There are many different types of minerals in healthy soil. They vary in size and composition and provide your garden\u2019s crops with essential nutrients.<\/p>\n

If you aren\u2019t getting what you want out of your soil, chances are that it is missing important minerals\u2014in which case, remineralizing with rock dust will go a long way to\u00a0restoring health and fertility. (No amount of organic matter can make up for minerals that have been depleted. You need to add them back to the soil.)<\/p>\n

However, the very<\/em> first step toward improving the soil is to understand what it is made of, i.e., soil composition.<\/p>\n

About 50% of any soil sample is made up of water and air. Another 5% is made up of soil organisms and organic matter, which feeds beneficial soil microbes. The remaining 45% consists of mineral fragments. These are the results of millions of years of activity, beginning with volcanoes and glaciers and shaped by natural forces like erosion and sedimentation.<\/p>\n

These mineral fragments come in a wide range of sizes\u2014from large boulders to mid-sized stones and tiny particles that are not visible to the naked eye. Large and small, mineral fragments are what hold and retain nutrients in the soil so that they are available to plants as they need them.<\/p>\n

The Role of Weathering<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What many people don\u2019t realize is that mineral fragments don\u2019t last forever thanks to weathering. Weathering is a natural process by which mineral fragments are reduced to smaller sizes, ultimately creating the finer particles that make up what we call soil.<\/p>\n

For example, a boulder is less weathered than a piece of gravel\u2014which is less weathered than a particle of clay. As weathering occurs and rocks disintegrate, nutrients are release into the soil and become available to plants as they need them to sustain strong and healthy growth.<\/p>\n

As soils become increasingly weathered, however, particles have a harder time holding and retaining nutrients. In highly weathered soils, such as those often found in the tropics, nutrients are quickly lost due to leaching. The result is unproductive and infertile soil.<\/p>\n

Putting Minerals Back Into the Soil<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In soils that are struggling\u2014whether a result of natural weathering or aggressive farming\u2014the common \u201cquick-and-dirty\u201d solution is to apply chemical fertilizers. \u00a0The problem is that chemical fertilizers feed the plants, not the soil. They deliver nutrients to plants directly but don\u2019t do anything to improve the overall health of the soil. In the long run, this leads to a further breakdown of soil structure resulting in weaker plants, increased risk of disease and, ultimately, complete soil infertility. The consequences are not only dire but also unsustainable.<\/p>\n

The sustainable solution is remineralization with rock dust. Findings that date back to the 1930s (and which are supported by ongoing research today) show that the best source of rock dust is volcanic basalt. Nutrient-dense and silica-based, volcanic basalt is all-natural source of nutrient dense minerals and trace elements. In addition, fresh sources of silicon based rock materials help sustain beneficial soil organisms.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

About Us: Cascade Minerals Remineralizing Soil Booster<\/strong> is manufactured from the highest quality volcanic basalt from Central Oregon. Finely milled, it mimics the earth\u2019s own method for creating healthy soil. Benefits include more nutritious fruits and vegetables, more colorful blossoms and more vigorous plants.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are many different types of minerals in healthy soil. They vary in size and composition and provide your garden\u2019s crops with essential nutrients. If you aren\u2019t getting what you want out of your soil, chances are that it is missing important minerals\u2014in which case, remineralizing with rock dust will go a long way to\u00a0restoring… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[5,15],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/rock_dust1.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6YalT-fY","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=990"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1875,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990\/revisions\/1875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cascademinerals.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}