Question from a gardener re: wildfire ash in CA

last year

last modified: last year

My sister in Santa Monica asked me to ask if anyone here has any experience/advice about harvesting and eating produce now. She forwarded an article that suggests things with thick rinds should be OK, but things you don't peel before consuming - like greens - wouldn't. I think there are a lot of gardeners with similar concerns.
She has an avocado tree, apple and lemons too, and a container vegetable garden.
I told her to be careful when harvesting too, to protect herself from ash fallout.

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plllog

last year

last modified: last year

As expected, rain arrived. Real rain. Thunder. They've sandbagged and K-railed and one can only hope, but whatever fell on the ground is making its way to the ocean…

It's been so long that it seems other worldly, on a Ridley Scott level, to have water pouring down from the sky. This is not normal.

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Comments (9)

plllog
last year
It's not just the ash, but the can't see them particulates. Who knows what's in the soil? It's supposed to be at least half an inch of rain today, and there's still smoke in the air, making it worse. The two ways forward are to peel or wash as best one can and figure we're breathing the same schmutz anyway, or just stick to store produce from st least 100 miles away where even with certified organic, one has no real way of knowing under what conditions it was grown...

I don't know the bona fides of this site, but fwiw:

https://www.gardeninginla.net/blog/veggies-ok-to-eat-after-wildfires-and-smoke
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10 thanked plllog
Sherry8aNorthAL
last year
I would just wash the fruits well. At most soak in a vinegar/water and then rinse. Use a vegetable brush. The greens, treat the way I do turnip greens, which are grown in sandy soil here. Soak in water in sink. Rinse and repeat until water runs clear.

I would replace the soil in the containers with new potting soil .
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10 thanked Sherry8aNorthAL
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carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10
Original Author
last year
Here are 2 articles she shared with me - they mostly agree:

https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/good-food/fire-soil-safety-lunar-new-year-china-dishes/eaton-palisades-fire-soil-ash-residue-fallout-danger-garden-fruit-vegetables

https://lapublicpress.org/2025/01/backyard-fruit-fire-eaton-palisade-ash/
John Liu
last year
last modified: last year
Lead went airborne and will end up in the soil downwind. I don't know if she got much smoke from the fire, which I'd think would be an indicator of where the airborne lead might have gone to. I think veg gardners downwind should test their topsoil (lead kits are cheap, though I bet you have to buy them online now) and if required dig out and discard the upper inch or so from planting areas . Until then, maybe put plastic sheet over the beds if rain is expected?
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10 thanked John Liu
fawnridge (Ricky)
last year
I'm glad you're finally getting rain, but my concern would be with the soil and what that rain is washing into it. Is the fire retardant dropped from aircraft safe to eat? What about all the battery acid and lithium from those cars that were fried? To say nothing about the contaminants that make up all that ash.

It's gonna be a tough call, but I'm afraid that most of the affected area's produce is going to end up in a landfill.
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10 thanked fawnridge (Ricky)
plllog
last year
last modified: last year
The fire retardant, Phos-chek, is often touted for a secondary effect as a fertilizer, but there are other chemicals in small quantity which may be considered pollutants. It can cause skin or eye irritation if you get it on you, but it's considered safe. The amount in the runoff is probably negligible compared to the ocean (unlike our famous DDT blob) but in smaller waterways some have said that it's bad for the ecosystem. So is pure fertilizer, though.

I wouldn't worry about that, but one of the things slowing down the whole entry into recovery is that the burn areas are required to be treated as toxic and debris removeal must be done correctly. The rain is washing all that, including the heavy metals, with luck, to water treatment, but probably mostly out storm drains and into the ocean,

It is pouring, though the news still is saying the real rain is coming this afternoon. I hope it's just early, and not just a pale foreshadow… If landslides can be avoided by the preparations (inc. giant tarps on the hillsides, trying to hold the soil in place), great (keep in mind that slides can happen days after the rain stops), but there's still going to be runoff, and it'll still carry the ash and particulates. And there will be mudfloes, which on their own can take down houses.

With any luck, maybe this could put out the fires.

Nobody is mentioning the earthquakes yesterday—they were very small, but another annoyance and one just hopes they weren't pre-quakes…
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10 thanked plllog
plllog
last year
I don't know if this answers your questions at all, but there was a report on the local news about a meeting with the residents from the Palisades. The reporter said clearly that there are two stages of debris removal. First the EPA is clearing the toxics. After they're done, residents can sign up to have the Army Corps of Engineers remove the rest, or they can hire private contractors.

I haven't seen anything further on what toxics are flowing away with the rain. There was a long report about cars stuck in a mudfloe, from which I deduce that that's the worst so far.
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10 thanked plllog
plllog
last year
So they did say on the news today that the authorities did try to keep the runoff out of the storm drains. The inevitable mud seems to have mostly stopped in the streets, and the EPA are supposed to be removing it.
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10 thanked plllog

Question from a gardener re: wildfire ash in CA

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Question from a gardener re: wildfire ash in CA

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