Permaculture Soil Remediation How To: LEAD CONTAMINATION

Do you have concerns about LEAD or other heavy metals in your soil?
What steps are you taking?
Did you know about this protocol already?
Would you like to see preps and protocols for all heavy metals and contaminants?
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[@speaklifegardenhomesteadpe8783]

Awesome!

[@johnsheetz6639]

There's some crops that eat that up but I wouldn't eat to crop that does it got a friend with maybe 25 yard shooting range he wanted to make a garden right there. He brought it up but that's a real concern I never even thought of it.

[@anncoleman7542]

Thank you for the work you do.

[@DgurlSunshine]

How about HEMP!?

[@amendfuse4276]

All the YES!!!!!!!!

[@iangruar5314]

Keep it up Matt😀 Thanks for sharing the knowledge

[@healthesoils]

thank you (:

[@ElizarTringov]

I love how your face lights up when talking about soil! Especially the line at 7:42!

[@ThePermacultureStudent]

Thanks! :)

[@jannievaught4344]

Dr. Ingam spoke about the lead paint found in the muscles and clams she found the lead base paint chips off the Texas coast. Could this be used in ocean coast? Feed it to the clams. .

[@ThePermacultureStudent]

I have not doubt these protocols will have coastal/aquatic cousins - she was able to reverse those effects then, so why can't we now? :) :) :) Thank you for reminding me of this talk in the course :)

[@estebancorral5151]

Palms are phosphorus accumulating.

[@moonlightstride3352]

I’m renting some awesome property next to a large river that used to be an auto junkyard and it has old lead battery casings and auto parts all over it in different spots. I may have the potential to buy the property later? We are going to scoop up the “Hot Lead” spots but still concerned on wether we can fully clean up the land and remediate the soil to make it safe for consuming the crops we intend to grow on it. We would eventually like to turn it into a permaculture food Forest. What are your thoughts?

[@ianmengedoht666]

Hello! I stumbled upon your page and it’s very interesting. Thank you for taking the time to explain all this important issues concerning permaculture. I had a question about a chemical pesticide that was created in the early nineteen forties called Dieldrin (pesticide that was an alternative to DDTs). I’m looking into purchasing a farm here in France (8 hectors). The curent owner has just done a soil test by choice and the results have found that there is a presence of this pesticide. Would you have any pointers as to what crops could help get ride of this product before I start cultivating the land? I’ve heard good things about hemp, is it something to consider? Thanks for any help. I’m open to any open discussion.

[@ramhornjoe1584]

@ian Mengedoht I just read your comment and although I'm not connected to Matt or his site I may be able to point you in a good direction. There is a book i just purchased called " Earth repair, a grassroots guide to healing toxic and damaged landscapes" the autor is Leila Darwish. Although im not familliar with the specific pesticide youre reffering to this book offers a lot of practical solutions for removing pesticides, heavy metals, lead, hydrocarbons etc. Best of luck with your land endevours.

[@izzzzzz6]

So i just realised my soil is loaded with lead. I've been growing veggies in it for around 4 years now. should i avoid kale and collard greens? Can i continue to grow in this soil, will i have to filter it all out? I have 6 beds, one of them being very large and one medium large. Mission!

[@BassSeduction]

so my question is if we have identified the accumulation of lead in our comfrey leaves and sought to bind it in the soil with iron and phosphorous accumulating plants does the toxic material then become benign as far as we are concerned? i think i read somewhere the purple tansy is an accumulator of phosphorous and this brings me to another question my broad beans this year succumbed to a lot of what appears to be rust does this tell me anything about iron in the soil or just indicate a fungal presence?

[@ThePermacultureStudent]

Yes exactly: the minerals bind into pyromorphite crystals that are nonsoluble and inert. Rust is fungal: I'd spray that with chitinase rich compost tea :)

[@sruiz310]

Is amaranth a good crop to use for soil remediation? They are pretty fast and prolific growers so I’m wondering if they’d be good to use to accumulate heavy metals out of your soil before using to grow food?

[@ThePermacultureStudent]

There's a study here: mafiadoc.com/phytoremediation-of-heavy-metals-using-amaranthus-_59c93ba81723dd3217d61bc2.html I need to read through it to get a good idea ;) I'm in the gathering and reviewing stages :)

[@sruiz310]

Matt Powers - The Permaculture Student thanks for the reply! I’ve grown cannabis in the past and know of the uses of hemp in soil remediation. When I first grew amaranth I couldn’t help but notice the similarities to the cannabis plant lol so I wondered if it could be used in a similar fashion. Again, thank you for the reply and a link to an actual study!

[@johnsheetz6639]

I think anything that was prone to sucking up heavy metals will hopefully lease out the soil eventually. I wouldn't eat them though. I might be way off base.

[@luzgiraldo2468]

I read somewhere that worms are able to bind toxic metals through their digestive system. I don´t know if this is true. What do you think?

[@ThePermacultureStudent]

That would likely be the Purple Nonsulphur Bacteria PNSB!!

[@ThePermacultureStudent]

@@williamwaha3193 and the same reason why using EM has similar results

[@williamwaha3193]

@@ThePermacultureStudent -- EM , Electron microscope ?

[@ThePermacultureStudent]

@@williamwaha3193 Effective Microbes - I have a video on it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hnzQhWmZm7yVg5o It includes PNSB :)

[@lunethgardens]

Matt, what do you think about the "shotgun" approach... like 20+ way "covercrops" and letting nature take care of it? More organic matter, humic and fluvic acids tying up the toxic stuff and making it unavailable. I like that you're coming up with these protocols and drilling down to get to the details of it all and what's best at doing this or that. I love the science and the specifics, but I also tend to get bogged down in the weeds (pun intended) and like a simplified approach as well. Like just throw sow this mix and forget about it.

[@ThePermacultureStudent]

Geoff Lawton says 45% OM and you trap the heavy metals in the colloids but in my mind, that's a threshold, not an absolute. We have to test and make sure - there's so much contamination these days.

[@williamwaha3193]

Luneth Gardens --- You want a shotgun "approach " Here's the way to do it ; First dig out your existing soil in a 1 acre square area approximately 6 feet deep . Refill this area with a completed compost mixture of homemade crushed charcoal (people currently call this biochar ) sawdust and grass clippings . (Completely compost this before you use it as filler ). Once you have your area refilled sow it with white clover (called Dutch clover or Ladino clover : you can broad cast this on top of the soil in early spring as soon as you get your first snow melt ) . Once the white clover has taken root you want to "Drill" a mix of Sunflowers , kale , brown mustard , collards , swiss chard , carrots,cucumber and daikon radish . Once these have sprouted then you want to go back and hand plant some sweet potato slips through out the entire area . Let these plants die back and then use a chipper / shredder to mulch these stalks and such then compost these and spread that compost back on top in the early fall . This should fix anything wrong with your garden area , the homemade charcoal aka biochar is used in house water filters also the various militaries around the world use charcoal lined suits to protect against biological/ chemical/nuclear contaminants . Historically sunflowers have been used to cleanse the soils of contaminants . According to newer studies Kales , brown mustards , collards ,and chards are considered bioaccumulators and your tubers are hard pan soil breakers which is carrots , daikon radishes and sweet potato . The cucumber bioaccumulates but it also holds water at the top surface then releases it when it breaks down . So essentially this should fix everything "wrong" in any garden area .

[@ramhornjoe1584]

Awesome breakdown 👍

[@religionisapoison2413]

@@williamwaha3193 lol