Raspberries in Sketchy Soil -- Safety Check

Hey, our neighbour across the way wants tons of raspberry plants, which we can provide. They have young kids, and they're in it for the long haul.

Their property is complex though. Part of it is a reclaimed and ?rehabilitated? oil well site. The thing is, it was a cow pasture in the 1960s and nobody gave a rat's patoot, so there is the random risk of lazy workers dumping who-knows-what. We've been in contact, and they are gardening in raised beds. But our  vigorous raspberries will not stay in raised beds. They also have higher elevation areas which would be less at risk.

Does anyone know how raspberries fare in sketchy soils? If there are potential contaminants, how much goes into the fruit?

We have very poor soil here (all rocks and clay) and the raspberries have taken over since we logged. I think they can grow on blacktop. Im constantly killing them as they encroach on the garden.  We do a lot with them so they are good to have bu they need to be kept in check.

If your neighbor has sketchy soil maybe it is time to educate them on how to build soil.

To me the simple answer is wood chips, leaf mold and mushrooms. And compost and compost tea.

Dr Bryant Redhawk has a whole series:

https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Does anyone know how raspberries fare in sketchy soils? If there are potential contaminants, how much goes into the fruit?

Different plants are known to absorb different contaminants, for example, Sunflowers are used in phytoremediation of lead contaminated soil due to their ability to absorb lead (and possibly other nasties as well, but I only remember the lead part.)

The trouble is narrowing down what nasties may be there. The Oil itself, is a hydrocarbon, and Stamets used wood chips and Oyster mushrooms to decontaminate a site with large amounts of oil spilled on it very effectively.

The bigger issue is heavy metals. A healthy soil biome goes a long way to sequestering those. However, some humans are more sensitive than others and have less ability to excrete them than others, so those on the high end of sensitivity need to avoid them at all costs.

And of course, there were times when "don't ask, don't tell" was the approach of the day, and still are judging by some news I read recently. I'm concerned that there's a whole pile of "it depends" involved in this problem. Testing is expensive, but might be the only way, and it would have to be done in many places over the field to know what's where.

For your first question, how would they fare... probably fine. If other things are growing there, then the raspberries will probably do fine as long as they get the water they need.

You already have some excellent answers to your second question. I just want to give a little hope and information for you to research. No one wants to grow in contaminated soils, but when it comes to heavy metals and some other contaminates... they need to be water soluable in order for the plant to take them up. What I have found is that those things are not water soluble unless the PH of the soil is so skewed that the plants wouldn't grow. What I am trying to say is... having a contaminate in the soil does not automatically mean it will make it to the fruit that we want to eat.

Jay Angler wrote:

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Does anyone know how raspberries fare in sketchy soils? If there are potential contaminants, how much goes into the fruit?

The trouble is narrowing down what nasties may be there. ...

And of course, there were times when "don't ask, don't tell" was the approach of the day, and still are judging by some news I read recently. I'm concerned that there's a whole pile of "it depends" involved in this problem.

Agreed.

Since their property has a flat area (well pad zone) and fairly steep hills surrounding it, the "psychology of laziness" and the natural drainage suggests the hill areas would be much lower risk.

However, since young children will be eating the raspberries, excavating the original soil and trucking in clean soil would be the safest option. It would take a big area though, since my red raspberry varietral is an aggressive spreader.

In their position, I think I'd have the soil tested for peace of mind.

However, it seems like it's pretty safe:

https://permies.com/t/62679/true-toxins-soil-won-fruit
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150515111628.htm
https://extension.umaine.edu/gardening/2020/07/17/lead-in-soil/

Different contaiminants may partition differently into oily seeds vs sugary fruit vs starchy tubers etc.
I think site appropriate planting will need to become a bigger solution than digging up messes and putting then somewhere else.

I once lived near the 'Sydney Tar Ponds' (NS) full of hydrocarbon and heavy  metal pollution.  At one point  a proposed 'solution' was to dig it up and truck it ~50 km to a dumpsite on agricultural land.
Sanity prevailed, it was sealed in place.

Hundreds of thousands of abanboned gas stations or old leaded fuel tanks are another looming issue.

Plant roots can only uptake what dissolves in water, so it could be more limited than you think.

It's usually compost that can be used as bioremediation in cleaning up contaminated soil, but that could take years, and lab results to see if it's working/has worked.

I've got gophers, and I am amazed to see how many people apparently don't, and just plant in the ground with abandon.  They have eaten every raspberry I ever planted.  And my heavy clay soil has also killed them.  I read they don't like wet feet.  Ron, you are really lucky, it never worked here, although we don't have any rocks which could have made the difference.  The packrats also ate them to the ground.

Mine are now thriving in 20 or 30 gallon storage totes with a water/rotten wood reservoir in the bottom 3" of the tote, filled with 50% granite sand and 50% heavy clay soil and a couple shovels full of small woodchips and compost stirred in, mulched with 2" of small woodchips.  There is one drain hole drilled 3 inches up in the skinny end of the tote.  They are also in a greenhouse because our coastal summers are cool and they seem to love the heat.

A large container like that would avoid any questionable soil.  The water reservoir in the bottom has worked out well where we often have droughts, it does save on watering, along with thick mulch.