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  • From: bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] [Fwd: Re: bev - Potato Q - and Sage]
  • Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2008 11:33:05 -0800 (PST)

Regardless of the out-gassing the potatoes can develop rotten spots from the
normal nail punctures. 'best to keep the potatoes flush to the rim rather
than the inside of the tread. Adjust after drivng rough terrain....

------------------------------------------------------------------------


--- On Tue, 12/9/08, EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:

> From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
> Subject: Re: [Homestead] [Fwd: Re: bev - Potato Q - and Sage]
> To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2008, 11:59 AM
> Lisa K.V. Perry wrote:
> >
> >
> > I've heard of this method but always wondered what
> the effects or
> > consequences were, if any, of having soil and plants
> surrounded by
> > rubber. Nothing leaches out of the tire?
> >
> > Lisa
>
>
> Well, if you want to be scared silly, you can read this,
> which is about
> the products that leach/outgass from recycled tire products
> used in
> making turf products...
> http://www.ehhi.org/reports/turf/health_effects.shtml
> This page lists some of the testing descriptions that
> support the first
> page:
> http://74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:wE-ztzVd6OkJ:www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/publications/fact_sheets/examinationofcrumbrubberac005.pdf+tires+rubber+outgassing&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us
>
>
> I've never personally tested the soil inside of a tire
> while it was in
> use, or a potato growing in said tire but I am not worried
> about it, and
> here's why..
> First, the tires are steel/metal belts encased in a thin
> layer of
> vulcanized rubber. Rubber, as you know, is a natural
> product, but it
> has to be treated, vulcanized, in order to be used as a
> tire.
> Wiki has a decent article on vulcanization.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcanization
> It is the various cross-linking agents and additives that
> are used in
> the process that leach back out...things like zinc from
> zinc oxides..
>
>
> In the above studies, tires were shredded into
> crumbs...Mine remain
> whole for the most part. Some people who are worried about
> the sun
> heating the tire and increasing outgassing/leaching effects
> will paint
> the tires as a sealant, but I don't worry about it.
> 1. Outgassing....this is seemingly everyone's biggest
> fear. If a tire
> outgasses in the garden, and no one is there to breath
> it..lol..just
> kidding..sort of...Volatile organics are gases, and gases
> won't go into
> liquids or solids at normal pressures...It would take some
> kind of
> pressure to push benzothiazole into a potato. Now, if I
> were to make a
> mat of recycled tire products, like they do on playgrounds,
> I don't
> know that I would allow my granddaughter to crawl around on
> it
> 24/7(maybe for 5 minutes once a month is okay though-I
> don't know), but
> I would allow her to eat a potato grown in a tire.
> 2. Leaching....more serious, IMO...the problem elements
> here are zinc,
> cadmium, lead, and selenium..With normal water, you get
> some leaching of
> these elements, but that is increased if the water/rain is
> acidified(or
> if the soil is acid and acidifies the rain) The links I
> provided test
> the tire crumbs, not the intact tire. But even with those
> higher
> concentrations, (see the bottom of the second link), it is
> not really
> enough to warrant concern as a health issue, even if you
> drank the leach
> water directly. People don't like to think about it,
> but store-bought
> food, especially potatoes, contain a lot more bad stuff
> than anything I
> grow in tires. Taking their findings, for example, that
> there is 0.26
> ppb Cadmium(parts per BILLION), and knowing that the FDA
> says that up to
> 15 parts per MILLION is okay, that helps put things in
> perspective, or
> at least it does for me. If there is .26 ppb of cadmium in
> the
> leachwater/rainwater, how much of that goes back into the
> ground and how
> much is absorbed into or by my potato plant?...even less...
>
> The way I look at it is this...I am using old tires, not
> new rubber.
> The rubber on the tires I use has hardened and over the
> years has
> already outgassed some in whatever dump, backlot, or
> junkyard it was in
> before I got it. I am not opening up the the tire to expose
> the metal or
> cutting it into shreds..I am using a whole tire with one
> sidewall
> removed, which, if anything would allow more gas to escape
> into the
> atmosphere instead of being held within the housing of the
> tire, i.e.
> next to the potato plant...It takes a few months to grow a
> stack of
> potatoes, and only the bottom tire is there for the whole
> duration of
> that time...In the life of the potato vine/surrounding
> tire, it may only
> rain once or twice..As to the leaching of the metals
> contaminating my
> garden soil...fear not. I have had my garden soil
> tested(at great
> expense) and I am non-detect for metals like this...
> As to the leaching of the metals contaminating my garden
> soil...fear
> not. I have had my garden soil tested(at great expense)
> and I am
> non-detect for metals like this...
>
>
> You know, there were stories in the news a while back about
> farmers who
> grew potatoes for McDonald's french fries...The soil
> was so contaminated
> that not only would the farmers not eat the potatoes they
> grew, or
> obviously the fries, but they would not grow other crops on
> the same
> land...that says something to me, that the way agribusiness
> grows
> potatoes is very, very bad. Surely, the way I do it is not
> as harmful...
>
> So, I don't worry..but, all of the above is my two
> cents..
>
> Bev
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> “Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger.
> Anger leads to
> hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Yoda
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