|
The Field Report
page 5
EXPOSING THE DIRT DOCTOR
|
LAVA SAND – HADACOL FOR YOUR SOIL
[Why did you name
your miracle tonic Hadacol, Colonel LeBlanc? "Well,
I hadda call it something," he replied.]
Don’t feel too bad if
you’ve bought into the hype about lava sand as a miracle product for Texas
clay-based soils. The "Dirt Doctor," John Howard Garrett, wages a
relentless campaign to promote the sale of lava sand. And, like many such
campaigns, this one is based on claims that are difficult, if not impossible
for the average gardener to verify. But these claims can and have been
tested. And here are the results.
But first, what is
lava sand? As produced and distributed by Twin Mountain Rock
Company of Des Moines, New Mexico, lava sand is crushed scoria, a reddish
brown to black volcanic slag. It has a vesicular texture; that is to say,
it’s full of holes. But it isn’t permeable. Those holes represent
individual, isolated gas bubbles in the original molten rock and aren’t
interconnected, one with another. (You can verify that yourself by trying
to blow into or through a larger piece of decorative lava rock.) Therefore,
particles of lava sand cannot absorb water.
Over the past several years,
the "Dirt Doctor" has claimed various attributes for lava sand as a soil
amendment or additive. At one time or another, he has said:
(1) it provides an
abundance of plant nutrients,
(2) it has a high cation
exchange capacity,
(3) it has great
water-holding capacity, and
(4) it has a high level
of paramagnetic energy, which somehow acts as a powerful plant-growth
stimulant and reduces pest problems.
In addition, he has said that
it possesses all these wonderful characteristics even though it has an
alkaline pH of 8.3 and contains no iron, whatsoever.
For anyone who cares to know
the truth, these claims are nonsense and have been completely de-bunked.
But, continuing the lie, he repeated the last three of these attributes as
recently as the May, 2002, issue of his monthly club bulletin, The Dirt
Doctor's Dirt.
Plant Nutrients and
pH: Even the "Dirt Doctor" now admits that lava sand is completely
insoluble and, therefore, chemically inert. Hence, it provides no plant
nutrients at all. But that raises a couple of questions.
Since pH is normally measured
in an aqueous solution, and lava sand is not soluble in water, how was its
pH determined? (Or was it?)
And, since lava sand is now
known to be insoluble and inert, why does the "Dirt Doctor" recommend
applying additional amounts to the soil each and every year? What happens
to it? Where does it go?
A suspicious person might
conclude that his only real purpose is to generate more sales of lava sand.
(And that could lead to the obvious conclusion that he must be making money
out of such sales. But that wouldn't be either ethical or moral, would
it?)
Cation Exchange
Capacity: According to the supplier, Twin Mountain Rock Company,
lava sand has a negligible cation exchange capacity (CEC) of only 4.0
milliequivalents (meq) per 100 grams. Therefore, lava sand holds
essentially no nutrient cations (potassium, iron, magnesium, ammonium, etc.)
on its surfaces. In contrast, the natural smectite clay in Dallas-area
soils has a CEC of 80 to 100 meq per 100 grams. And colloidal organic
humus typically has a CEC of 180 meq per 100 grams, or greater.
Water-Holding
Capacity: Lava sand fares no better with respect to its
water-holding capacity. In an independent laboratory test, lava sand
adsorbed water equal to 45 percent of its dry weight, which agrees quite
well with the 40 percent reported by Twin Mountain Rock Company. But, in
the same test, fine-screened compost adsorbed 160 percent of its dry weight,
and smectite clay adsorbed more than 250 percent.
Furthermore, the sample of
lava sand dried out completely in less than a day and a half (33 hours);
whereas, both the compost and the clay, though 90 percent dry after 4 or 5
days, required more than a week to dry out completely.
Even so, the "Dirt Doctor"
continues to proclaim, "Lava sand holds just the right amount of water in
the soil -- and for even longer than organic matter, in some cases." Or,
even more absurbly, he cautions, "If you put too much, lava sand holds so
much water it'll cause a problem."
Of course, all of this
contradicts what he and his mentor expressed on Sunday, February 28, 1999.
As a guest on the "Dirt Doctor's" radio program, Malcolm Beck said, "It's
not so much it (lava sand) holds water; it builds up the stress resistance
in the plant, so it doesn't need so much water." To which, the "Dirt
Doctor," replied, "That's right."
Paramagnetic Energy:
Contrary to all claims, lava sand has absolutely no "paramagnetic
energy" (whether or not that would be of any value to a gardener) simply
because there is no such thing. To say that it does and that water-holding
capacity is somehow related to this "paramagnetic energy" is, at best, an
example of scientific illiteracy.
Yet, during his radio program
on April 8, 2000, he insisted, "There's a direct relationship between the
paramagnetism of these volcanic materials and the water-holding capacity of
the soil."
But, aparently, it does more
than that, according to the "Doctor of Dirt." In the November, 2000, issue
of The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, he wrote, "Paramagnetism indirectly
effects [sic] the positive uptake of nutrients which results in the
production of sugars or complex carbohydrates."
And, on July 30, 2000, he
said, "Paramagnetism, as it relates to volcanic materials, is not taught
about in universities. To find out about it you have to go to Phil
Callahan's books. It's a form of energy measured in cgs units. It's how
rocks are attracted to a magnet."
Of course, in addition to all
that, Dr. Phillip Callahan has also written that paramagnetism is the
mysterious force responsible for the powers of levitation possessed by
ancient wizards and shamans.
How ignorant, even ludicrous,
such statements are will quickly become obvious if you refer to any one of
several popular physics textbooks, dictionaries, or handbooks, There,
you'll find that paramagnetism is not a force or any form of energy and has
nothing whatever to do with water-holding capacity. It’s simply a common
electromagnetic property of all substances -- indicating what physicists
more commonly refer to as a positive magnetic susceptibility. (Diamagnetism
indicates a negative magnetic susceptibility.)
Furthermore, a discussion of
paramagnetism is invariably included in college-level electricity and
magnetism courses. (For technical definitions of paramagnetism and magnetic
susceptibility, see the section toward the bottom of this page.)
No data for the paramagnetism
of lava sand, as such, are reported in the scientific literature because
lava sand is a type of rock, not a mineral. But an estimate of its
properties can be made from its mineral content.
According to an x-ray
diffraction analysis, lava sand is 80 to 85 percent albite and diopside (or
its cousin, augite). These are aluminosilicate minerals that contain
sodium, calcium, magnesium and iron and are known to be mildly diamagnetic;
that is, they each have a small negative paramagnetism.
And, even though the "Dirt
Doctor" has proclaimed that lava sand contains no iron, it is composed of as
much as 15 to 20 percent hematite, which gives it its reddish color.
Hematite, the most abundant of all iron ores, is an insoluble ferric oxide
and has a paramagnetic value of +20.6 micro cgs units.
Therefore, on the basis of
both this analysis and a second one obtained from Twin Mountain Rock
Company, lava sand is, at best, only slightly paramagnetic, with a maximum
magnetic susceptibility in the order of +3 to +4 micro cgs units. This is a
far cry from the 800 to 1,200 micro cgs units of "paramagnetic energy"
claimed for lava sand by the "Dirt Doctor" -- and the ludicrous 6,000 to
8,000 micro cgs units he has claimed for basalt.
Published data demonstrate
further the absurdity of these claims. Hodgman’s Handbook of Chemistry
and Physics (31st Edition) includes an 11-page table of
magnetic susceptibilities (paramagnetism) of chemical compounds, minerals,
and organic substances, all reported in micro cgs units. Holmium oxide,
with a listed value of +243, has the highest level of paramagnetism in the
entire table.
In any case, even if lava
sand were strongly paramagnetic, and that property could increase plant
growth and reduce pest problems, adding any volcanic rock powder to
Blackland Prairie soils is redundant overkill. The smectite clay that so
permeates these soils originated as a volcanic ash and is at least as
paramagnetic as lava sand.
In fact, on page 185 of his
book, Nature's Silent Music, Dr. Phillip Callahan describes such clay as
being "highly paramagnetic."
Of course, it's also worth
noting that the "Dirt Doctor" apparently believes that paramagnetism, this
magical and mysterious energy, is water soluble. In his newspaper column of
July 13, 2001, he announced that the commercial version of his own organic
spray concoction, Garrett Juice, "now contains leachate of lava sand."
Trace Minerals:
Of late, since his long-standing claims for lava sand have been debunked, he
has begun scrambling for other attributes on which to to hang his hat -- and
his pocketbook. For instance, during his two-minute radio spot on Friday,
August 10, 2001 (and, more recently, on August 19 and 23, 2002), he said,
"Adding non-native rock materials, dust or sand, to the soil will help
plants grow better, but volcanic materials are the best. Their low level
energy called paramagnetism helps make trace minerals available to plant
roots."
First, adding anything less
than huge quantities of sand to a heavy, clay-based soil is a recipe for
disaster. Second, no plant nutrient is a "trace mineral." Plants don't
take up minerals. He just doesn't understand that these are "trace
elements" (micronutrients). And, third, only he (or perhaps his guru,
Phillip Callahan) can explain how "paramagnetism" can affect the uptake of
trace elements by plant roots.
And, believe it or not, on
his noontime radio spot of May 17, 2002, the "Dirt Doctor" actually said,
"Another way to build carbon in the soil is with (various
organic materials) and volcanic rock powders."
Buckets of What?
Aside from all this hokum, there’s still other, even more curious claims to
contend with. During his call-in radio program on Sunday, August 2, 1998,
the "Dirt Doctor" told his listeners that they could make their plants grow
better simply by filling a few buckets with lava sand and setting them out
in their gardens.
Maybe that levitates the
plants. In any case, I’ll leave it to you to determine whether you should
use metal or plastic buckets. On the other hand...
On his radio program of
February 2, 2003, he said, "You can lay hadite (cinder) blocks on their
sides and fill the holes with lava sand. Then you've got a paramagnetic
wall around your garden." And then, two weeks later on February 16, he
recommended hadite blocks for constructing a compost bin. "Fill the holes
with lava sand," he said, "and it will maintain the right moisture level in
the compost pile."
Then, after advising a
listener to his January 31, 2004, radio program to apply lava sand to his
sandy soil, the "Dirt Doctor" said, "You can just put it on top of the
soil. After awhile, the biological activity--the earthworms and all--will
work it down into the soil."
Now that is magical stuff.
My Lava Rocks:
On his radio program, January 30, 2000, Howard Garrett smugly and gleefully
described a visit he and Malcolm Beck (of GardenVille) made to inspect my
garden and his discovery there of lava rocks. I confess that this is true.
But Howard didn't tell the whole story.
Indeed, in one of our beds of
roses, herbs, and perennials, we have four lava rocks, each about the size
of a grapefruit. I'd like to claim that they are there as an experiment,
but I can't. My wife and I brought them home from a vacation in Idaho
30-plus years ago, and she uses them in that bed solely as decorations.
Nevertheless, a casual glance will show that they've had absolutely no
effect on any of our plants. (I didn't dare tell him that I use Lava® soap
to clean my gardening-soiled hands.)
Also, the "Dirt Doctor"
failed to tell his radio audience that he hadn't even recognized the rocks
as lava until Malcolm Beck pointed them out and made a joking remark about
finding them in our garden.
So, go ahead and add lava
rocks to your beds or lava sand to your soil if you wish. But don't expect
either one to improve the health of your clay-based soil or your plants.
To Dirt Doctor Page/To
Home Page
Read about the bug man who started all this
lava sand business:
To Phil Callahan
And while you're at it, you might like to
visit the site of
Nature's Alternatives. There,
you'll find some real wild and crazy stuff for gardening and for just about
every other facet of life. In fact, if you're a believer in pyramid power,
quartz crystals, purple positive energy plates and vibrational forces,
you'll thank me forever for pointing you to this site. And, If you think
that kind of stuff is all hogwash, you'll thank me, too. You won't find
many sites that'll give you a heartier laugh.
By the way, the "Dirt Doctor" better jump on
the wagon here. These folks are peddling, not lava sand, but the mineral
magnetite as having the "most paramagnetic properties found in all
substances of nature." And Phil Callahan seems to be on board. Of course,
this is absurdly ignorant because magnetite, a ferromagnetic mineral, is
permanently magnetic and, therefore, by definition, is not at all
paramagnetic.
* * * * *
[Before I started taking
Hadacol, I couldn't spit over my chin. Now I can spit all over my chin.]
* * * * *
Paramagnetism and Magnetic
Susceptibility: A substance is said to be paramagnetic (have a
positive magnetic susceptibility) if, when it is placed within a magnetic
field, its atoms line up more or less parallel to the force lines, thereby
increasing the strength of the force field. When the magnetic field is
removed, the atoms return to a random orientation.
A substance is said to be diamagnetic (have a
negative magnetic susceptibility) if, when it is placed within a magnetic
field, its atoms line up more or less perpendicular to the force lines,
thereby decreasing the strength of the force field. When the magnetic field
is removed, the atoms return to a random orientation.
A substance is said to be ferromagnetic if,
when it is placed within a magnetic field, its atoms line up more or less
parallel to the force lines and remain in that orientation when the magnetic
field is removed, thus creating what is commonly known as a permanent
magnet.
Addendum: On his web site,
Howard Garrett presents a "technical" paper written by Thomas M. Dykstra,
Ph.D. and published by Acres USA, rather than by any of the peer-reviewed
scientific journals. (That it reads much like the description of a child's
Science Fair project may explain why.) It purports to show that it is
paramagnestism that stimulates plant growth, rather than any mineral content
of the material.
In a series of tests, the "researchers"
inserted sealed plastic vials and film canisters of "paramagnetic dust" into
the soil alongside potted plants and supposedly measured dramatic increases
in growth rates. Interestingly, though, it is to wonder if they have any
real understanding about what paramagnetism and magnetic susceptibility are.
Dr. Dykstra defines the measured level of
paramagnestism (in CGS units) as "the weight of paramagnetic material that
will move one centimeter to a magnet in one second." Then he says, (the
experimenter) "created serial type dilutions by filling film canisters with
increasing amounts of paramagnetic dust so that he could obtain readings of
200, 400, 600, 800,1000, and 2000 CGS."
Do you see the contradiction? He's saying
that paramagnetism increases with weight. So, a large barrel of this stuff
might have a paramagnetic level of several million CGS units. That's
ludicrous! Magnetic susceptibility (paramagnetism) is a constant for any
given material, regardless of the amount of that material present. Even
Dr. Dykstra's own definition says that.
On the other hand, according to Dr. Dykstra's
definition, the measured level of paramagnetism would vary wih the strength
of the magnet used, which it doesn't. Furthermore, the paramagnetism of
known substances is generally expressed in micro CGS units, as noted in the
discussion above.
If you care to, you can read this paper at
Acres USA via DirtDoctor.com.
It will certainly make you wonder what Dr. Dykstra's field of expertise is.
Something like "History of Modern Dance" is my guess.
AUTHORED BY FIELD
ROEBUCK
http://froebuck.home.texas.net/index.htm
EXPOSING THE DIRT DOCTOR !
PAGE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
These web
pages are :
|
And
Approved
