Smelly compost tea used--are veggies safe to eat?
triciagrace07
10 years ago
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mendopete
10 years agotriciagrace07
10 years agoRelated Discussions
Street water runoff safe for veggies?
Comments (8)There is reason to be concerned... "Toxins" is a very amorphous term and I think it's worth breaking down those concerns specifically. I think of a few major concerns: 1) pathogenic bacteria, most likely from sewer or septic tank overflow, poorly composted animal wastes, etc. This could be compounded if water sat for a while, and if it was hot out. Use common sense. Nature can easily take care of a dog turd or two, but a sewer overflow would be a serious concern. Adding beneficial soil biota (aerobic compost tea, fungi, EM bokashi, etc.) can resolve this issue in a matter of days unless the problem is severe. 2) Synthetic chemical toxins, including pesticides, herbicides, plastics, etc. These would be my least concern. Synthetic chemicals are broken down by microbes of all sorts, and they are unlikely to be taken up by plants in really significant quantities, with the exception of root crops. Adding good aerobic compost tea, EM Bokashi, & mycorrhyzal fungi will all help break down chemical residues faster. It has even been demonstrated that lactobacillus will break down BPA (biosphenol A) inside the human gut. 3) Elemental toxins - specifically heavy metals such as lead & arsenic or radionuclides. To me, these items are the most serious long-term concern, because they don't break down and some of them, such as lead and cesium are metabolized and concentrated in fruits & vegetables. The most common concern would be lead. If you live in an area that was built in the 1950's or earlier, there is the likelihood of lead paint around houses and other structures. Lead gasoline was finally completely banished in 1996, but many states banned it much earlier. So, depending on how old and how busy the road is, that could be an issue. Spinach is a well-known lead accumulator. FYI, even store bought organic produce can have high levels of lead. Farmers are not required to test their soil. Lead-arsenate was used very widely as an agricultural pesticide until DDT came along, so a great deal of commercial farmland is contaminated, especially older apple orchards. Many farmers do not test, because if the result comes back bad, they are then required to report it. So, it's don't ask, don't tell. Dirty little secret. Here is a link that might be useful: lead-arsenate This post was edited by yukkuri_kame on Fri, Mar 15, 13 at 1:07...See Morenon-smelly fertilizer
Comments (33)"'You stole them to improve your soil.' That is ridiculous. " If you are composting banana peels and coffee grounds from your kitchen it might be a bit of a stretch but think of it this way; youre a wheat farmer. You harvest your wheat and sell it. The wheat contained a lot of nitrogen in the form of proteins, calcium, phosphorus etc that the wheat plants extracted from your soil to grow and complete their reproductive cycle. If you sold the wheat to a chicken farmer down the road who spread his manure on your field you might get some of those nutrients back, but more likely it went to a flour mill thousands of miles away if not the other side of the world and is gone. You are going to have to fertilize with something to maintain a productive soil. Use compost you say? Well if you need 100lbs of nitrogen per acre and you can get compost that is 3% nitrogen (but only 50% is available during the growing season) that will be 3.3 tons of compost per acre. Not a big deal for a garden plot but you have 5000 acres and will therefore need 16,500 tons (33 million pounds) of compost. Not really practical if you think about. That is why compost is heavily used by gardeners working on a small scale and not by farmers working on a large scale. What farmers will do is grow a crop of vetch and rye (or something) over the winter to scavenge nutrients create some organic matter and fix nitrogen. But thats getting off the subject. The issue is robbing one soil to feed another. After the wheat was harvested there is the matter of the straw. There are probably several thousand pounds per acre of stover left in the field. These are your options, burn it to reduce the carbon (that would otherwise tie up nitrogen for a while) and control disease, bale it and sell it, or turn it into the soil to build organic matter. Say you decide to sell the straw and make money to pay the mortgage. You now are not only losing nutrients with the wheat but also a tremendous amount of potential organic matter. On the other hand if I buy your straw, or manure that came from feeding your wheat and use it in my garden I am gaining nutrients and organic matter. It all came from your field. I have in essence robbed your wheat fields to feed my garden. Do you not agree?...See MoreCan I safely use dog waste in my garden if...
Comments (52)Perhaps this country went astray the past twenty five or so years or were brainwashed in most areas.Everything is a big deal 90% of the people who have gas guzzling pickups no more need a truck than a hole in their head.They all moved to the suburbs from town and ASSUMED a truck was part of the package actually most never need to go to the land fill or recycling center.We do alot of pruning every year and rather than take the trimming away I find spots in the yard over the snow fence behing some evergreens and make a brush pile the birds love it for shelter and it quicker than you would think breaks down in a natual way so r their is room for next years branches.Same idea with leaves ,grass clippings kitchen scraps and dog poop.No need for bins and formal composting equipment.I have areas around the property that need rehab thus I start a new temporary composting area.Recently I realized a large Blue Spruce of mine was on the verge of malnutrision so it is my lastest compost area if my wife complains the paper etc is un sightly I cover with a little bark mulch and dress it up being in front of the house one would never guess it was a compost pile.Add some red wiggler worms and away you go.The Blue Spruce by the way is looking great....See Morebotulism & composting ?
Comments (12)I am new to this forum but have been composting for years; have three large bins going right now! Which is almost kinda funny since I had to go buy some bagged stuff because none of the three are ready yet! I am very excited to read the stuff on here! I am no expert at all - but maybe the thing that is of concern is not botulism but e-coli? Which would be something that would be somewhat of risk if using manure? Of course, she didn't mention using manure, just a worry about rotting veggies but e-coli is the only pathogen that comes to my mind (I'm trying in vain to remember the last book on composting I read). This book warned against using manure for "manure tea" because of the risk of e-coli. It said to use only thoroughly composted compost to brew the stuff. I do use manure in my compost since I have horses but no longer add any poo to my brew :) Lynn...See Moremendopete
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