permaculture

[John Schinnerer <eco_living@yahoo.com>]

Aloha,

> It sounds like they are probably using, amongst other things,
> glyphosate ('Zero','Round-up',etc).  While this in itself is very low
> in residuals,

Depends on who you ask.  Monsanto's hired guns say so, but others
disagree and found the stuff in various places (aquatic food chain,
etc.) long after M-boyz said it would be "gone".

> don't forget to research any carrier chemicals used
> with it; usually a surfactant (i.e. detergent) which studies have
> shown to have some bad side-effects, especially on amphibians.

Yeah, these are the often quite toxic "inert" ingredients that aren't
regulated or on the label and may be worse than the "active"
ingredient...

> While
> on this subject, I hear that the U.S. is imposing bans on its use,

Glyphosate?  That's a pretty wild rumor.  I've heard nothing about
that, but please, let it be true! :-)
There are some moves being made to (eventually) phase out use of
nastier "commercial" herbicides applied by institutions and
"professionals", often in public places (schools, parks, etc.)  where
in particular lots of children are exposed.

> back to your case, Elijah: have you considered using natural rainfall
> to flush through the soil to drainage / holding ditches which are
> heavily planted with 'remedial' water plants such as Phragmites sp.
> and Typha sp.  Again, this would depend on what had been sprayed.

If it's any of the papaya fields that are basically just ripped and
planted lava, there's not much soil to speak of and lots of precip so
flushing may be fairly quick without doing any earth...er, lavaworks.


=====
John Schinnerer, MA
-------------------------
- Eco-Living -
Cultural & Ecological Designing
Food - Water - Shelter - Community - Technology
john@eco-living.net
http://eco-living.net

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience
http://launch.yahoo.com