What is rock-phosphate fertilizer?
A Bi-Monthly Magazine
Borrowing From Yesterday To Do the Work Of Today
Offering Resources to Promote Self-Sufficient & Back-to-the-Land Living
8 years ago
What is rock-phosphate fertilizer?
What we always used was rock that was heavily loaded with phosphate. Spread it on alfalfa fields, and it released the phosphate slowly . Good for 5-6 years.
When living outside of Albuquerque, a few of us neighbors went together and bought a box car of it.
I was OK, but the super phosphate work many time better
8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum
Vince, you mentioned using rock phosphate. Around here people once used it, still to this day if you pull soil samples you can tell the places where it was used. Most dirt around my area is phosphate deficient and the ground that had been spread isn't nearly as bad.
Dave
8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum
Finely ground phosphate rock.
8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum
Dave. I had small place in the Rio Grand Valley. It was actually part of the old river bed of the Rio Grand river and when I moved in, it was all sand.
It was lacking in everything. First year, my corn got 8" tall.
In the spring, the Rio Grand runs about like pea soup with a lot of red clay in it. I irrigated from a ditch with that water and it took about five years for me to be able to shoot water the length of the field as it would just soak into the sand. After the run off was over, I'd disc that clay in and use copious amounts of horse and chicken manure. Each year, it got a little better. They would turn the water into the main ditch the 1st of m March and it would run thru October.
The phosphate rock helped some but not much.
When I finally could irrigate good, I planted alfalfa and with super phosphate , I got 5 cuttings a year. Enough to feed my horses. Grass hay was hard to come by in that country.
8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum