Re: To sift or not to sift; small stones okay?
Depending upon what kind of gravel is there, it might actually be beneficial to the plants. Usually it mostly quartz, which when broken down has beneficial silica. That is very important to producing stronger fibers within the leaves and stems, and its roots. It helps to blunt the effect of stress on plants. Only issue is that some have heavy metals in them.
Sand which is primarily silica, is so tightly bound, that bacteria in the soil cannot "skuff" off ions, rendering sand useless as a source. So another rich source is beneficial. I have noticed in the past that plants that have some small amounts of rocks in their soil grow better. Just a personal observation. |
Re: To sift or not to sift; small stones okay?
Good stuff, thanks! What we have here for gravel, is gray granite. Better or worse?
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Re: To sift or not to sift; small stones okay?
I can't really say for sure, but its probably fine. Especially if your using biochar.
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Re: To sift or not to sift; small stones okay?
I do believe, I could be wrong, granite is a common component of glacial rock dust used as a soil amendment. My understanding is that soil microorganisms will 'skuff' , as AaronTT described it, minerals from the stone's surface which eventually gets to the associated plants. If it were me, I probably wouldn't bother re-sifting unless there is an inordinate amount of stone in the mix. I do all my sifting with 1/2" hardware cloth and have never felt the need to go finer.
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Re: To sift or not to sift; small stones okay?
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