Thread: Ironite
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Old February 3, 2011   #5
dice
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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Nursery or greenhouse supply businesses would be a source
of greensand. It is heavy enough that shipping it would raise
the price quite a bit. Down To Earth markets it in 50 pound bags.

Granite dust is a good source of minerals. Another is Planters II,
but it is difficult to find in quantity. Here is one place where you
can buy more than a few pounds of it:
http://www.highcountrygardens.com/catalog/product/99715

I keep a gallon of Fertall on hand for quick adjustment of iron
deficiencies and so on, because it is chelated and can be
absorbed through foliage:
http://www.groworganic.com/fertall-l...-5-gallon.html
(No magnesium there, but that is easily supplied with epsom
salt if the soil is deficient in magnesium.)

When I checked, I did not see gallon size bottles of Fertall in
Peaceful Valley's online catalog, but I have bought that size
before, and in fact I have a gallon of Fertall MB, a gallon of
Fertall Iron, and a gallon of Fertall Calcium, all partly used.
Perhaps the manufacturer has discontinued the retail gallon
jugs or that vendor is simply not carrying them anymore.

One does not find the Fertall liquid chelates much in online
catalogs, but they are commonly available from farm supply
businesses in agricultural areas.

Humic Acid you can find all over:
http://www.hydroponics.net/i/133773
http://www.groworganic.com/humax-gallon.html
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/humic-acid.html
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/ro...ent-amber.html
http://www.ghorganics.com/HumAcid.html
http://homeharvest.com/humicacids.htm
(The fancier the name, the higher the price. Most hydroponic
stores probably have half a dozen or more different brands
on the shelf.)

My understanding is that leonardite derived humic acid
concentrates are usually 15-30% fulvic acid, but you can
buy that refined directly, too:
http://www.hydroponics.net/i/133771

From my reading, humic acid basically does all of its work in the
soil, chelating nutrients and making them more available to
plant roots. Fulvic acid does that, too, but it also has metabolic
functions in the plant, and it makes a more useful mineral
chelating agent for foliar feeding.

Overview on humus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humus
A longish, detailed blog entry on humic and fulvic acids
in soil and plant metabolism:
http://humusandcarbon.blogspot.com/

Other rich sources of trace minerals for plants:

Fish meal or fish emulsion
Kelp meal or liquid kelp extracts
Molasses
Alfalfa
Comfrey
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Last edited by dice; February 3, 2011 at 04:15 PM. Reason: the the, clarity, etc
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