Did I kill my tree....mistakenly poured kitchen oil on it

giovanna_2006

13 years ago

We have a blood orange tree that is about 15 years old. I noticed what I thought was a pot of dirty water on our table outside, and since it has been raining here in California, assumed it was rain water. As soon as I poured it in the area surrounding the orange tree, I realized with horror it was our deep fat fryer canola oil (about a quart or so) my husband had poured in the pot to dispose of later in the garbage.

Did I kill my tree? I immediately soaked it with water, but maybe that was the wrong thing to do. Can anyone advise?

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Comments (7)

gleb
13 years ago
Ohh, I am afraid you damaged it... At least, it is a very efficient way to kill grass by sprinkling oil on it. Let us wait for experts' opinion though... Regarding watering, I would not do it but tried to remove a top layer of soil contaminated with oil instead. Maybe it is not too late yet?
Good luck!
stropharia
13 years ago
It may or may not be too late for my advice, but I thought it might be useful information for someone one day.
Note: I have never tried this, but it is the best fix I can think of, and seems like it would work.

I would flush the soil out hugely, first with copious amounts of soapy water, then with copious amounts of tepid water to wash the soap away. Obviously use a soap that your plant can handle contact with.

Soap molecules suspended in water are attracted to, and surround, oil molecules (and dirt and other things), making them more mobile in water. This is why soap cleans messy things off of you.

Of course, since soap cleans dirt, this process may have adverse effects on your media if you're in a pot. If you're in the ground (sounds like you are), then it shouldn't be a big deal, but it wouldn't actually flush the oil out of the soil, it would simply disperse it. Therefore, if in the ground, it would be especially important to apply enough water to disperse the oil enough to where the plant can no longer be affected by it much.

Let us know how things go, good luck!
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fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
13 years ago
Hey if you are really worried dig up the soil with the oil and dispose of it. But my opinion is that it won't damage the tree at all. If you poured a quart of oil into a 5 gal potted citrus that might be cause for worry. But a 15 year old citrus has a huge root system. A quart of oil won't phase it.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
13 years ago
Gosh, I thought that I had posted to this question earlier!

I don't think you should do much of anything to the soil, including worrying about it too much. As long as this is an in situ planting, and not in a container, the millions upon millions of microorganisms will take care of the oil. If this were a containerized plant, it would be a whole different story.

If you do decide to try a soapy rinse, be ultra conservative with the amount of soap you use. Soap can do quite a number on the natural 'workings' of a healthy soil system.

I strongly advise against removing the soil as you will certainly affect valuable feeder tree roots, which are quite shallow.
stropharia
13 years ago
Yeah, I guess in the ground, a quart of cooking oil is really very little. I didn't really think much about the amount...I guess microbes would just find that a tasty treat!
tantanman
13 years ago
Actually cooking oil is not so bad as say motor oil. But it is far from harmless. Depending on how big an area whis is covered the effects may or may not be so bad.

When I was taking organic gardening class they told us never to use fats and oils in composting. This makes sense because they are very concentrated in carbon and generate a very high biological oxygen demand (BOD) while being chewed up by microbes in the droplets of soil water. Same thing happens when too much oil gets into water and fish kills result. Plant roots need oxygen.

The second thing that can happen is the microbes may be temporarily killed due to the overload and the soil is
infertile for a while. If not overloaded, the microbes may over populate and depleat the soil of nitrogen similar to the addition of excess uncomposted mulch and part of the tree will show signs of nitrogen defiency. My guess is this is what will happen on part of the tree, and if it does just add extra fertilizer in a couple of months.

Larry
fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
13 years ago
Cooking oil isn't toxic. The only way it could hurt your tree is by suffocating the roots. That would take hundreds of gallons. There will be no affect of one qt on a 15 year old tree.

I've seen people dump their motor oil around trees with no affect. Of course that is a very bad idea and will bring on a fine in most cities for environmental reasons.

Did I kill my tree....mistakenly poured kitchen oil on it

Comments (7)

gleb

stropharia

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