Here's what gets me about the rock powders, and I'll use Azomite as an example -- 89% of what you get with Azomite is silica, alumina, with calcium, magnesium and sodium in whatever salt forms they exist within the aluminosilicate that it is. The amount of other nutrients and "trace elements" in the mix is quite small, and as illustrated in another thread when they are applied as directed the dilution effect means even if they were readily available the amounts you are actually adding are likely to be very small relative to naturally occurring background levels. With more silicate rocks the availability will be further reduced. So unless someone can demonstrate a real, measurable effect from a well controlled study, spending money of rock powders as a means to "mineralize" soils seems to me to be a waste as well as most probably ineffective. All of that is before we consider all the things that can come along with some of the rocks deposits that we don't really want to reinforce in ag soils, and that are often in greater abundance in those rock powders/dusts than the ones we know to be beneficial. The good news is that for the same reasons that they don't make sense to me as meaningful ways to add micronutrients and trace elements, they probably aren't a threat either.

Ah ha, That's how you created the 514.9 number. I do not use the hydrobuddy program for formulating since it is very clunky interface that is much easier in a spreadsheet since the math is only a little multiplication and division. I do use it for cracking other people's formulas because I think it has a somewhat stable linear optimization subroutine, which is really helpful, in some situations. So I can't comment on the accuracy of the numbers but I can check its math for this case against ours. Your numbers apply, but not the way you added them, so while your calculation is wrong, we can fix it and see what it should be. Let's use the 228 ppm P and 287 ppm K. The molecular weight of MKP is 136 g/mol. It has one K and one P which are 39 + 31 = 70 g/mol and other atoms that aren't included but have additional mass. So P & K represent 51.5% of the true ppm of 1 gram per liter. Take your 514.9/0.515 = 1000.0 ppm. Perfect. No surprises, the program is correct since 1 g/L is 1000 ppm. Plus, I have learned from these numbers that you are using purity = 100% MKP, which is best laboratory grade, not what we have (but ours is about 98%, ok) But, this is the GIANT problem with trying to use a ppm calibrated meter for anything. It doesn't work, unless you calibrate it with the material you are using. Like when you calibrated it with NaCl, remember you made 1 g/L and you got 1000 ppm NaCl and you put in 2 g/L and measured 2000 ppm. You calibrated your meter for NaCl and only NaCl. Now you measure 1 g MKP in a liter. The meter only reads ppm so you stick it in and it says, "this feels like 320 ppm of NaCl". But it has nothing to do with MKP, because it is thinking only the conversion factor for NaCl you calibrated it with. So it does not apply. Therefor there is a huge difference in conductivity between MKP and NaCl. For an equivalent weight I've estimated it from the chemical handbook to be 36.7% as conductive, so in my way your dry MKP is not 514.9 (completely incorrect assumption, forget that one), but rather if your EC is converted to 1000 ppm forNaCl, I expect it will read 367 ppm using the NaCl calibration for 1 g/L MKP (36.7% of 1000 ppm) which reflects the fact that NaCl has a much greater property of electrical conductivity. (1) Based on your EC data, I got your purity as 320/367 = 87%. However, based on your data from the oven drying test - I have complete confidence in you on your technique and a few degrees will not be a significant difference. You get by method of drying: (2) Based on your drying data, your math was 28.97/30.00 = 96.6%. So, the question is now, two methods and two different results, which do we trust? Ha ha! Not really funny, just time to think. There is more variability in the conductivity in the measurement error, perhaps it was not 320 but 330? That small difference you will have difficulty confirming can represent not 87% but perhaps as much as 91%. Add the other variables like temperature and the uncertainty of the tap water and it becomes doubly messy. But that doesn't mean the MKP is perfect, either. First, when looking at small numbers, let's not forget its specification is 98%, not 100%. So that makes the purity of your assay really about 98 - 3.4 = 94.6% (approximately). And after we think very hard about this all we can find other reasons to doubt even a little more. So, what would I do in that situation? I would say the purity is between 90 - 95%. I would ask myself "what acid am I using to adjust pH?" answer: sulfuric in your case. Well, I am not adding phosphorus when using pH down, like most other people in the US, UK, Australia, etc., and when my plants have high demand in fruiting they exhibit purple leaves which point to phosphorus deficiency. Your formula is high in KNO3 and potassium, but so I might increase CAN a few ppm and drop back a few ppm of KNO3 to accomodate a little more MKP in the formula without going bananas on potassium. Or if I had MAP, monoammonium phosphate, I'd include an incremental addition of about 6 ppm of ammonium N (= 13.3 ppm P). Tomatoes like high K, but also we must keep the ratios under control, and that is why I would do that since MAP adds a lot of phosphorus and no additional potassium which you cover with all that KNO3 in your formula. I know this is a little complicated, but it is all logical if you can understand my language. I hope you don't need Google translate! Any question just ask and it will be my pleasure to help, because your concern is fixing the purple problem. Now we have approximated the Phosphorus from MKP question, and the easy answer to that is it is contributing to the problem, but the big picture I think is you have a huge fruit load during maximum production time, your plants love your fertilizer and temperatures and they are running out of phosphorus under those conditions only duuring high production. So when you make your formula just add 10% extra humid MKP for whatever your dry formula calls for and consider adding a little MAP to the formulation, and using at least 50% rain, both of those will reduce the amount of H2SO4 substantially and your formula will likely be in much better balance during the high production. I am sure of this, the only thing is to double check my MKP to compare with you. So we can get it over with, in two-three days I'm supposed to use nitric acid to lower my pH, but I can be OK with 1 gram of MKP instead. Unfortunately I'd like to remove water, not add water in my reservoir, so when I open the MKP to put in the res, I'll put the powder in and I'll make a separate liter of 1 g/L MKP and save it for later, but take the EC to complete out experiments and also tell me either my MKP is great, or maybe do a little thinking about what I am doing too. MKP really is a difficult compound to keep dry. Another experiment we have to do some time is put some in the air for a while and then see how much water it absorbs. But I'm afraid it may absorb more than it's own weight like that :( Also, don't forget the earlier suggestion, which is another possibility instead of MAP and worrying about CAN/KNO3 at all. That was, you can use sulfuric for the initial fixing of the pH, but after the initial adjustment, all later adjustments until the next change can be made with phosphoric acid if you can get some cheaply enough there. This post was edited by PupillaCharites on Mon, Jan 20, 14 at 23:39

The Invisible One is finally reporting in. After last SundayÂs gathering, The Bug got me down, eliminating my ability to say anything the least bit witty, not that I could have matched the others at that, anyway. DH and I enjoyed everyoneÂs company immensely. It was wonderful to dine among GW celebrities Igloochic (the delightful, devoted mother of adorable Jesse -- I hope he is doing much better), Buehl (who I later realized is the Kitchen Forum FAQ compiler/poster), and cooperbailey (with whom I had several things in common). It would be fun to meet more GW folks, whenever and wherever. We are in Towson, MD, so I expect weÂll be headed south when it happens. Some have pronounced our kitchen "finished." Now, we all know that "done" is a relative term. I hastily took some pictures of our kitchen before last weekÂs dinner meeting, and the only thing really missing is a window treatment. However, I need to straighten up the counters, find the best angles, and gather all the spec details before preserving our kitchen for posterity in the Finished Kitchens Blog. That new project is definitely on my Someday List  another relative term. :-) Alice

Now I'm qualified to respond since I've completed my first quarter of retirement from my longtime career, having left in late June. I know now why most people are so happy about retiring--it's great LOL. I've come to appreciate the deep wisdom of the Thoreau quote: “I love a broad margin to my life.” Retirement has given my life margins, time to spread out handling both the fun and the dutiful things I need and want to do. It's hard to overstate how wonderful it is to live free of the constant feeling of watching the clock, trying to balance work duties that take up every week day with all the other responsibilities of life. I always suspected that for most working women, especially working wives/mothers, life consisted of multiple full time jobs: the one you get paid to do and the rest of life you have to do. I figured retirement would mean giving up one full time job so I'd only need to handle one--managing life for myself and my family. Turns out that for me, my hunch was correct ;). I have time now for going out diving on a Tuesday morning if the wind and seas are good. I have time to go to the grocery store or the fish market to leisurely decide what to make for dinner. I have time to try out recipes. I have time to go to the gym and Pilates regularly to work on all those exercise and health goals that were so hard to pursue around a FT job. I have time to take my aging father to his doctor appointments and to lead an effort to create a new service group in my community. I have time to enjoy my husband's company without my attention being constantly pulled in so many different directions. I have time to help my daughter plan a wedding. I have time to go visit her without fitting it into when work duties are lighter. Of all the vaunted benefits of retirement, the feeling of finally reaching a point in life at which I have the time to do what I want to do, when I want to do it, is priceless and deeply satisfying. It's just as great as everyone says it is! The only negative aspect I can think of about retiring is the occasional feeling of having stepped out of the great rushing river of life that most people are still navigating. I certainly have a sense of aging, of no longer being actively engaged in the calling I once had. I can't say I want to BE a worker any more but this is a new feeling for me. Having taken a lot of pride and self identity from my work, leaving it behind was something that has taken some getting used to, although again it's been surprisingly easy to give it up in return for what I've gained. And of course it's not just the work itself, I'd been earning a paycheck since I was 16 YO so even though I've got a pension and financial security, it's a big change to no longer be earning my living. I was blessed to be able to choose to retire at 61 YO but there's the tug of thinking I left money on the table by not staying till full retirement age. However again the counterpoint is seeing people I know, and some I love, starting to suffer from illnesses and health scares, including terminal problems. I've gained the sharp awareness that our time here is not infinite and that being able to retire healthy and young enough to pursue life's joys is priceless. Then too, for me my community service commitment allows the use a lot of skills and experience that I enjoyed while working, but in a much less fraught and stressed environment. Overall my first quarterly report on retirement is that it's absolutely wonderful, I highly recommend it and I definitely hope you love your retired life when the day comes!