This post is directed at anyone who likes to garden. I'm a big fan of Mother Earth News, the magazine whose focus is for a more natural world. They had an article in the April/May issue 2011 and another just recently in the February/March issue 2013 about contaminated compost.
I 'm going to present the short story of this problem, If you are sincerely interested in it I suggest that you read thier articles.
Herbicides and pesticides made by Dow and Dupont are finding thier way into the food chain. In this case ending up in private and commercail compost. In one case horse manure was being contaminated because the the horses were eating a commercail horse feed made by Purina which had pesticide residue in it. The horse manure was then sold to a company who made compost. Bottom line here is that contaminated compost will then kill plants that it is applied to.
This isn't just a commercail problem. Any compost that one gets from a private individual may be contaminated. If you get manure from someone be sure and check that source. Ask anyone who also uses that source if they have had any problems.
It's hard enough raising a good crop with extreme weather conditions the last few years. And it would be very disheartening to have a bunch of fruit trees killed off. Just saying that even seemingly safe sources may be something to keep an eye on. X
I hadn't thought of that, I tend to only use our own garden wast.
ReplyDeleteWe create our own compost as well, but occasionally get manure from some of the local farmers. Sheep manure is one of my favorites. These articles made me aware of the potential hazzards that are out there. X
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