Hi there,

I just got finished reading your latest newsletter and would like to suggest a follow-up commentary from Mr. Ferguson regarding Round-Up (glyphosate).

I'm new to organic gardening/lawn care and in my uninformed, misguided former practices, I've been guilty of using Round Up in the past.

So, with this being the case, could Mr. Ferguson perhaps write a column on how to go about remediating any damage from Round Up?  Is it simply a matter of letting time go by and the ingredients bio-degrade by themselves.  Is it a matter of adding compost -- and if so, does the compost need to be added after a certain time period has passed?  Are some other types of additives/supplements needed?

I've attended a couple of OBHA events and have learned quite a bit in the last six months, but I still feel at a loss sometimes on how to handle situations without resorting to "chemicals".  Your newsletter certainly helps in that regard.  Please keep up the great work!

K.K.

K.K. there are many factors involved in the breakdown of the chemicals in Round-Up but they will naturally degrade over time.  From memory, breakdown rates vary greatly from a few months to one study that found significant residues after 15 years. Over the next few weeks I will be going back through all the research articles and will cover bio-remediation in detail if I find additional information.

The active ingredient Glyphosate is broken down mainly by bacteria as there is a bacterial population explosion in the soil after application and a decrease in beneficial fungus. This means the bacteria are feeding on the chemicals.  This is also why weed problems almost always get worse after Round-up application.  From soil biology we know that most of the plant species we call "weeds" like soils with lots of bacteria and very little fungus. Hence the application of Round-Up creates conditions that favor weed growth over desired perennial plants.

There have been reports that the degradation can be greatly accelerated by the use of products that stimulate the growth of bacteria. So as a first step spraying the affected area with agricultural molasses will provide a food source and stimulate the growth of many species of bacteria. It may take 2 or 3 applications over a couple weeks.  After the initial breakdown has begun it would be beneficial to treat the area with 1/4 inch of a good compost to help re-establish the good microbes as the pathogen levels in the soil will be very high. Without a food source (plants) the pathogen levels will start to decline back to normal levels. In addition, secondary remediation of the initial breakdown products may require various fungus species in the compost.

John, enjoyed reading your article and would appreciate any reference points for your information so I can research the matter further

Thank you, D.B.

I will be providing some references in later articles.  There is a list of books, magazines, journals, DVD's, e-newsletters, etc. on all sorts of subjects: 

http://www.natureswayresources.com/infosheets/sources.html

Many of the e-newsletters by different consumer awareness groups scour the scientific literature for information. They will often give a one or two sentence summary of the article. If one is interested they can click on the link for short summary of a research article. There is almost always a link back to the full research paper as published in the journal. Note: Many journals charge a fee to download articles. One can go to the websites of these consumer groups and search for articles.

You will not find out information to protect your families and pets from publications that accept advertizing from the chemical companies as they are more concerned about the advertising revenue than helping their readers. A few magazines that are written for the average reader are Mother Earth News, "E", Acres,USA, Organic Gardening and Organic Living.

WEEDS and HERBICIDES

"Round-Up" (Part 2)

In the book "When Weeds Talk", Brookside Laboratories ran tests that showed only one application of the herbicide tied up 84 pounds of pure phosphate per acre! This type of nutrient tie-up leads to compaction and decreases the depth of available topsoil for roots to grow. With a smaller root zone the gardener must water more often and fertilize more often.  It is then often recommended to aerate the soil to break up the compaction, another cost. The tight compacted soils favor disease development and of course, more weed pressure (one of the roles of the plants we call weeds is to loosen tight compacted soils).  The process of using just one application of herbicide greatly increases the problems, also the time and money required to take care of your landscape.

Experienced gardeners know that plant growth hormones are very important to have plants that grow fast and are healthy. One of the most powerful of these hormones is the group called "auxins".  One study (L.T. Biosyn Labs) found a 96% reduction in this hormone after a single Round-up application.

Similarly many enzymes required for plant health are suppressed as shown in the chart below. Note: The slide caption is "Fold" not percent change.

This slide is courtesy of Dr. Don Huber , Purdue University

The combined effects of Glyphosate from nutrient tie-up, increased pathogens in the soil, reduction in plant hormones, reduction in enzyme efficiency, etc. create weak plants that are very susceptible to insects and diseases.

We have all heard the phrase, "survival of the fittest".  In nature the microbes that we call diseases or pathogens and the insects we call pests, have a role to play.  Their job is to get rid of weak and unhealthy plant species so only the strong survive. Hence, they attack plants grown in herbicide treated soils or plants treated with herbicides (the herbicide is excreted into the soil by root exudates).

The slide below is pictorial summary of all the damage done by Glyphosate.

This slide is courtesy of Dr. Don Huber , Purdue University

Round-Up is slow to breakdown in the soil, hence the negative effects tend to be cumulative. The slide below of a wheat crop illustrates this effect. The first year Round-Up was applied the wheat crop germinated and grew, however by the 10th year of using Round-Up the seeds could not germinate and the ones that did had problems growing and were not healthy. We see the same effects in our landscape where Round-up has been used repeatedly.

This slide is courtesy of Dr. Don Huber , Purdue University

Note: Don Huber, PhD is now Professor Emeritus of Plant Pathology at Purdue University.  He has over 50 years of agricultural research on soil and plant pathogens and microbial ecology. He has served as Associate Director of the Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center after 41+ years of active and reserve duty with the rank of Colonel. He has served as a consultant for the Center for Disease Control and many other organizations.

It has been stated that Glyphosate is many time more toxic than DDT and in conjunction with GMO crops a threat to the survival of humanity.