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  • From: Rachel Evans <rachel AT sunshinefarmmarket.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] mint compost, potting up tomatoes
  • Date: Tue, 5 May 2009 07:57:44 -0700


Just an update on the mint compost saga...

Turns out it's an excess of potassium salts.  According to the manufacturer of the compost anyway.  I need to brush up on my soil science, but what I was told by Royal Organic Products is that the potassium salts lead to an extremely high electrical conductivity (4. 3 as received, 6.9 dry weight.  I have no idea what the effect of this is, but it's not good.

Also turns out the pH is off the map--9.4.

My understanding is that these factors derive from the mint plant itself somehow, or maybe the soil it's grown in in this area (Eastern Washington).

For a while I thought the mint compost might be contaminated wtih the herbicide clopyralid, but ROP tests for that--and they say that de facto their compost can't be contaminated with it.  Because the mint farmers rotate mint with potatoes and the clopyralid would wreak havoc on the potatoes.

So, I spent a long day getting all our transplants out of the bad mix and into somethign more straightforward.  More than half survived and we'll see what the set back will be.

That at ROP said that if he knew I was going to be using this stuff in a greenhouse operation he would have stopped me upfront.  Also says it can't be used in landscape operations, because people put it on too heavy.  (It's been messing with the plants in whiskey barrels around our house for sure).  ROP makes another product--a compost made from a combination of mint and yard wastes (tested for clopyarlid) that they sell for these more intense applications.  (That compost is only half the nitrogen though).  Most all of his customers are orchardists and at the rate they spread the mint it causes no problem whatsoever.  We didn't see any problems with it in our fields last year either.  Though at this point we're going to be switching to something else for any side-dressing.  Most likely the cooked pelleted chicken manure stuff you can get.

Crazy.

If anyone wants to check out the analyses for these two compost products I can forward them on.  ROPs website is www.roporganic.com.  If anyone wants to educate me about electrical conductivity and potassium salts, I'd love to hear it.

Rachel


--
Rachel Evans
The Sunshine Farm
37 Highway 97A
Chelan, WA 98816

509-670-8958




On Apr 26, 2009, at 10:20 PM, toni eddleman wrote:

Sorry, i do not.....but i will google to see if i can find anything.  I
just happened to read about the mint waste being used, and came upon this
in a search. about it.
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