Is there a great alternative for greensand?

craftycat72

We do not have it readily available in Australia.

LaurieLovesLearning

Welcome @craftycat72! When you have a moment, please leave a short intro in the Introductions section under Pacifica.

I had never heard of greensand, so I did a search. Near the bottom of this article, you will find a few suggestions, depending on what you want to use it for.

https://greenupside.com/what-is-greensand-used-for-what-it-does-for-soil-plants/

jowitt.europe

@craftycat72 welcome to the grownetwork! Green sand is something new to me as well. @LaurieLovesLearning thank you doing some research and the article. Useful to know that something like this exists. I understand that it is quite expensive. Could some ordinary sand from some natural not polured area replace green sand?

craftycat72

Thank you for that research, how awesome! After doing the nutrient dense soil workshop, it was one of the things suggested for feeding the soil, due to the nutrients in it. Ofcourse one would include compost and worm castings also. Thanks again :-)

LaurieLovesLearning

@jowitt.europe It would depend on your purpose. If it were added to sand to help retain moisture, you certainly wouldn't want to add more sand. 😉

It does certainly sound like a good amendment for both sand & clay.

Torey

Very good article on greensand, @LaurieLovesLearning. I knew about it as we had it in our previous water filtration system. Not in our current one, though. I also had heard that it was used as a garden supplement but wasn't sure exactly why. Now I know.

Hassena

Hi there, we used green sand in our beds previously for the additional potassium.

Do you have bananas? bury them in the soil :)

If you wish to increase draingae here are some options

Heavy clay soil, mix in course woodchips.

Perilite (puffed volcanic rock)

Vermiculite (also puffed/mica) adds calcium

Rice hulls, by product of rice industry and seem to never break down

Corn cobs.