Is the compost from the highway 59 land fill is contaminated with herbicides? I’m not a soil scientist and I did not discover this in a lab, so I have no proof. I discovered it the hard way, I tried to use it in my garden. I lost 15 tomato plants to what seems to be herbicide poisoning. The symptoms are very distinct. I do not use any weed killers or fertilizers in my garden or yard. The only place I can imagine it could have come from is the compost.
So what’s going on? How could this happen? It starts with Dow Chemical. They have created herbicides that break down very slowly (we’re talking years) to market to farmers, ranchers, landscapers, golf courses and the likes as a “Once a year application” rather than needing repeat applications. Because the economy is depressed, it sold like hot cakes. Adding to the problem is the fact that it survives the digestive tracks of mammals. So cows, horses, or whatever eats grass sprayed with it and the manure goes to be composted. The icing on the perfect storm is that it survives the composting process too.
So what do we do? DON”T USE IT! Unfortunately herbicides are turning up in the bagged compost you get from the home improvement stores now too. If we are going to stay organic the only real solution is to make our own compost. If you think it’s going to be stinky and full of flies you’re wrong. That only happens if you do it wrong. Read my bog on Composting.
How can you tell if you have contaminated compost? Some garden plants exposed to these new types of herbicides curl up on the edges of the leaves. It’s called “cupping”. Growth is stunted and the whole thing kinda resembles Charley Brown’s Christmas tree. New growth flops over or looks kinda limp.
What can you do if I do I do have contaminated compost? The news isn’t good. It can take 1 to 2 maybe even 3 years for this stuff to break down in your garden. You can remove any compost you can see and spread it along the alley behind your yard to keep the weeds down. Introducing you own “clean” compost to your garden beds will speed the breakdown of the herbicides. Don’t put any plant debris suspected of contamination in your compost! Some crops like corn, squash, and mint are pretty immune to it. Plants like peas, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, lettuces and carrots are harmed by it. The good new is that it doesn’t seem to harm people, although long term data isn’t available.
Who are the culprits? I do not blame the landfill. They have been very helpful. They accept green waste on the good faith that it is not contaminated. On the price list for item they accept it clearly states it must not be contaminated. They don’t have the resources to test every load.
I also don’t blame the County Ag Commissioners Office. They are taking samples and gathering evidence for the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.
I can’t blame the CDP. When this happened in 2002 with Clopyralid, they put measures in place to keep this from happening.
It’s hard to blame Dow because they are obligated to their stockholders to make as much money as they can within the confines of the law. If that means changing the formula slightly and releasing it under a new name to get around the regulations, they have to try.
I can blame everyone that misused the herbicide.
These are the chemical names and the names they are marketed under:
Aminopyralid - sold as Milestone, Forefront, Pharaoh, Banish
Clopyralid - sold as Curtail, Confront, Clopyr AG, Lontrel, Stinger, Millennium Ultra, Millenium Ultra Plus, Reclaim, Redeem, Transline.
Picloram - sold as Tordon, Access, Surmount, Grazon, and Pathway
So what’s going on? How could this happen? It starts with Dow Chemical. They have created herbicides that break down very slowly (we’re talking years) to market to farmers, ranchers, landscapers, golf courses and the likes as a “Once a year application” rather than needing repeat applications. Because the economy is depressed, it sold like hot cakes. Adding to the problem is the fact that it survives the digestive tracks of mammals. So cows, horses, or whatever eats grass sprayed with it and the manure goes to be composted. The icing on the perfect storm is that it survives the composting process too.
So what do we do? DON”T USE IT! Unfortunately herbicides are turning up in the bagged compost you get from the home improvement stores now too. If we are going to stay organic the only real solution is to make our own compost. If you think it’s going to be stinky and full of flies you’re wrong. That only happens if you do it wrong. Read my bog on Composting.
How can you tell if you have contaminated compost? Some garden plants exposed to these new types of herbicides curl up on the edges of the leaves. It’s called “cupping”. Growth is stunted and the whole thing kinda resembles Charley Brown’s Christmas tree. New growth flops over or looks kinda limp.
What can you do if I do I do have contaminated compost? The news isn’t good. It can take 1 to 2 maybe even 3 years for this stuff to break down in your garden. You can remove any compost you can see and spread it along the alley behind your yard to keep the weeds down. Introducing you own “clean” compost to your garden beds will speed the breakdown of the herbicides. Don’t put any plant debris suspected of contamination in your compost! Some crops like corn, squash, and mint are pretty immune to it. Plants like peas, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, lettuces and carrots are harmed by it. The good new is that it doesn’t seem to harm people, although long term data isn’t available.
Who are the culprits? I do not blame the landfill. They have been very helpful. They accept green waste on the good faith that it is not contaminated. On the price list for item they accept it clearly states it must not be contaminated. They don’t have the resources to test every load.
I also don’t blame the County Ag Commissioners Office. They are taking samples and gathering evidence for the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.
I can’t blame the CDP. When this happened in 2002 with Clopyralid, they put measures in place to keep this from happening.
It’s hard to blame Dow because they are obligated to their stockholders to make as much money as they can within the confines of the law. If that means changing the formula slightly and releasing it under a new name to get around the regulations, they have to try.
I can blame everyone that misused the herbicide.
These are the chemical names and the names they are marketed under:
Aminopyralid - sold as Milestone, Forefront, Pharaoh, Banish
Clopyralid - sold as Curtail, Confront, Clopyr AG, Lontrel, Stinger, Millennium Ultra, Millenium Ultra Plus, Reclaim, Redeem, Transline.
Picloram - sold as Tordon, Access, Surmount, Grazon, and Pathway
Update:
ReplyDelete1. The landfill claims the compost is safe because it was recently tested.
2. They provide me with a copy of the test results and there is no mention of any herbicides.
3. I contacted the lab that did the testing and they aren't even able to test for herbicides.
Thank you for the information on our food, Rik. I wish that we would all do the research into corporate gardening techniques that you do. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI really hope everyone takes this seriously. Before we knew about this we used this compost and as of now have lost about 15 plants. I do caning and preserve all my veggies during the summer which is how I was able to cut my market bill almost in half last winter. The thought of being sold "poison" under the mask if "organic" makes me sick, but seeing my beautiful plants die before my eyes and being able to do nothing for them devastates me.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see action taken against this horrible deception.
Update:
ReplyDelete4. The British government banned aminopyralid in 2008 while it investigated for a year. It then established new guidelines, a training program and licensing for it's use.
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page17354
5. The Merced Ag commissioner is sending a complaint (with my name on it) to the State Pesticide Department requesting a soil analysis.
OK maybe I can now post comments. I am trying this out we shall see and I miss the rants...in the garden this summer over wine!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. I bought some re-soil at Costco and have noticed some of my starts are struggling to say the least! I bet it is just another counties green waste too. :( This is disappointing. Thank you for sharing your insight.
ReplyDeleteto Lanie, you're right. This can happen with store bought too. Their sources are probably similar to the county and may have some manure mixed in. Luckily it's not too late in the season to start over. My next blog will be about how to make your own compost. It's really the only way to go. Hit "Follow" so you don't miss it.
ReplyDeleteI too bought a pickup bed full of the stuff from HWY 59 and and used it to fill in low spots in my yard and used it on half of my garden. After a few months, every where I had placed the stuff KILLED every green thing that was growing under it. To this day (two years later) the grass is just now starting to grow back...slowly. Also, I tried starting a garden this year and the only spots which were fertile, was the non "HWY59 compost"-ed side. It's incredible.
ReplyDeleteI told the ladies at the clerks desk out there on the landfill's entrance road and they were not sympathetic to my claims. Oh well, I have told everyone I know who owns their house to avoid the landfill compost until they've tested it themselves in a small container. =(. BS Merced.