Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
sources, with the other being CaMg+ liquid by General Organics. There are several grades of Dolomite
lime, so let's take a look at these first.
There is a granular version of Dolomite lime that looks like tiny reddish volcanic rocks. This is a very
dense form of Dolomite, and really takes a long time to break down. This grade is virtually useless in con-
tainer growing in my experience. There is also a granular version that looks like small shards of rock salt,
andthisworkswellforglobalapplicationsforbuffering.Itisalsoareadilyavailablesourceofcalciumand
magnesium for all the life in the container, including the plant! Another granular type is called “prilled”
and this is little round reddish balls with a soluble shell of Dolomite lime, with a smaller harder rock in the
center—sort of like a Peanut M&M—and this stuff is awesome for global applications. Both the prilled
and the rock salt-looking granular types say “fast acting” on the bag, and this is a key phrase to look for
when shopping for it. Fast-acting granular Dolomite works really well, but avoid the granular dense rocks
that are not fast acting. Powdered Dolomite is an essential element in a custom soil mix and it is also super
important to “cook” (as above) any soil mix to which you have added powdered Dolomite lime globally,
or root damage is likely to happen.
Dolomite lime is one of my major sources of magnesium and calcium, and it also buffers the soil mix
pH from dropping too low. The powdered version really helps to keep bacteria happy during the soil mix
cooking process, because they tend to not like any drops in the pH of the soil. Fungi will take over the
container soil mix if the pH drops super low in my experience, and once they have a certain level of dom-
inancetheyseemtometokillmostorallofthebacteria present.Plantrootsarenothappyinthesuperlow
pH ranges that these fungi enjoy, and these fungi also tend to keep the pH down as well from their natural
exudes. When mixing a lot of powerful nitrogen sources like blood meal and bird/bat guanos with Dolo-
mitelime,makesuretoseethesectionbelowregardingsoftrockphosphate,toavoidlosingsomenitrogen
before it's had a chance to affect the soil.
Dolomite lime comes in both prilled and powdered states
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