Comments on: Persistent Herbicides in Commercial Compost = Stunted Vegetable Garden

By: Amanda

Amanda — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 23:51:08 +0000

You know, I’m starting to think that this raised bed thing is just a bunch of hype. My soil is heavy clay full of rocks, which is supposed to suck, but when I ran our of room in the raised bed I planted some bush beans in, I planted the rest of the packet in the native soil.

Guess which beans did MUCH better? Same variety, same planting date. The bean plants in the clay were like twice as big.

Clay, it turns out, is wonderful to grow plants in. It holds on to moisture longer, which is good in a hot, dry climate like mine. Raised beds dry out faster and I have to water them much more often.

By: jackiechloe

jackiechloe — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 20:57:36 +0000

My dad just poisoned his lawn with a broadleaf-herbicide/grass-fertilizer combo. He describes himself as “not the sort of person to do that,” since he thinks poison is not environmentally friendly and fertilizer “just means he’ll have to mow more often,” but he “HAD TO” do it this year because the broad-leaf plants die in the winter and then his yard is “SO UGLY!”

By: annoyedwabbit

annoyedwabbit — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:58:18 +0000

My family had that problem one year – we bought topsoil or compost or something (can’t remember exactly) from a local company, and it had been contaminated. Plants either didn’t sprout or grew small and miserable. The potatoes, however, went completely crazy, despite having received the lion’s share of the contaminated compost. It was one of our best years for potatoes.

Whatever it was that was in the soil, it had dispersed by the following year, and we never had any more trouble with it.

Don’t even get me started on the subject of lawns, though… I live in California, where lawns just don’t make ANY SENSE, and yet everyone insists on landscaping with them. Argh.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:12:56 +0000

No, the Grit article hasn’t been put online yet. Grr. BUT, there is a link to an OSU Extension Agency report on persistent herbicide residues and their effects on food crops in my post.

I’m going to be seeing our county extension agent next Saturday so I’m going to ask him about soil testing for herbicide residue. I figure it would be beastly expensive, if there is anyone in town who can do it all. But even so, if anyone would know about it, Rory would. He’s a good guy.

Find out who your county extension agent is and ask him/her for help about issues of potting soil and such. They are fonts of gardening knowledge.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:09:42 +0000

Ugh, so so frustrating. Do you happen to have a link to the article you mentioned?

Like you, I’ve been growing in containers, so everything (top soil, compost, peat moss, perlite, vermiculite, organic fertilizer) is bought and hauled up to my apartment balcony. The first year I bought the cheapest stuff at Home Depot. It was crap. No idea if it had residual herbicides, but the soil and compost itself was full of clay, stones, and mulch. A rep from the company said they use the same machine to sort it all (duh, talk about quality control). The last few years I’ve been getting top soil & compost from All-American, which is sold thru Hy-Vee, one of our grocery store chains. It seems to be much better.

Other than using the stuff and observing the results, are there soil tests you can do to determine the actual problems?