First post......garden lost to herbicide

[Growing Coastal]

Sorry to read of the loss of your garden! Tragic.
Have you considered letting people in your area know through a letter to the paper or other outlet for this news?
There are a ton of new COVID gardeners now who know nothing about it.

[Steve73]

G. Coastal....thats a good point. If I can figure out for sure the source, I will surely bring it the their attention. I am passing the word along the best I can.

[MsCowpea]

I echo what everyone else has said. So, so sorry. So much work down the drain—it is depressing but I am glad you have another spot.
I also use a great deal of compost made by us using horse manure and bedding. I also buy alfalfa hay to layer into the compost.
And I buy straw to mulch tomato plants. So far we have escaped damage over the years but the issue makes me think I should be more pro active and grow beans in a 4” pot to check the compost.

I am a huge fan of horse manure and bedding as we have little organic matter in Florida sandy yards. Plus it recycled a waste product.

I read that the persistence can last 2 years, not usually any longer. ( They did find herbicide residue years later in hay stored in a dry barn according to an article I read.) At least your soil is not permanently effected nor does it have to be removed.

Apparently sunlight helps degrade the chemical so maybe compost stored out in the open and turned would help. Right now I have
3 large piles that were carefully made and covered immediately to prevent leaching. Maybe they should be uncovered on sunny days—I don’t know.

England had issues of herbicide damage few years back. Traced back to a composting facility using horse manure and bedding. Plus feed can
also be contaminated. And neither passing through the digestive system or composting gets rid of it.

There is a thread here that talks about dicamba . They recently relaxed regulations and allowed it to be top sprayed when other crops were actively growing. Prior to that it was used pre-plant to kill weeds so drift had minimal effect. A judge has withdrawn the EPAs approval of the new use but it is all back in the courts. Plus Clopyralid is used still- you can buy it on the internet.

People may think it is an issue only effecting organic growers (or anyone who just amends with compost) but low levels of glyphosate are found in certain foods though levels have been deemed harmless by regulating agencies. (Edited to specify glyphosate).

I also read that sometimes testing won’t pick up the herbicides in a sample as it is in such minuscule amounts- but that level is still damaging to crops.
Best of luck figuring it all out and replanting a new garden.

[Steve73]

MsCowpea, correct on all points.

Farmer sprays field. Hay gets rolled and sold, or cows graze pasture, which means contaminated manure. Either way, all that hay and manure gets dispersed. Its just a self perpetuating problem. I support our farmers, I cant blame them for doing what they have to do. Its just gets really difficult to try and keep track of what everyone else in the world is doing.

[GoDawgs]

Welcome to the Junction. And I'm sorry it has to be under these circumstances.

Is there any way your county extension service can test samples of both compost and hay to determine the specific problem?

[SQWIB]

Sorry to hear that.
I stopped all outside inputs this season and now rely on my own compost, living mulches and cover crops, I still use bagged mulch for pathways, I also occasionally get grass clippings from a friend.

http://www.ncagr.gov/spcap/pesticides/d ... 9Apr09.pdf

AminopyralidGardenerResponse29Apr09.pdf

[Steve73]

GoDawgs...... I dont know if testing is available. Probably costly if looking for specific chemicals though.

SQWIB.....I agree. Everything I put in the garden from now on will be from whatever resources I have on the property. Just going to have to change things up a bit and move on from here.

[Whwoz]

Welcome to the Junction from Down Under, just a tough way to arrive

[EdieJ]

Something just occurred to me. I got one of those tumbling compost bins this year and have religiously been putting all my compostable waste into it. But for the most part I buy from the grocery store. Could the veggie/fruit waste be possibly contaminated? I wash everything before I use it but still... My first binfull should be ready to go in a couple of weeks.

[MsCowpea]

Your kitchen scraps wouldn’t have herbicide residue according to this article.
https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2018/10/ ... al-limits/

Its just gets really difficult to try and keep track of what everyone else in the world is doing.

So true