Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old September 6, 2016   #46
Gardeneer
Tomatovillian™
 
Gardeneer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7
Posts: 4,909
Default

Few years ago Cobb County, in GA was giving away free compost made out of trash and/or sludge. But it was meant for use as mulch around trees and shrubs, not for edible vegetable garden.
I never did get any. Instead I could pick as much composted horse manure for free from a horse farm. The manure was mixed with hay and wood shaving and composted.
__________________
Gardeneer

Happy Gardening !
Gardeneer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 7, 2016   #47
whoose
Tomatovillian™
 
whoose's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Bozeman, Montana Zone 6b
Posts: 333
Default So What is the Answer?

So what should I do? The heavy metals look low. The stuff bio degrades. Did it up or wash it well before eating?
whoose is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 7, 2016   #48
tedln
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On the Milorganite web site. The question is asked "Is it okay to grow vegetables using their product?" Essentially, their answer is "Everything in nature has heavy metals in it. So long as EPA recommended levels are not exceeded, it does not present a problem." According to the statement, some heavy metals are required to maintain a healthy life.

I don't know if all producers of biosolids do it, but the city of Milwaukee heats the sludge to kill all organisms before packaging it for sale. I don't think the EPA would allow it to be sold if it's safety isn't proven. The EPA has become pretty testy about stuff like that.

The answer to any question you ask depends on the person being asked. If Sixty Minutes or 20/20 did a television segment about your dirt, I'm sure they could find an "expert" who would declare your dirt a bio hazard and recommend it be dug up and hauled to a toxic waste disposal site because it has the potential of killing thousands of people. But hey, that"s show biz. If they asked me, I would say "happy gardening".

Ted

Last edited by tedln; September 7, 2016 at 11:37 AM.
  Reply With Quote
Old September 7, 2016   #49
brownrexx
Tomatovillian™
 
brownrexx's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Southeastern PA
Posts: 1,420
Default

I would not stress about it if I were you but I wouldn't add any more of that soil, I would continue to add other organic materials like leaves, straw, grass clippings etc. Heavy metals do not degrade over time but they are low so just don't add more.

You should wash produce carefully anyway so just continue to do that.

You know, many people collect rainwater and who knows what may be on their roofs? Your soil is probably no worse than that.
brownrexx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 7, 2016   #50
dmforcier
Tomatovillian™
 
dmforcier's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Dallas, TX
Posts: 3,825
Default

Based on the evidence and discussion here, I'd use it with no special precautions.
dmforcier is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 7, 2016   #51
Worth1
Tomatovillian™
 
Worth1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
Default

Not to beat a subject to death but I have always wondered something.
As far as the bio solids what they contain and the amounts of it.
Cities as a rule in many places have a certain type of culture in them, call it demographics if you will.
I like to make fun of Austin but as a rule the people there are more educated and more inclined to be environmentally concerned than some other cities.
They as a rule exercise more often.
At least according to the data I have read and heard about different cities.
Which I think is skewed because these same reports and research more or less call people like me uneducated idiots.

I wonder if any of the reflects on what goes down the drain and the amount of it in the bio sludge.

I think I answered my own question.
Some time ago they spread the stuff out on the park grounds have a concert and a bunch of people broke out in a rash.
from what I read it was traced back to the Dillo Dirt.

What a person does in their own garden is their own business.
Worth1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 8, 2016   #52
whoose
Tomatovillian™
 
whoose's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Bozeman, Montana Zone 6b
Posts: 333
Default Bio Solids Percentage in Compost

Talked to the plant manager yesterday an he said that the compost that the sell has less than 20% bio-solids. Also that the testing standard are very strict and they can not even get bio-solids from the treatment plant if the do not meet the initial standards.

They do not use hay, grass, lawn clippings and other possible contaminated sources, just sticks and stems.
whoose is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 8, 2016   #53
My Foot Smells
Tomatovillian™
 
My Foot Smells's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Pulaski County, Arkansas
Posts: 1,239
Default

if you didn't know, it probably wouldn't bother you. I could see a top soil additive (and have seen used in Killeen, Tx), but more questions than answers for garden, esp. if beds are raised or contained.

think there would be better sources, imo.

government and quality control are both things that do not bode confidence.
My Foot Smells is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 8, 2016   #54
Starlight
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: AL
Posts: 1,993
Default

I sure don't know anything about the composition of sludge's and what is good or not, but I can tell you that a friend bought this place and in the back yard they had an area that had sludge and waste soil. There were bunches of tomato plants growing in it. Since the plants looked healthy, my friend decided to let the plants grow.

The plants themselves looked healthy and grew large and things looked ok until the fruits came on. The tomatoes were deformed. You could just about see completely through them and they were a weird color I can't even describe. The outside of the tomatoes were like all pocked up. They reminded me of somebody with the worst case of acne you could think of.

I helped my friend pull up and destroy all those plants before one of the grandkids got some and ate them and possibly got sick. I had saved a couple of tomatoes to take over to the lab for testing, but I just never found the time to make the 4 hour drive and threw them out before somehow my crops got infected with something.

You could always give the stuff a try, but If it was me, I think I would do just a small section and plant it and see what happens, especially if it involves my food. Free sometimes isn't always a good thing. Good luck on whatever you try.
Starlight is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 8, 2016   #55
Worth1
Tomatovillian™
 
Worth1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Starlight View Post
I sure don't know anything about the composition of sludge's and what is good or not, but I can tell you that a friend bought this place and in the back yard they had an area that had sludge and waste soil. There were bunches of tomato plants growing in it. Since the plants looked healthy, my friend decided to let the plants grow.

The plants themselves looked healthy and grew large and things looked ok until the fruits came on. The tomatoes were deformed. You could just about see completely through them and they were a weird color I can't even describe. The outside of the tomatoes were like all pocked up. They reminded me of somebody with the worst case of acne you could think of.

I helped my friend pull up and destroy all those plants before one of the grandkids got some and ate them and possibly got sick. I had saved a couple of tomatoes to take over to the lab for testing, but I just never found the time to make the 4 hour drive and threw them out before somehow my crops got infected with something.

You could always give the stuff a try, but If it was me, I think I would do just a small section and plant it and see what happens, especially if it involves my food. Free sometimes isn't always a good thing. Good luck on whatever you try.
They might have been genetically altered by some sort of chemical.

Worth
Worth1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 8, 2016   #56
Scooty
Tomatovillian™
 
Scooty's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Chicago-land & SO-cal
Posts: 583
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Worth1 View Post
They might have been genetically altered by some sort of chemical.

Worth
Unless that's plutonium, uranium or some other radioactive waste ... If anything those chemicals would more likely render those seeds unviable.
Scooty is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 8, 2016   #57
Worth1
Tomatovillian™
 
Worth1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scooty View Post
Unless that's plutonium, uranium or some other radioactive waste ... If anything those chemicals would more likely render those seeds unviable.

You never know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding
Worth1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 8, 2016   #58
dmforcier
Tomatovillian™
 
dmforcier's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Dallas, TX
Posts: 3,825
Default

Quote:
Kniggits: "Run away !!!!"
__________________


Stupidity got us into this mess. Why can't it get us out?
- Will Rogers


dmforcier is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 8, 2016   #59
Scooty
Tomatovillian™
 
Scooty's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Chicago-land & SO-cal
Posts: 583
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Worth1 View Post
OH.... you're talking about EMS..... If your local sanitation facility is releasing bio solids with EMS as compost material.... you've got bigger problems than worrying about it just affecting your garden.
Scooty is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 8, 2016   #60
Cole_Robbie
Tomatovillian™
 
Cole_Robbie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
Default

If there's a Fukushima Daisy, surely there could be a Fukushima mater, right?

Cole_Robbie is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:58 AM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★