Post by naturelovr on Apr 18, 2011 19:34:56 GMT -6
Our Garden Gang
Organic Ade
Suck It Up!
(AKA Phytoremediation)
So you've had your soil tested and you're in trouble. Somehow, somewhere, chemicals have gotten into your soil. A burst septic system, a chemical spill, arsenic treated wood, lead paint, blasting powder from well digging, or a stump hole has poisoned the soil in your yard.
And, here come the experts, telling you the only way to have a garden you can enjoy is to remove all the soil and replace it with new. So there goes your garden budget anyway. Right?
WRONG! Read on...
Welcome to the wonderful world of Phytoremediation (break it down fight-o-remeedee-ay-shun). Using plants to fix soil is an old, old tactic, but one that has somehow been lost to the average gardener or farmer. Plants can clean up pesticides, heavy metals, explosive and oils, among other things, and keep those contaminants from being washed down into the water table. The plants can do this by one of three ways. They can store the chemical in their roots, stems and leaves. They can change the chemicals into less harmful chemicals within themselves. Or they can change them into gases, which are exhaled and reduced to harmless trace amounts when combined with the air. Also, if you have inoculated your plants before planting them, the fungi that live on and near the roots of the plants can break down the chemicals, or just concentrate them and stick them to the roots of the plants, to be pulled from the soil later.
The benefits to phytoremediation are obvious. It is letting nature take care of our slip-ups. In some cases the absorbed materials can be extracted from the plants, reutilizing them so that further mining isn't as necessary. Some of the down sides are that it takes a little time, and effort on the part of the property owner. It may appeal to some to just have someone come in and remove the polluted soil. But that isn't fixing the problem; it is only moving it from one place to another.
Organic Ade
Suck It Up!
(AKA Phytoremediation)
So you've had your soil tested and you're in trouble. Somehow, somewhere, chemicals have gotten into your soil. A burst septic system, a chemical spill, arsenic treated wood, lead paint, blasting powder from well digging, or a stump hole has poisoned the soil in your yard.
And, here come the experts, telling you the only way to have a garden you can enjoy is to remove all the soil and replace it with new. So there goes your garden budget anyway. Right?
WRONG! Read on...
Welcome to the wonderful world of Phytoremediation (break it down fight-o-remeedee-ay-shun). Using plants to fix soil is an old, old tactic, but one that has somehow been lost to the average gardener or farmer. Plants can clean up pesticides, heavy metals, explosive and oils, among other things, and keep those contaminants from being washed down into the water table. The plants can do this by one of three ways. They can store the chemical in their roots, stems and leaves. They can change the chemicals into less harmful chemicals within themselves. Or they can change them into gases, which are exhaled and reduced to harmless trace amounts when combined with the air. Also, if you have inoculated your plants before planting them, the fungi that live on and near the roots of the plants can break down the chemicals, or just concentrate them and stick them to the roots of the plants, to be pulled from the soil later.
The benefits to phytoremediation are obvious. It is letting nature take care of our slip-ups. In some cases the absorbed materials can be extracted from the plants, reutilizing them so that further mining isn't as necessary. Some of the down sides are that it takes a little time, and effort on the part of the property owner. It may appeal to some to just have someone come in and remove the polluted soil. But that isn't fixing the problem; it is only moving it from one place to another.
To read the entire article that tells which plants clean up what problem, link here:
ourgardengang.tripod.com/whsuckitup.htm
