vision2020
No, it's not your gardening skills
Not much is growing at the new Moscow Community Garden. That's because the
organic compost donated by WSU appears to have been contaminated with a
broad leaf herbicide which seems quite persistant. If you used WSU compost
(organic or standard) early this spring and found your plants failing don't
question your gardening skills. It is quite likely the compost was the
culprit.
Beans, peas and plants in the nightshade family seem most susceptible. The
nightshade family includes tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and potatoes.
Beans and peas die shortly after germination. Plants in the nightshade
family may show inward curling of the leaves and severe deformity of growth
tips before they die. Sunflowers, buckwheat, squash and pumpkins have also
shown signs of problems which include, stunting, deformities and inward
curling leaves. Heavy applications of compost even caused deformities in
Canada Thistle--but it didn't kill it. At the Moscow Community Garden some
common flowering annuals and plants in the cabbage family have recovered
after showing initial signs of herbicide damage.
Crossroads nursery used this compost in their operation and sold quite a
bit in Moscow/Pullman. They have begun a list of people harmed and have
filed a formal complaint with the Washington Dept of Agriculture. If you
purchased compost from them and have been having troubles you may want to
contact them. The Koppel Farm Community Garden in Pullman has had severe
problems, also. Many of the gardeners there are plant and soil scientists
and I credit them for initiating inquiries and action. If you've had a
problem with the compost, or know someone who has, you can contact the
Idaho Dept. of Ag, the Washington Dept of Ag, WSU composting center, or
Crossroads Nursery.
WSU has been looking into this for a few weeks and, after initial
scepticism, there appears to be little doubt that the compost was
contaminated with an herbicide. They have yet to determine what the
herbicide is or how it came to be in the compost. Initial testing showed
undetectable levels of the most common broad-leaf herbicides.
Unfortunately, it is my understanding that some herbicides (clopyralids in
particular) may continue to do damage even at undetectable levels. WSU and
the WSDA are now doing more extensive testing of soil and plant tissue
samples. Once we know which chemical we're dealing with we will be better
able to mitigate the problems.
I am far from an expert on the issue of agricultural chemicals. If you are
interested, there are a number of organizations you can contact, including
the manufacturers. I do know that it is commonly believed that composting
materials treated with some agricultural chemicals is a safe practice. In
some cases, with some chemicals it may be, but I would highly reccommend
that you read *very carefully* the lable of the chemicals you use prior to
application and prior to composting materials which have been treated.
Peggy Adams
Moscow Community Garden
Peggy Adams
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Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute
P O Box 8596; 112 West 4th St; Suite #1
Moscow ID 83843-1096
Phone (208)882-1444; Fax (208)882-8029
url: http://www.moscow.com/pcei
Please Note our individual staff email addresses below:
Thomas C. Lamar, Executive Director: lamar@pcei.org
Peggy Adams, Community Garden: adams@pcei.org
Jon Barrett, Idaho Smart Growth: smartgro@micron.net
Elaine Clegg, Idaho Smart Growth: eclegg@micron.net
David Urban, Watersheds: urban@pcei.org
Laurie Gardes, Financial Manager: gardes@pcei.org
Ashley Martens, Environmental Education: martens@pcei.org
Lisabeth Edlund, Americorp/Environmental Ed: edlund@pcei.org
Chad Lammers, Watersheds Assistant: lamm2673@uidaho.edu
Sara Hansen, Office Manager: pcei@pcei.org
Brooke Davidson, Media: bldavidson@bsu.edu
Celebrating thirteen years of connecting people, place and community.
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