[permaculture] Tomatoes Grown in Seawater Healthier Than RegularKind

Marimike6 at cs.com Marimike6 at cs.com
Sun Aug 5 00:25:28 EDT 2007


yarrow at sfo.com wrote:
>But what effect does saltwater have on the soil ecology? 

Just from reading the article, I would assume the real value of the finding 
was that it provides a high value crop for soils already damaged by salt 
saturation, such as in the Sacramento Basin. Here's a location that's already been 
so heavily irrigated it's worn out. A novel use like this, where the waters 
available are on the saline side to begin with, could bring the region back to 
life.

There would of course be other concerns. In the Sacramento fields I 
understand selenium salts have built up to such high levels they are considered in 
places to be poisonous. So high-antioxidant tomatos may not be a quick panacea 
without some further work. But it's a great approach to bring damaged soils back 
into productivity.

You're right, of course, to think that pouring salt on healthy fields is 
probably not the best idea.

Michael   



More information about the permaculture mailing list