snadger]

My thoughts are that its overpriced for what it is. Can't say that i noticed any differnce when I tried it, although i didn't have a control area.

[fishpond]

Never felt the need to try it.
My opinion:-
Better off spending the money on manure or seeds or something you need.

[Thelma Sanders]

There are fewer minerals in modern veg than in days past, testing has proved this with published results (think the link to them is on one of the previous threads shown)

Modern veg can look and taste beautiful - how would anyone tell if there were more minerals in the veggies grown after the addition of rock dust? Only by doing complicated testing, obviously, so I don't know if by adding it, my veg is better for me or not.

I decided that adding it to my soil was worth the one off cost, not a lot in the been&queued sale! at any rate it couldn't do any harm.

You got given yours, lucky thing, and you could be doing your soil and your body a favour by using it. That's how I look at it

[Tarragon2017]

Does anyone use Rock Dust

Does it work ?

[Jay-ell]

Rock Dust isn't needed if your soil already has nutrients. How do you know if your soil has nutrients - plant stuff in it and stop worrying about it all before it happens.

P.s. if your soil is pebbly you probably wont need rock dust as the minerals in the pebbles with weather out into the soil.

[Thelma Sanders]

Thread a few days ago
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1527586

[veggiechicken]

Thanks Thelma Threads merged! No point having 2 current threads on the same subject.

[maverick451]

I recently watched an experiment on youtube where they did rockdust vs control over 2 years and the best which rockdust performed alot worse

Personally I think its snake oil, basically buying dust

[Martin H]

My tomatoes, grown in pots of multipurpose compost in the greenhouse, had been rather lacking in flavour. I wondered if this was down to the lack of trace elements, so last year I mixed in some rockdust. I didn't notice any difference at all. So my non-scientific test says that it's a waste of money.

[WalterWhite]

I read a thesis on this subject a few years ago and it concurred with my evaluation of rock dust.

http://theses.gla.ac.uk/617/1/2009campbelllphd.pdf



Furthermore, the Scottish company Seer/Remin was involved in some legal issues in reference to the product! I know thats vague but i cant 100% remember exactly the issue. Whether it was marketing misinformation. Will find out and update in future.