Soil Testing By OSU Student Extraordinaire

http://digitalunion.osu.edu/r2/summer09/mason/

Check out this beautiful and informative website by OSU chemistry student, Tori Mason. She tested soil in the University Area community gardens for lead. She lists the results as well as important information regarding heavy metals and community gardens that everyone should read.

This work is a fantastic example of partnerships between community gardens and universities. Connections like this are waiting to be made!

Syracuse's community gardens are tainted with lead and arsenic

Syracuse, NY -- A dedicated band of gardeners have been tilling Syracuse's soil as a way of building community and providing fresh fruits and vegetables to their families. But the plots they have been eating from and others they have been working to develop are contaminated with toxic metals.

In at least some cases, Syracuse city workers were likely the ones who laid down the polluted dirt.

A recent study of six local community gardens by scientists at the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry showed that all but one of the plots contained elevated levels of lead, according to preliminary results. Samples from one garden in development -- the Isabella Street Community Garden -- exceeded health standards set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The normal level of lead in soil is between 40 and 50 parts per million. The Syracuse gardens have lead levels that range from 46 to 820 parts per million.

Moreover, arsenic levels in all of the plots except for one were off the charts, said ESF professor Venera Jouraeva, who led the study.

Jouraeva said the results need to be confirmed through additional tests. She said more information should be available next week.

The EPA generally warns against planting in soil with arsenic readings above 0.4 parts per million. Measures in all of the Syracuse community gardens except for the Avery Avenue garden landed between 8 and 17 parts per million.

"Avery was the only one suitable for gardening," Jouraeva said.

Why be concerned?

Lead: Lead poisoning can cause irreversible brain damage in infants and toddlers and lead to reduced attention spans, hyperactivity and problems in school. Pregnant women can pass lead onto their fetuses. Lead in the soil is especially a problem for growing root vegetables and leafy greens. You can also pick up lead by inhaling contaminated dirt.

Arsenic: You can die by ingesting very high levels of arsenic. Exposure to lower levels can cause vomiting, abnormal heart rhythm and damage to blood vessels. Ingesting arsenic can increase the risk of skin cancer and cancers of the liver, bladder and lungs, studies show.

The news has unsettled local gardeners. While most of the plots tested are gardens just now being developed, sites such as the West Newell Street garden have fed people for a decade.

"The people who have gone out of their way to supplement their diet with healthy food, now they're faced with food that's contaminated," said Jessi Lyons, an ESF student and member of Syracuse Grows, a local group dedicated to promoting and supporting community gardens.

Jouraeva and the gardeners say people can still plant foods in the contaminated plots if they take precautions. Most of the sites need only minor adjustments, such as bringing in new top soil and planting crops in raised beds.

High levels of lead at the Isabella Street garden require more extreme mitigation, but that, too, is under way.

"I think that contaminants in the soil when gardening can always be a concern," said Inga Back, program coordinator for the Onondaga County Health Department's Lead Poisoning Control Program. "But if you put a liner down and the plants don't have access to the soil underneath, and you put clean soil in, it should be fine."

The findings worry Mable Wilson, founder of the West Newell Street Community Garden.

"We've been eating here for 10 years," she said.

Many of the community gardens sit on the city's North and South sides, where grocery stores are scarce, buses are infrequent and most residents can't afford to buy organic produce. Community members say they started growing food as a safe and affordable alternative. The gardens have also helped bring people together and develop a stronger sense of community.

Gardeners from West Newell Street had planned to donate some of their harvest to the food pantry at the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ. But that can't happen now that lead and arsenic has been uncovered in the soil.

"We can't give the food pantry the food," Wilson said. "We're taking a chance on ourselves."

Back said people shouldn't worry if they ate in the past from gardens with high readings. Lead stays in the body only a short time, she said, so "if you had an exposure five years ago and that's it ... it would be gone from your blood."

Still, all children ages 1 and 2 should be tested for lead, Back said.

In fact, it's a state requirement. Children facing ongoing lead risks should be tested until age 6.

Wilson said her grandchildren are periodically tested for lead because years ago, as toddlers, they lived in an apartment building where they were exposed to lead. The family moved before Wilson started gardening, but the grandchildren have eaten from the West Newell Street garden in the years since.

"They have no lead in their systems," Wilson said.

Jouraeva said it's common for urban soil to be contaminated, and other parts of the city test even higher.

The lead in the gardens likely came from several sources, researchers said.

Most of the plots once contained homes, so chips of paint with lead easily could have entered the ground and contaminated it, scientists said.

A third possible source is the city of Syracuse itself. Syracuse Parks Commissioner Pat Driscoll said workers truck in topsoil to re-grade sites, such as the community gardens, where homes have been demolished. The topsoil is typically of a low quality because it's considered a temporary solution, Driscoll said.

"That could certainly be the cause of it," Driscoll said. "The soil that is used may have particles of lead in it."

The topsoil comes from yard waste and debris that city workers collect, Driscoll said. Because it's makeup is unknown, it should not be used to grow food, he said.

"Planting a garden, whether it's fruits and vegetables or flowers, is certainly a lot different than putting in topsoil to fill a hole," Driscoll said. "If there are going to be fruits and vegetables, you want the greatest quality soil. The topsoil that's put in is definitely a Band-Aid, not a solution."

"That makes me angry," Wilson said. "We're doing a lot of work for nothing if they are bringing in soil with lead."

Lead in soil can make people sick if they inhale dirt while digging, swallow dust that clings to their hands or eat foods grown in polluted ground. Root vegetables and leafy greens are most susceptible.

Lead poisoning can cause irreversible brain damage in infants and toddlers. Symptoms include reduced attention spans, hyperactivity and problems in school. Children exposed to lead face high risk of brain damage and developmental disabilities. Pregnant women can pass lead to their fetuses.

"There's really no safe level of lead in our bodies," Back said.

Arsenic can be even more harmful. Ingesting very high levels of arsenic can result in death, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Exposure to lower levels can cause vomiting, abnormal heart rhythm and damage to blood vessels. Several studies have shown that ingesting arsenic can increase the risk of skin cancer and cancers of the liver, bladder and lungs.

Jouraeva suspects the arsenic made its way into the soil from pressure-treated wood and pesticides used on the properties.

The Avery Avenue garden is much cleaner because it always was an empty lot and never had a house on it, Jouraeva said.

Community members are trying to figure out what they can do to keep gardening and keep themselves and their children safe. Each garden is taking a slightly different remediation approach, Wilson said.

Most have installed raised planting beds and shipped in new soil to prevent their crops from taking root in the polluted soil.

At the Isabella Street Community Garden, workers laid down bed liners and brought in wood chips to cover the ground around the plant beds.

Wilson said that the West Newell Street Garden will be off-limits to children under 6, and children under the age of 2 won't be fed the food grown there.

That saddens Wilson, she said, but she'd rather be safe than sorry.

"It feels like environmental discrimination," Wilson said. "This is our community. You are tearing it down. At least put down good soil."


by Delen Goldberg / The Post-Standard
Friday May 08, 2009, 6:18 AM

Animal (poo) Dreams

are you a gardener frustrated by the lack of easy to get compost necessary to grow your toms, cukes, broc and corn? intensive planting requires a steady supply of goodness and making enough for one bed let alone an entire garden for a season means dedicating time and money toward collecting materials, compost pile construction and management. if you are looking for a poop connection and you are nowhere near horses, cattle, et al, sources from craigslist can help with free compost and affordable hay and straw. these last two have skyrocketed in price but keep looking until you find some in your price range. my chickens help out in the home garden but a community garden, unless secured and with caretakers on site, are not animal friendly places. being in the city look for neighborhood fertility options like krogers. i gave 2 garbage cans to a market where i lived and would pick them up every day filled to the top with discarded produce. hay mulch, alfalfa pellets, day-lay industrial chicken farm compost, cover crops and rotation have helped in the gardens i have planted recently but there is nothing like real compost from manure, urine, straw and time. as i meditate on next years projects and how to keep costs low and productivity ample i'd like to hear from columbus and area people who have a system, strategy or source ideas for soil tilth and plant happiness.

Machine Tillers/Disrupting Soil/ETC!

I just read about a tiller that You Grow Girl was asked to review (read: review=free tiller). Must be nice to get things like tillers delivered to your door. She works hard for it, and has made herself a brand name, so good for her! How do I get this blog to take off like that?!

Anyway, there seems to be quite a bit of opinion concerning tillers, digging into the soil as opposed to amending it, etc. I guess I hadn't realized this was such an area of contention.

So far in my veggie garden career, I have used a tiller I borrowed from a neighbor in my garden (thanks, Kim!) in the spring and fall for the past two years. Without doing any scientific studies, I can tell you right now my soil is not the best.

*SIGH* I also added sand to my garden thinking that would be a good soil amendment, but that just makes concrete. This incredible garden maneuver should reveal to you how much I know and how I tend to learn.

Does the tiller have anything to do with my poor soil? I don't know. But I do really like this tool if you are going for the old-fashioned method:

So, soil is my new focus. This my new area of growth as a gardener. And from all of my research, it would appear that now is the time to build it for spring. Will I till? Not this year. I would like to get my soil tested though. Put that on my to-do list!

Which Poo is for You?

We are also using chicken manure in our garden today. Fall is the best time to do that. I wasn't excited about using it, but agreed to based on it's benefits. There are many great sources for choosing which is best manure and how to do it:

Chicken manure/Poultry manure (chicken in particular) is the richest animal manure in N-P-K. Chicken manure is considered "hot" and must be composted before adding it to the garden. Otherwise, it will burn any plants it comes in contact with.

Dairy (cow) manure"Dairy Manure may be the single most useful soil-builder around," says Ann Lovejoy, lifetime organic gardener and writer in Seattle, Washington. "Washed dairy manure from healthy cows is just about perfect for garden use; it can be used as a topdressing and for soil improvement," she adds. Dairy manure is preferable to steer manure, which has a higher salt and weed seed content. Though cow manure has low nutrient numbers, that's what makes it safe to use in unlimited quantities.

Horse manure is about half as rich as chicken manure, but richer in nitrogen than cow manure. And, like chicken droppings, it's considered "hot". Horse manure often contains a lot of weed seeds, which means it's a good idea to compost it using a hot composting method. Steer manure is one of the old standbys, but it's not the most beloved because it often contains unwanted salts and weed seeds.

Rabbit manure is even higher in nitrogen than some poultry manures and it also contains a large amount of phosphorus--important for flower and fruit formation. Sheep manure is another "hot" manure. It is somewhat dry and very rich. Manure from sheep fed hay and grain will be more potent than manure from animals that live on pasture.

Poo Trivia: Elephant is superior to all other for manure!

How to use manure?

No matter what kind of manure you use, use it as a soil amendment, not a mulch. In other words, don't put raw manure directly on garden soils. Raw manure generally releases nitrogen compounds and ammonia which can burn plant roots, young plants and interfere with seed germination. In fact, it's recommended that all animal manure should be aged for at least 6 months. Many gardeners spread fresh manure in the fall and turn it in to the top 6 inches of soil a month before spring planting. A better treatment is to hot-compost manure before applying it to the garden. Hot composting, where the pile reaches at least 150 degrees F) helps to reduce the probability of passing dangerous pathogens on to people who handle the manure or eat food grown with manure compost. (For more information about compost, read my Compost Happens! article.)While the chance of contamination is slim, severe sickness and even death may occur if contaminated produce is eaten. To be safe, either compost your manure or apply it in the fall after harvest. Wash up after handling manure and don't forget to rinse the vegetables and fruit well before you eat them--always a good idea whether your use manure or not.

Putting the garden to bed....

Today is the last scheduled work day for our season until early Spring. This is the part of gardening that many forget to do. I didn't use cover crops or even mulch for years. There are some great posts on this blog from our darling Amy about the benefits of mulching and cover crops share many of the same. It is a great way to enrich the soil, leaving it ripe and ready when you need it in the Spring.

Last year we planted all garlic. That was a great crop since we could easily use it and also sold much of it at our Urban Farmers Market. This year we're also using Rye. Eric from Shepards Corner sold a large bag to us for $20 and it will be enough seed for several gardens throughout the University Area. Rye is great for Ohio, as it is tolerent of our cold winters...though as the weather has been going the past few years, who knows!? If you are an industrious person, you could also use it to make Rye bread.

If you read this post and want to stop by and get a bag of free seed, stop on by at The Weinland Park Community Garden, behind 303 E.6th St., Godman Guild, Cols, 43201---bring your own bag (BYOB...tee, hee) and it's first come, first serve. You could also meet some great people, share some gardening tips and have some fun. Below is a great article from Organic Gardening reviewing many cover crop choices:

By Erika Jensen
In This Article

Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening
The Easiest Cover Crops

Which cover crop is right for you? "You have to keep in mind the time of year and the species you are growing," says Diver. Some, such as cereal rye, are very cold-tolerant and work well for late-season plantings. Others, such as buckwheat, are very frost-tender. The cover crops listed here are widely adapted and can be grown in most areas of the United States, either as a summer or winter cover crop, depending on where you live.

Rye. This crop comes in two different types: annual rye and cereal rye. Both have their advantages. Sow cereal rye during the late summer or early fall, and it will grow until late in fall and resume growing in spring. With annual rye, which winter kills in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 5 and colder, you'll be able to plant your garden earlier, since you won't have to turn the cover crop into the soil and then wait three weeks as you would with a perennial cover crop.

Field peas/oats. This dynamic duo combines the benefits of a legume (peas) that fixes nitrogen and a grain (oats) that contributes plenty of organic matter. And the plants have complementary growth habit—the peas climb right up the oats. Both crops are cold-tolerant, which makes this a good mixture to plant in late summer or early fall. In colder climates, they will also winter kill, allowing an early spring start.

Sorghum-sudangrass. As its name suggests, this grass is a cross between sorghum and sudangrass. This hybrid generates large amounts of organic matter and needs little encouragement to grow 5 to 12 feet tall. You can keep this frost-tender plant in check by mowing it down to 6 inches when it reaches a height of 3 feet or by planting it just seven weeks before frost.

Buckwheat. It's not wheat, and it's not a Little Rascals character! Buckwheat is a broadleaf plant and an excellent smother crop—it's effective even against weeds like quackgrass. "Buckwheat is very fast-growing and can provide a quick canopy to shade weeds. Just be careful to not let it go to seed, or you'll have buckwheat in your next crop," says Dr. Creamer. It matures in just six to eight weeks and can be squeezed in between spring and fall vegetable plantings. Buckwheat's white flowers serve two purposes—they work well as a filler for flower arrangements, and they attract beneficial insects.

Clover. Clover comes in a plethora of different shapes and sizes. White Dutch clover works well as a living mulch, since it tolerates both shade and traffic. Yellow blossom sweet clover is an excellent nutrient scavenger and helps build good soil structure. Crimson clover attracts beneficials and looks great, too. Whatever the color, clover fixes nitrogen and helps to build rich soils. For best results, make sure you inoculate your clover seed with Rhizobium bacteria (available from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, 888-784-1722, http://www.groworganic.com/).

SOURCES The one drawback of cover-cropping for gardeners is that you may pay premiums for seed in small packages rather than a farmer's bulk seed prices. Check with your local farm supply store for seed- they may be willing to order varieties they don't normally carry. The following are mail order sources for untreated and certified organic cover crop seed:

Gathering a soil sample

Here is some information on testing your soil from the Home Depot Garden Club newsletter. I would use the extension service to analyze the sample, but I still find it helpful:


Collecting a soil sample is simple — though attention to detail is necessary.

Materials: Collect the following equipment and make sure everything is cleaned of previous soil: bucket, trowel or small shovel, small container (a recycled yogurt or margarine tub will do), newsprint.

In any given planting area, dig five holes that are six-to-eight inches in depth. (Conduct separate tests for vegetable patch, lawn, flowerbed, under rosebushes, etc.) Slide your trowel into the edge of a hole to remove a full-depth sliver of soil about a half-inch thick. Repeat for all holes.
Mix up the soil in the bucket, then spread it out to dry on the newsprint. Collect the soil in the pint container for testing.

Conduct soil test per package directions. Repeat for each garden section.

Testing your soil is easy. Amending it takes a little bit more effort but will provide dividends in the form of better vegetable and fruit yields, more profuse blooms, and a healthier, more thriving garden next year.

Soil solutions
So, your soil test results are in. Now what? Here's what to make of your results and the appropriate corrections.

RESULT: ACTION
High pH (alkaline soil): Mix sulfur into the soil.

Low pH (acidic soil): Mix lime into the soil thoroughly.

High nitrogen: Cut back on the plant food. Put plants on a water-only diet for a few months.

Low nitrogen: Add nitrogen-rich plant food per the manufacturer instructions.

High phosphorus: Cut back on phosphorus-rich fertilizer for a couple of years. "Use up" excess phosphorus by heavily planting the flowerbed.

Low phosphorus: Add bone meal or a superphosphate product, per manufacturer directions.

High potassium: Skip potassium-rich plant food blends for two years, and add a phosphorus- and nitrogen-rich plant food to balance out the soil a bit.

Low potassium: Mix in potash or wood ashes (except around plants that like acidic soil).