Comments on Root Simple: A Warning About Straw

Thankfully, all the literature on clopyralid sugge...

2009-10-29T09:46:39.390-07:00

Thankfully, all the literature on clopyralid suggests that it does not bioaccumulate.

Mushrooms are bioaccumulators, though, so extreme ...

2009-10-29T00:01:27.044-07:00

Mushrooms are bioaccumulators, though, so extreme caution should be taken in what is used as substrate for mushrooms for human consumption. Like, organic straw only!

>thanks for the heads up You're welcome! ...

2009-10-28T13:26:03.334-07:00

>thanks for the heads up

You're welcome! I wish I'd phrased it slightly differently: the half-life figure is just for one chemical, there's probably lots of variation among them.

>All the more reason to grow our own compost materials!

I sort of agree.

I could also see it as a reason to culture fungus, like Tom and Lyanda are doing: button mushrooms fed a steady diet of clopyralid-laced straw will likely find some benefit in boosting their production of the enzymes that would metabolyze it, the same way humans make more lactase or amylase after a few generations of diets that offer some benefit. The time spent in the fungus growing beds should make the straw safer than if a similar time was spent in a compost pile.

And economic and political pressure from backyard gardeners is an important thing for agribusiness to face. If a market for straw exists, it might influence growers away from long-lived pesticides. Even if the money is negligible, the publicity is really important.

polyparadigm, Wow, thanks for the heads up on Hal...

2009-10-27T14:30:08.271-07:00

polyparadigm,

Wow, thanks for the heads up on Halogenated pesticides--will amend the post. All the more reason to grow our own compost materials!

I'm glad I read through to the end! I was thi...

2009-10-27T13:02:26.446-07:00

I'm glad I read through to the end!

I was thinking this would be a warning about clopyralid and its close cousins.

Which bears some mention: Halogenated pesticides aren't broken down by any but a few soil organisms.

Clopyralid and aminopyralid mimic the hormones in broad-leaf plants, causing them to grow un-evenly and die from wrong-facing, crinkled leaves and other symptoms. Grasses are un-affected, so fields of grain and lawns have been sprayed with this sort of chemical, as a cheap way of keeping broad-leaf competitors at bay for a few years.

These chemicals have a half-life of 11 months in hot compost, and are often applied at such high rates that certain plants won't grow in garden soil dressed with finished compost from a mix of sources, if one of those sources is a treated lawn or field.

A quick bioassay will test for this in straw: peas sprouting from soil mixed with that straw will look deformed if the field that grew the straw was treated. Browns of a similar texture from a source you know to be clean should probably be used for a control group.

I never would have thought of that. The internet ...

2009-10-25T16:55:18.116-07:00

I never would have thought of that. The internet was useful today!

Thanks for that. I would have dumpster dived depa...

2009-10-25T13:32:14.259-07:00

Thanks for that. I would have dumpster dived department store straw in a heartbeat.

Jerry, Good point! I try to keep it away from the...

2009-10-25T12:18:53.694-07:00

Jerry,

Good point! I try to keep it away from the house and smokers.

It IS very flammable though, so always take care i...

2009-10-25T11:43:46.199-07:00

It IS very flammable though, so always take care in storing straw.

How timely - today our whole house smells like str...

2009-10-25T10:53:17.563-07:00

How timely - today our whole house smells like straw - we bought a bale of it for the chicken bedding, but I chopped up a bunch yesterday and then pasteurized it in big canning pots on the stove to grow Oyster Mushrooms (pleurotis) on. We'll see how that goes... one thing I can tell you with authority, simmering straw at 170 degrees in pots on the stove for an hour makes your house smell like a barn (in the good way?).