-----Original Message-----
From: max & darlene miller
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2005 12:29 PM
To: lurisa@azomite.com
Subject: Testimonial
Dear Lurisa,
We have seven evergreens that are 15 to 20 feet tall and one that is
7 feet tall. Last year, the Bark Beetles were having a field day with
the trees.
In March of 2004, three different tree companies told us that two of
the trees would not make it through the summer and the others would not
make it through the following summer. Someone mentioned Azomite but they
didn't have details about the product. We went on your web site and downloaded
the information. Azomite sounded too good to be true. We decided to take
a chance. We disolved Azomite granules in water and applied the solution
twice a month for three months and then once a month. We deep watered
twice a week for the first three months and then once a week.
In November, a landscaper stopped by to give us an estimate for our front
yard. He looked at the evergreens and said, "I don't know what you are
doing to these trees but keep it up. They are the best looking evergreens
that I have seen in this area." We will continue to use Azomite for our
trees and shrubs.
You can't beat it.
Sincerely,
Max and Darlene Miller
Jared Milarch, a freshman at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse
City, has introduced a little-known, naturally occurring substance called
AZOMITE™ to the nursery industry for use as a plant fertilizer. AZOMITE™
is a mineral-rich, powdery pink clay found only in Utah. "[AZOMITE™] is
thought to be an ancient sea-floor bed that was heaved to the surface,"
Milarch said. "Chemically, the substance is hydrated sodium calcium alummosilicate
and it contains 67 major minerals and trace elements. This makeup led
to its name, which is an acronym meaning A to Z of Minerals including
Trace Elements," he said. Milarch became aware of AZOMITE™ in 1993 while
he was growing sugar maples at this father's nursery, E.L. Milarch & Son
Nursery Inc. in Copemish, MI, to raise money for college. Milarch said
he became impatient with the slow-growing trees and wanted to find something
that might speed up the process. "Our farm is chemical-free," he said.
"So I looked for an alternative method of fertilization." At the time,
Milarch was reading a book called Secrets of the Soil by Christopher Bird
and Peter Tompkins.
 The
book included a chapter on AZOMITE™, which had been used primarily as
livestock feed, but was also considered a soil amendment and often used
by organic farmers. Milarch noted that the substance contained elements
that were known to be beneficial to ornamental plants, so he decided to
try it as a fertilizer on his sugar maples. Because AZOMITE™ was virtually
unknown in the nursery industry, Milarch had a difficult time finding
a supplier who carried it. "[AZOMITE™] was very hard to find," he said.
After some searching, he found an organic farm supply store in Maine that
would ship the product to him. He ordered three bags. "The shipping was
twice as much as the product", he said. Milarch decided to conduct a random
experiment on his sugar maples to try to determine the efficacy of AZOMITE™
Instead of applying the powder to all 500 of his trees, he only applied
it to about 100. "Since it's never really been used before [as a fertilizer),
we just guessed at the application rates," he said. He sprinkled two soup
cans full of the AZOMITE™ around each tree and then added dried cow manure
as compost. The following spring, Milarch realized he had found the product
he was looking for. "Instead of the usual only 1 foot of growth, I achieved
3 feet [on the trees treated with AZOMITE™]," he said. "That's in one
growing season. " The treated trees' calipers were also bigger than those
of the non-treated trees. Milarch theorized that the AZOMITE™ acted as
a catalyst to help plants better absorb nutrients from the soil. The results
of this initial experiment impressed Milarch's father, who decided to
begin using AZOMITE™ on all 60 varieties of his nursery's shade trees.
A few years later, when Milarch was still in high school, he enrolled
in a summer botany course at Northwestern Michigan College. With the help
of his instructor, Kirk Waterstripe, he conducted a more scientific, controlled
experiment on AZOMITE™ for a class project. "I tested it on tomato plants,"
Milarch said. "The [treated] plants reached fruition almost three weeks
earlier than the other plants and were noticeably taller. If farmers can
get their plants to reach fruition earlier, they can get paid sooner.
The AZOMITE™-treated plants also appeared to exhibit greater disease resistance,"
he said. Once the results of the experiment were released, Milarch said
the media picked up on his "discovery." Several Michigan newspapers ran
lengthy articles on Milarch, and the Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association
featured his research in its publication, The Voice. In January of this
year, the AZOMITE™ story was featured on a television program that aired
on the Public Broadcasting Service. In the meantime, Milarch continues
to conduct experiments on AZOMITE™'s effects on various crops. Through
his research, he has been able to determine an application rate - 1 pound
of AZOMITE™ per 10 square feet. In addition, Waterstripe is researching
the effects of AZOMITE™ by conducting his Ph.D. work on it at Oregon State
University in Corvallis. Milarch's father has become a distributor of
the product, and more nursery professionals are including it in their
product lineup now that it is more readily available, Milarch said. "It's
used on everything now," he said. "we get calls and letters regarding
AZOMITE™ almost daily."
Milarch said he thinks nursery professionals have never used AZOMITE™
because they just weren't aware of it. "[AZOMITE™] is kind of a new idea,"
he said. "It's a new method." While he realizes that the product needs
to undergo much more experimentation before it's recognized by the entire
industry, he said there are several other advantages to it. "What's nice
about it is there are no harmful side effects to the environment that
we know about," he said. "Also, once the product is put in the ground,
traces of it remain in the soil, making the following years application
more effective. As you use it more often, the results are magnified,"
he explained. As for Milarch, he said he plans to major in horticulture
and make it his career. "[Horticulture] is part of my heritage," he said.
He said he's also proud of his accomplishments in the field so for and
happy that he's been able to offer an alternative fertilizer to growers.
"Anything that can help the farmers and the growers is great in my book,"
he said. "We take all the breaks we can get." For more information on
AZOMITE
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