Re: Rock Dust
In recent decades, soil manufacturers stopped putting fine gravels and sands in their products because it added to much to the shipping weight. However, plants depend upon them both structurally and as a substrate for soil interactions. Thus, you should include them in any soil mix for plants -- especially perennials that are native to terrestrial soils. Your best choice are fine gravels, which contain a suitable amount of dust -- not rock dust itself. However, if you are simply providing a supplement to outdoor soil, it is extremely rare to ever need additional fine rock materials.
Rock dust is not considered a plant nutrient -- regardless of what a company or over-zealous journalist might write. The typical time for "rock dust" products to break down and provide mineral source to plants is 7 to 10 years. The quantity they provide is extremely minuscule. Rock dust is a way for quarries to sell "crusher dust" that they would otherwise have to pay a fee to dump. If you want free rock dust, just locate the local sand-and-gravel quarry in your area, take a bucket with you and ask for a scoop of "crusher dust".
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