Hey everyone!
My name is Adelia. I am the CEO of Direct Cannabis Network. DCN is a B2B news network where we cover the latest tech, entrepreneurs and innovative companies in the cannabis industry.
The reason for my post is that each Friday, I open my calendar to talk to entrepreneurs- they can pitch me their business, ask me advice, review their pitch decks, etc.
And today, I was geeking out after this call, I am not sure if it was his energy, his product knowledge or what. This is where you all come in, I know where and when I am not an expert, so I wanted to chat with growers who understand soil and understands paramagnetism to see if this is something that is very informative for DCN to talk about
The company has a product that is 100% organic and made from crushed lava rock. They state that their product has a high-energy soil amendment that recharges soil to good health. They have tested their product and believe that their product will help the agriculture industry especially in cannabis, tremendously.
So with all that being said, drop some knowledge on me! 
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I’m curious what their claims were.
Lava rock we would use in living soil for aeration. It has lots of surface area so it can also be charged with nutrients, microbes etc.
similar to biochar in a sense of “pre loading”
Or its ability within a soil to hold onto those same particles and also not break down very quickly because of that.
How fine was their product? That would greatly affect efficacy. Perlite is commonly used for an additive for aeration. It’s been getting worse reviews over time and especially in a living soil because it will break down quickly due to the microbiology working with extreme efficacy in that situation.
The lava rock I’ve heard also can act as a "green sand or rock dust/ rock powder additive.
These release many different compounds over time. Typically these would take years to break down and some do even in a production soil of living microbes. So there’s some lasting effects as well as quicker uses for the microbes and thus the plants.
Lava rock has minimal weight so better for shipping as well as carrying giant pots around.
Living soil grows are using larger pots or growing beds.
This summer I placed larger lava rocks in my aerated compost tea while it was brewing. Then placed them on my tomatoes for the week.
They’d be rooted in on the surface exposed to the sun. (More the microbiology than the lava rock doing that)
I have never heard of paramagnetism. I will read a little.
Lava rock we’ve used in horticulture for gardening for many years though too expensive to amend soil for that. Just ground cover.
And in nursery industry it was used also for aeration within pots. Though also very expensive and not heavy enough to offer any support for the plants in the wind.
On quick look it does make sense for the rock to add a charge to the soil that would help the ions get to the plants quicker. However in a living soil the microbes and plant exudates do all the work.
Though they feed on and live in all these other things. (Checkout dr. Elaine Ingham.)
Though she claims mineralisation isn’t necessary if the proper soil structure exists. Maybe true but not many of us are amending with sand silt and clay from nature. And when commercial cropping there’s added benefits to amending beyond just microbes. (Bacteria fungi nematodes arthrodpoda
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