Herbicide damage and what to do?

[Gardening with Rabbits]

If I do have herbicide damage on these potatoes what would you do?
1. Pull all potatoes?
2. Cabbage, kale, collards planted in the rows between and next to the potatoes, would you pull that or let it grow if they look healthy?
3. Pull everything and let the garden alone for a couple of years and build a couple of boxes to use with dirt and compost brought in?
4. Throw all the compost in all the bins away or let it just sit for a couple of years? The stuff is full of worms.
5. Just pull sick plants and leave healthy plants alone?

I am going to put pea and bean seeds in all the different areas to see if they will grow. I have a box outside of the garden with some lettuce. I am going to put some tomato plants, a squash and some peppers in there just to make sure I have something if the garden is totally damaged and put some cucumbers up close to the house on a fence and buy some organic compost.

 

[seedcorn]

If I thought the manure (compost) was contaminated, discard. If plants don't die, just keep going.

 

[ninnymary]

My garden is organic but I do buy conventional produce at the store. Maybe those potatoes will still produce? I tend to agree with seedcorn. Keep gardening and hope you have a good harvest.

You mentioned on another thread that you think it might be the straw and you are already taking steps to test that theory. I like that idea. I wouldn't worry about everything else. But that's just me.

Mary

 

[journey11]

I'd pull the bad plants either way. If it were a disease, you'd lessen the chance of it spreading at least. You could try planting corn, squash, etc. that isn't susceptible to that kind of herbicide.

I like the idea of putting out a few beans to test the extent of contamination. See how they do. Hopefully most things you planted will turn out. If everything should look badly affected after while, then I'd mow it all down and plant a cover crop of annual rye or winter wheat and let it fallow a year.

That really is a bummer. I read that article you posted. It is disappointing to think straw could be a potential problem. I hate paying so much for it, but it is the quickest and easiest way for me to quickly mulch my garden and usually doesn't carry weed seeds like old hay does.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I guess I think straw because I know it sat in that spot all winter. Straw comes in handy for so manyt things, so I hate not using it. I agree with Mary, I do buy nonorganic produce in the store, but not as much as I did in the past. I will pull any plants that are diseased looking because I would think even nonorganic produce in the store the plants were at least healthy even if pesticide used on them and it is just wasted space. I can put something else there like squash and some bean seeds just to see how bad it really is.

 

[Beekissed]

Here's something I found:


2 Remove the top 8 inches of soil. Most soil contaminates reside in the top 2 inches, so digging deep will ensure your ability to remove most of them.
3 Dilute the bad soil across your garden by mixing it with clean top soil, compost or humus amendments. This step—as an alternative or addition to Step 1—works to organically break down toxins over time.
4 A field of growing lettuce can absorb soil toxins. Plant leafy vegetables like lettuce or Swiss chard to draw many heavy metals out of the soil. Do not eat these leafy plants. These plants are meant to be pulled up and disposed of along with the toxins they have absorbed. This process is a science called phytoremediation, the use of plants to detoxify the soil or air.
5 Dried leaves make good natural mulch. Mulch your garden with leaves or newspaper to help your soil break down unwanted elements over time.
6 Keep the soil pH at 7.0 and make sure phosphate levels are adequate. Use the pH level as a guide that detoxification is continuing.

Tips & Warnings

• Grow plants in pots or raised beds while waiting for very toxic soil to become clean.

• Keep your plants at least 75 feet away from vehicle exhaust and other street containments. Walls, hedges and fences work well as additional barriers.

• As long as your garden is testing positive for toxins, do not plant or eat root vegetables like carrots or potatoes. Root crops spend their whole life underground in the toxic soil and will be polluted all the way through.

• Wash all other fruits and vegetables with vinegar and water before eating to remove any toxic soil particles.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/261301-how-to-detoxify-vegetables-fruits/

Natural Detox for Soil
If you are dealing with soil that has had weed killers and other pesticides, herbicides or chemicals used on it, you may be surprised to find out that the BEST plant to grow on that soil to cleanse it is dandelion.

Other plants that work very well to detoxify contaminated soil are:

• Brake fern
• Willow trees
• Sunflowers
• Poplar trees
• Indian mustard

Of course, I wouldn’t recommend using any parts of these plants as they will have absorbed the pesticides and chemicals!

 

[seedcorn]

@Gardening with Rabbits Did I understand you correct that the straw has been at that same spot over winter? If so, straw puts off something that inhibits plants and could even stop germination. Don't know what it is but if the wind row behind a combine is not completely removed or the chaff spread uniformly across a field, you will see a noticeable affect in beans the next spring.

To answer your question, I'd still do the same as before if I knew I had herbicide damage.

 

[digitS']

There are several herbicides used in farming. I suppose that the most common is glyphosate (roundup).

Half-life persistence information on glyphosate ranges from several days to several months. What to think ..?!

Mostly, I think of herbicide damage to non-food plants as a physical damage. Certainly, something like morning glory can look terrible and come back strong before the end of the season. Only the first-year plants will die easily. On older plants, the foliage is not likely to completely die and established roots will send up new growth if the plants are not sprayed twice.

That's bindweed and roundup. I would not want to worry about a food plant. But, I would not be planning on removing any topsoil on a suspicion.

Steve

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

@Gardening with Rabbits Did I understand you correct that the straw has been at that same spot over winter? If so, straw puts off something that inhibits plants and could even stop germination. Don't know what it is but if the wind row behind a combine is not completely removed or the chaff spread uniformly across a field, you will see a noticeable affect in beans the next spring.

To answer your question, I'd still do the same as before if I knew I had herbicide damage.

Yes, I ran out of cow manure. I spread that on the east side. On the west side I had weeds and I had a lot of straw/rabbit manure and I did not want to throw it away, so I spread it out on this west side and thought at least the rain and snow would dissolve the rabbit manure into the soil and I would build a compost bin when I had time, but we had all that snow and it was covered up for a long time and so when spring came I raked it off and DS and I build a bin with it and some cow/horse manure that I also got this spring. Then, we tilled and planted potatoes and cabbage.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

There are several herbicides used in farming. I suppose that the most common is glyphosate (roundup).

Half-life persistence information on glyphosate ranges from several days to several months. What to think ..?!

Mostly, I think of herbicide damage to non-food plants as a physical damage. Certainly, something like morning glory can look terrible and come back strong before the end of the season. Only the first-year plants will die easily. On older plants, the foliage is not likely to completely die and established roots will send up new growth if the plants are not sprayed twice.

That's bindweed and roundup. I would not want to worry about a food plant. But, I would not be planning on removing any topsoil on a suspicion.

Steve

If it was the straw that did it, would it most likely be Roundup that was sprayed? I bought straw at ACE and some at one of the Coop's. I would think this is local ground Washington/Idaho wheat straw.