US (VA): Newport farm loses crops due to contaminated compost
It’s not a buried treasure but the sale value of a pile of about 5,000 dead seedlings that would have been the farm’s early crop of tomatoes, cucumbers and flowers, all killed by contaminated compost from South Carolina.
Laboratory analysis of some of the damaged seedlings and tests run on a sample of the suspect compost found evidence of herbicide damage. The diagnosis was a surprise to Webster and Hamilton. The compost producer, Palmetto Supreme Organic Compost, was certified for use in organic operations.
Although not a widely known risk, herbicide contamination of compost has sprung up intermittently since 2000, said Greg Evanylo, a Virginia Tech crop and soil scientist and compost expert. When this specific category of herbicide lingers, it can surprise compost producers and their customers.
“It’s insidious because you may think that you have no contamination in your [compost] pile, or the amount of material that may have been contaminated with the herbicide represents only a small portion of the feedstock [the materials used to make compost],” Evanylo said. “But it doesn’t take much of the product. It could be 7, 8 parts per billion that could then in the soil affect certain plants.”
Read more at The Roanoke Times