Steven Oconnor

Hi James, I did not add anything to the soil. I just bought the soil and it was hot. Warm to the touch with a little steam on a colder morning 40F outside.

Maybe soil to "hot"... not sure.

General thought is might be Aminopyralid issue with compost in soil. Im really mad as you can expect and will be giving soil supply yard a call. They advertise themselves as premium soil providers.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. We had a good rain last night. I plan on letting the garden dry out and give it a couple of weeks before sending off soil sample.

Its weird because my tomatoes, eggplants and peas are affected. Squash looks ok. I have a few herbs in same soil, they appear to be doing ok.

Will keep everyone posted with results as they come in.

What Crops are Affected?

Even very small amounts of picloram, clopralid and aminopyralid - as little as 1 ppb - can negatively affect sensitive plants. Dow, the manufacturer of these herbicides, claims that only a few plants are affected. The average home gardener may beg to differ. Sensitive plants include:

   Legume family - including lupines, peas, beans and clover.
   Compositae family - including daisy, aster, sunflower and lettuces.
   Nightshade family - including tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplants.
   Umbelliferae family - including carrots.
   Many other vegetables and flowers.

Sensitive plants are exposed to these herbicides develop cupped or fern like leaves and twisted stems. They do not produce well, though in theory the crop is safe for you to eat.

Residues of Picloram, Clopyralid or Aminopyralid Herbicide Create Killer Compost

Minute concentrations of picloram, clopyralid and aminopyralid, as low as 1 ppb (parts per billion), can be lethal to sensitive garden plants such as peas, beans, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes and potatoes.

Most pesticides, including herbicides, break down quickly in the composting process. Picloram, Clopyralid and Aminopyralid do not. These chemicals are

   Easily absorbed by plants.
   Remain chemically stable and intact in both live and dead plants.
   Do not breakdown substantially in animal digestive tracts so contaminate manure, urine and bedding with residues.
   Breakdown very slowly in composts and soils with an estimated half life of 1 - 2 years.
   Affect sensitive crops at very low concentrations - 1-3 ppb.

The only way to handle this potential threat is to keep materials contaminated with picloram, clopyralid and aminopyralid out of your garden in the first place.

Trade Names Please

When you're talking to a farmer supplying hay, straw or manure asking about picloram, clopyralid and aminopyralid is probably not enough. You'll need to ask about specific trade names of the herbicides.

These herbicides are sold under the following trade names.

   Picloram - sold as Tordon, Access, Surmount, Grazon, and Pathway.
   Clopyralid - sold as Curtail, Confront, Clopyr AG, Lontrel, Stinger, Millennium Ultra, Millenium Ultra Plus, Reclaim, Redeem, Transline.
   Aminopyralid - sold as Milestone, Forefront, Pharaoh, Banish.

Thanks for all the great replies and resources. I will investigate best testing center and send a soil/plant test away. Really depressed after shoveling 10yrds of $40 yr soil. I thought this was the best of the best - pure advertised soil.

Very upset right now.

Thanks for the informative replies James and Joseph,

 I was worried about herbicide poisoning! I try to be as careful as I can by not using poisons etc. in my garden. This is so frustrating.

I have nut grass and it seems to be doing fine. However on a lower raised bed I planted peas from seed in same imported soil. They sprouted, but also look very spindly, week and curled up.

 
  My garden is in a residential neighborhood with no farms or crops nearby. Doubting its a drift contamination. If this was your garden (24'X24' feet in size) what would your next step be?


Questions:

1. What center do you recommend for herbicide testing?
2. Is my soil ruined forever? (Does herbicide have a half life - will the seasonal rains etc get rid of it?)
3. What risk am I in for handling the soil?
4. If the squash grows strong and produces, is it even safe to eat? Worried herbicide in fruit.

Hi, I planted about 6 tomatoes and 2 eggplants in my newly made garden. Also planted spaghetti squash and some pepper plants.

I bought 10 yards of premium garden formulated soil from local soil yard. Its contains some manure because every now and then I get a good wiff. Its nice dark soil with little sand and compost to make it very light and easy to work with.

All 6 tomatoes and 2 eggplants are having leaf curl after 3 weeks, very thin - underdeveloped new growth.

The leaves from the original transplants are hanging in there but any new growth is severely stunted and the entire plant is thinning quickly.

Whats strange is my spaghetti squash is looking very healthy and happy, also transplants planted at same time. The peppers look about the same as I planted them, no new growth.

What could this be?

Im thinking...

A) Virus
B) 10 yards of soil mix is still too "hot"
C) Herbacide in soil mix from manure
D) Plants contained virus from nursury
E) Over / under watering

I live in San Antonio Texas, it has been pretty warm with normal swings in temp. Nothing lower than 60F in past three weeks.

Please see attached pictures.

Thanks for the tip on Radishes!

Thanks for the tip Marco Banks. The soilI got did not smell like anything. Seriously, When I was working with it no odor at all, didnt even have that earthy - dirt smell we all love.

I think you read the last part of my post. I have not purchsed 4-5 yards yet from local nursery.



Thanks everyone for your help and advice. If you have any testing labs for soil that offer cheap heavy metals testing please advise.

Hello everyone, nice to be at this forum. Many great gardeners here!

I have just received 10 yards of soil for $175.00 delivered! Isn't Craigslist such a great place to find good deals?

The 10 yards easily covered half my two car driveway - delivered by a dump truck no less.

At first look soil was a dark black color. A recent rain in south Texas area so soil was still a little clumpy and very heavy, very black in color. No worries I though.

The gentleman who sold me the soil explained soil came from Floresville Texas. This was good "farm top soil" and had been used on farms. Also, this soil is the same other nurseries use around town and has little or no rocks in it.

He was right about the rock content, it has little or no rocks, maybe shovel or two worth of small white rocks out of 99 wheel barrows it took to move 10 yards.

After moving the 99 wheel barrows into my garden the Texas heat has quickly dried out the soil. It has become rock hard and lost a little dark color. Appears very anaerobic and devoid of organic matter. I have since put about 40 bags of Texas Oak leaves on top and tilled into soil to try to introduce organic matter.

However with no water ( Texas has been very dry ) and a short amount of time, I now have little clumps of soil with leaves. Not the enriched, fluffy, soft and wonderful garden soil I had hoped for. Not possible for planting because the soil is still rock hard mixed with leaves. I don't think roots can penetrate the soil.

So here are my questions I need help with...

1. Should I test soil for toxicity / lead / contaminants? What would you do? Were do you get your soil tested? What are top 5 contaminants you would test for ( I know specific pesticides and toxins can be easily $50 each. )
This soil could be from anywhere in South Texas.

2. What type of soil do you think I have? If from Floresville Texas... Think they grow peanuts, Millet, Sorgum, Corn town there.

3. How would you amend this dense dark soil? Tree clippings?

4. Please see pictures of soil. These little termite things are very abundant. They are slightly yellow and 100th size of my fingernail? What are these guys? No worms in soil, its much too dense.


Here is a link to pictures on dropbox.

Dropbox Steve's Garden Soil Link


Future steps for me: Instead of 10 yards of dense crappy soil. I plan to get 4-5 yards of proper garden soil from my local nursery. But even then ... they sometimes add "bio-solids" to soil to amend it. Who knows what that even means. Human feces? lol

Just a new gardener here needing help, Thanks again for your help.

Steve