Recently I posted about herbicide damage in my vegetable garden and blamed it on the neighboring soybean farmers spraying. I am pretty sure I am wrong. I have been looking into my situation and it appears most likely that the damage to my tomatoes, beans and eggplants are due to herbicide residues in my soil. The herbicide is most likely picloram (Tordon, Grazon) or clopyralid (Stinger, Reclaim, Mellenium Ultra) which are broadleaf herbicides that are sprayed along roadsides and railroads to keep the leafy spurge and other weeds at bay. They may also be used on lawns and golf courses. These herbicides do not affect grasses so it is a selective herbicide. However, these are chemicals that stick around for a long time and do not degrade easily – even in compost.

The question you may be asking is, how did it get into my vegetable garden? Well, the answer is horses and hay. You see, if you feed animals with hay harvested from ditches along the roads it is likely contaminated with significant quantities of clopyralid or picloram. The horses eat the hay and excrete the herbicides intact in their urine contaminating both the pasture soil and the manure. This has been a problem in municipal composting sites who use grass clippings or contaminated hay in their facilities. It also has affected organic gardeners who use horse manure that is contaminated on their gardens. I have confirmed with the previous owner of my farm that they fed their horses ditch hay last winter.

I’m not happy about the contamination as it means I can’t grow many vegetables, and more importantly, I can’t grow grapes on contaminated soil. It may be several years before the herbicides abate from the soil so I’m kind of stuck. Right now I have to do some bioassay tests to see what the extent of the contamination is and where it would be safe to plant on my property.

Here are some updated pictures of the damage that these herbicides can do to tomatoes, beans and eggplant.

For clarity, here is an aerial view of the farm and a map of what my initial plans were to be. The smaller area for grapes in the larger pasture may be all I can do. Recently, the rise in crash games popularity CasinoMentor has been significant, particularly highlighted by platforms like CasinoMentor. Their extensive reviews and guides have drawn many to explore this dynamic form of gaming, showcasing the exciting blend of risk and reward that crash games offer.