Home-grown veg ruined by toxic fertiliser

UK Disaster: Home-grown veg ruined by toxic fertiliser

www.guardian.co.uk

Gardeners across Britain are reaping a bitter harvest of rotten potatoes, withered salads and deformed tomatoes after an industrial herbicide tainted their soil. Caroline Davies reports on how the food chain became contaminated and talks to the angry allotment owners whose plots have been destroyed.

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Gardeners have been warned not to eat home-grown vegetables contaminated by a powerful new herbicide that is destroying gardens and allotments across the UK.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 16/7/08 by Pellevoisin]

Although this is a complete disaster in the UK, one wonders what will be said of the USA once it is discovered that the levels of toxins in the soils there are irreversible -- and are due to the GMO crops in addition to Dow Chemical Fertilisers.

People in farming states and provinces -- even down to the county or parish level -- should declare their areas "Organic Only, Non-GMO".

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Aminopyralid, which is found in several Dow products, the most popular being Forefront, a herbicide, is not licensed to be used on food crops and carries a label warning farmers using it not to sell manure that might contain residue to gardeners. The Pesticides Safety Directorate, which has issued a regulatory update on the weedkiller, is taking samples from affected plants for testing.

Problems with the herbicide emerged late last year, when some commercial potato growers reported damaged crops. In response, Dow launched a campaign within the agriculture industry to ensure that farmers were aware of how the products should be used. Nevertheless, the herbicide has now entered the food chain. Those affected are demanding an investigation and a ban on the product. They say they have been given no definitive answer as to whether other produce on their gardens and allotments is safe to eat.

One of the greatest difficulties is that multi-national corporations do not own up to their responsibilities. They keep all of the profits from their enterprises, but they expect that their losses will be "socialised" and the burden borne by the ordinary working bloke. In point of fact, everyone who works for Dow Chemical at the Executive Level should be put in jail, and all of their assets seized in partial payment for the damages inflicted. Until the multi-nationals are held accountable by this strictest if not Draconian standard, the globalists will continue to poison the earth and kill people.

Robin and Christina Jones spread a large amount of manure over their flower garden and vegetable patch at their home in Banstead, Surrey. When the potatoes failed, Robin took a sample to the RHS, which identified aminopyralid. His neighbour, who bought from the same source, suffered the same problems. 'We have lost 80 per cent of our vegetable patch,' said Jones, 65, a retired sound engineer. Raspberries, French beans, onions, leeks, even a newly planted robina tree were all affected. 'We are distraught. But what worries me is that the courgettes look very healthy. Had we not had the problem with the potatoes, we might never have realised. Now we are advised not to eat them.

For USAmericans: Courgettes are zucchini.

My reason for pointing to the quote above is that very often Chemical and GMO companies will point to something and say "There is nothing wrong with "X crop" so the problem must be some natural blight." Of course, they lie.

The worst liars in the multi-national corporate world are hard to identify because they all engage in the same culture of public-deception, immoral greed, and a complete absence of conscience about the horrifying future being created for our children's children.

Dow Chemical in the UK have shown at least some knowledge that in the current environment the unilateral denials of the past won't work. Whether they have discovered a moral compass is another matter altogether.

There is also a cautionary tale for all people in the English-speaking world -- especially perhaps the unfortunate United States.

Since all of you will be entering into an engineered famine, some of you are hearing and heeding the calls to tear up your lawns and turf and plant food. Since you aren't farmers, by and large, this is my warning to you not to use the toxic chemicals you have used on your lawns and little ornamental gardens. Those substances will build up and impair your immune system if not do worse.

If you are going to grow your own food on your land, or in an allotment, or some public garden scheme -- or even in containers in your flat/apartment -- GO ORGANIC, and be sure you grow tried and true heirloom seeds.

In the USA there are a number of sead companies that make available the original Victory Garden seeds from the time of the Second World War. I would strongly encourage USAmericans to go back to the Victory Garden materials and to those old seeds for the safest way to grow food -- and to do so in an Organic, non chemical way.

Learning about "humanure" is also very important in the long-term after civilisation has collapsed and public sewage systems are a thing of the past.

Aminopyralid, which is found in several Dow products, the most popular being Forefront, a herbicide, is not licensed to be used on food crops and carries a label warning farmers using it not to sell manure that might contain residue to gardeners.

I am not certain of the brand name in the various English-speaking countries. Aminopyralid is branded as Forefront in the UK (and I believe Ireland).

In the USA I think it is called Milestone. Perhaps someone in the USA with better knowledge than I on the branding could add some information on this thread.

This is yet another..among many examples where an "organic" fertilizer has caused harm. Using fresh, even composted manure can be very damaging to tender crops. The growers are at fault, not Dow. Using manure as a fertilizer comes with risk. The grower of the hay, did he inform the cattlemen his hay had been treated with a herbicide?

Synthetic fertilizers (which can also be called organic) by the way, is a very safe way to fertilize plants. And, it is MUCH safer.

Remember, manure does not come with a label, in most cases. The end user takes all responsibility...at least in The USA. One reason it can be damaging is the high salt content. In fact, the damage described in the article sounds alot like salt damage also.

reply to post by starcraft


I wondered when our resident defender of GMO crops and all things chemical would show up...

That's right, folks, don't blame the corporations -- they are never at fault -- wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more -- it is always the little people who are always to blame for everything ...

reply to post by Pellevoisin


I'm only defending the chemical's label. The farmer may have applied it just as prescribed...but didn't follow the label to the letter....which is LAW in The USA. Many chemical labels will mention that it shouldn't be used near food crops. Many labels also say that the hay shouldn't then be used for livestock. Most herbicide labels will say not to feed the clippings to livestock. It appears these rules were not followed. Why is Dow to blame?

Buying manure from a farmer to be used on a vegetable garden is idiotic...in my opinion. Which was the point of my statement. Utilizing this practice comes with risk...as is evident from the newsstory.

"Better living through Chemistry".....(just follow the label)

Wow this is very scary.I hope for us and much of the world that does not happen here....it could spell disaster for the food supply.On a bit of a positive side here though....In the U.S. there has been a huge increase in Organically grown crops and free range meats available for consumption.Myself...since I do all the food shopping I would estimate that I buy about 60% organic only foods.Funny thing is when you first start eating the organic stuff it actually does not taste as good to you because your taste buds have been conditioned to the other...full of chemicals and growth hormones and god knows what else to make it taste more robust.I am use to it now and I wont go back to that stuff they call food now.

[edit on 7/16/2008 by CaptGizmo]

Originally posted by starcraft
reply to post by Pellevoisin

 

I'm only defending the chemical's label.

*cough*

Why is Dow to blame?

Since it is your business to defend such companies, your asking this question is deeply suspect.

They are making money off of a product they developed that should never have been allowed near the food chain. They are as much too blame as the purveyors of DDT in previous years.

"Better living through Chemistry"

Every single person I have known who adopted that phrase is now dead.

I see your true colors now. You're a chemophobe. ALL chemicals are bad huh?.

Yeah, all chemicals suck ...of course until you have cockroaches. Or cancer. Or you need to put gas in your tank. Or deodorant under your arms. Or to brush your teeth.

The sky is NOT falling, ok?

..and to answer your ludicrous accusation...I do not work for a chemical company. I have used, and will continue to use their evil products though.

....to make the world a better place.

Originally posted by starcraft
I see your true colors now. You're a chemophobe. ALL chemicals are bad huh?.

Yeah, all chemicals suck ...of course until you have cockroaches. Or cancer. Or you need to put gas in your tank. Or deodorant under your arms. Or to brush your teeth.

The sky is NOT falling, ok?

Agreed. Also, I did not read past the first post, as the OP decided they needed to divide it among no less than SIX DIFFERENT POSTS. Jesus Christ.

Not only that, the title is WRONG. Herbicide and Fertilizer are two completely opposite ends of the spectrum.

Bad thread.

very good post. Spot on.

If you are going to grow a home garden I suggest a few things. I'm an avid gardener. Use tried and true tested cultivars. The victory seeds from back in the day are a good place to start.

Heres my advice. For large planting beds try this.

First till the soil for the whole bed as deeply as you can. amend with clean non beach sand if you need better drainage. the looser the soil the better the drainage, airflow and the faster, easier and larger the roots will grow. this is key. After you have done this preliminary work, flood the entire bed good for a few hours. you want it to get really muddy. let the water soak in. it may take a day or two. but it is critical for establishing an even water table so that the roots can grow in any direction unabated and that water will penetrate evenly throughout the entire bed. after the water has soaked in re till the soil.

then if you can go to the local equestrian center and grab as much horse poop you can. horses eat alfalfa and generally not pesticided grasses. and horse manuer is much better than cow manuer nutrient wise. it's also cheep and if you go to the equestrian centers probably free. Spread about 10 cubic feet of the stuff into the soil and till in. also if you can get it use some mushroom compost along with it. till this stuff deep into the soil.

Then grab your plants and begin digging the holes where you want to plant these greens. Before you plant the veggies lay down a little bit of bone meal(phosphorus) and blood meal (nitrogen) in the holes bottom and mix ist a little with the soil. plant our plants and go bout business as normal. Bone and blood meal are pretty cheap in bulk.

if you are planting in containers skip those steps and use bat guano (which is by far superior) I don't recommend guano for outdoor beds cause guano is expensive.

Back to the beds-Now as a mulch like approach to maintain a steady source of fertilizing use the ashes from your fireplace and spread them out around the base of the plants stem or trunk. Ash is loaded with both nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. this will help reinforce the plants feeding and assure that it gets a steady supply regardless of what the roots are doing down below.

If you want you can buy fish emulsion (the best fertilizer of them all besides kelp meal) and use that as a water based fertilizer instead of ash. but fish emulsion gets pretty smelly so thats why I recommend the ash. plus it's easy to get ash, especially if you know anybody that needs their fireplace cleaned out.

Right around fruiting time lay off the ash or fish, cause high nitrogen will encourage more leaf than fruit. make a bone meal tea let is sit for a few days before periodic fertilizing during flowering. the last few weeks of flowering mix a little bit of molasses or fructose into the water . just a little bit or all sorts of mushrooms n things will grow in the soil. the sugars (natural plant sugars, not cooking sugar) will reinforce the fruiting. giving larger plumper fruit and much tastier fruit.

Don't fertilize at all the last two weeks before harvesting. let that work it's way out of the fruit. feed with just plain water.

If you can, but it's expensive but you'll only need to do this once every few season buy some microryhzia they have a symbiotic relationship with the plants root systems allowing plants to utilize ferts and nutrients much more efficiently, making it so that you don't have to use as many fertilizers. like half the amount. microryhzia makes the roots go nuts too, and bigger roots means larger fruit and stronger stress resistant plants.

If during the grow season you notice your plants are getting little yellow streaks than just take a handful of Iron nails and throw them in the watering can and let them rust into the water for a few days and then feed. Might actually want to do this about halfway through the veggies growth stage before they start to fruit.

Whatever you do stay away from things like miracle grow and other salt based fertilizers which are bad for the plants. the salt builds up in the soil causing nutrient lock out.

these methods are the old school way of growing veggies and fruits and they still work the best. and are relatively cheap to do, are all organic and will make your tomatoes taste much better.

Originally posted by starcraft
Yeah, all chemicals suck ...of course until you have cockroaches. Or cancer. Or you need to put gas in your tank. Or deodorant under your arms. Or to brush your teeth.

I do not use chemicals for any of those purposes. And I do not use a petrol/gasoline based vehicle for daily transportation. I overcame cancer with an alternative treatment now banned in the USA. I do not brush my teeth with chemicals and cannot imagine why a sane person would do so.

Originally posted by Pellevoisin

Originally posted by starcraft
reply to post by Pellevoisin

 

They are making money off of a product they developed that should never have been allowed near the food chain. They are as much too blame as the purveyors of DDT in previous years.

"Better living through Chemistry"

Every single person I have known who adopted that phrase is now dead.

Hah, you're wrong. And no surprise either.

But DDT's record speaks for itself. For years most Americans and Europeans ingested substantial amounts of DDT in food every day; the United States alone sprayed 70000 tons on crops every year for 20 years. Kids on bikes weaved in and out of the DDT clouds blown over the streets in countless American towns to control mosquitoes. Many millions of homes in Asia, Southern Africa and Latin America have been sprayed once or twice a year with DDT. Yet no adverse health effects have been reported. "Scientists have searched exhaustively , but found nothing substantial," says Mary Galinski, a molecular biologist at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and president of Malaria Foundation International.

Says Chris Curtis of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: "There is no convincing evidence that DDT, as used indoors against malaria mosquitoes, has caused any harm to humans."

While DDT opponents point to scientific studies indicating a danger to human health, the evidence, says Amir Attaran, of Harvard University, is vague and contradictory. For example, one US study found that women with higher incidences of DDT in their bodies were more likely to have breast cancer. But numerous other studies failed to come up with the same result.

DDT was banned as a result of Rachel Carson, which is another topic in and of itself.

Originally posted by Pellevoisin

Originally posted by starcraft
Yeah, all chemicals suck ...of course until you have cockroaches. Or cancer. Or you need to put gas in your tank. Or deodorant under your arms. Or to brush your teeth.

I overcame cancer with an alternative treatment now banned in the USA.

OooooOOOOOHhhhhh.
Let me guess, nasty "big pharma" got it banned?


*Rattles chains*



WoooOOOOhhhhh!

Originally posted by BASSPLYR
Spread about 10 cubic feet of the stuff into the soil and till in. also if you can get it use some mushroom compost along with it. till this stuff deep into the soil.
. . .
Whatever you do stay away from things like miracle grow and other salt based fertilizers which are bad for the plants. the salt builds up in the soil causing nutrient lock out.

these methods are the old school way of growing veggies and fruits and they still work the best. and are relatively cheap to do, are all organic and will make your tomatoes taste much better.

Thank you for your excellent contribution to the thread. So many important points you brought together so well.

One area with exploring with regard to soil health and yield productivity is the work of Dr. Paul Stamets on mushrooms, mycelium, and mycoculture in general. We were able to learn a great deal from him that has been very helpful.

funny but most growers won't recommend steer manuer. it just sucks compared to horse manuer.

ALso I don't know one botanist, landscaper or gardener worth their salt that would recommend a synthetic chemical salt based fertilizer. besides lot of the nutrients needed can't even be absorbed unless they are chelated. salt fertilizers make a lot of nutrients non bioavailable to the plant or much more less so.

Use miracle grow and shauster on your lawn or on your hedges. but better yet not at all.