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San Diego

My soil is a little low in iron. I used to use ironite, but have since learned that it's pretty toxic stuff and I want to stay away from using it. I would rather use something that isn't going to put "bad stuff" in my soil. Does anyone know of any other options for a soil ammendment that would be ok to use and where to get it? Thanks, Jim

2/23/2004 7:49:36 PM

Roanoke Il

Shultz makes a product called Ironpluss thats what i've used in the past,

2/23/2004 7:56:14 PM

[email protected]

Here's the California version of our granular Iron. It's made specifically for soil fertility & is not taken from mine tailings. So it is as clean as Iron products get.

http://www.lesco.com/Default.aspx?PageID=27&ItemNumber=080299

Don't worry. It's not really $56 either. Call the nearest branch since I have no idea what the freight over the Rockies really does to the sale price, but it's not $56. Just punch your zip code into the branch locator.

This stuff is also twice the strength as Ironite. So you won't need to use as much.

While not all fertilizers are offered for sale in the state of Washington, they have the most comprehensive list of dangerous metals tested fertilizers there is. See their link for a listing by manufacturer or brand name at:

http://agr.wa.gov/PestFert/Fertilizers/ProductDatabase.htm

Pretty cool database. Hope this helps.

Steve

2/23/2004 8:40:20 PM

[email protected]

Ironite is rumored to be toxic, nothing has been proven yet. This seems to be acase of a competitor that couldnt compete, and has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to slander Ironite, which it has done a pretty darn good job. Heck, I use Ironite every year, I even eat it on my breakfast cereal..

2/23/2004 9:27:05 PM

San Diego

thanks for the info:) Jim

2/23/2004 9:31:04 PM

[email protected]

Rock I though they were victims of a liberal wacko group that was lobbying some regulatory agency. Are they actually being sued by someone? If so that's insane. There are plently of lead containing fertilizers that have "grandfathered registration" that are worse off (pound for pound) than Ironite is.

2/23/2004 9:46:00 PM

[email protected]

The Environmental Law Foundation. (ELF?)

http://www.envirolaw.org/poison.html

Sounds suspiciously similar to the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). They're the wacko domestic terrorists that show up at car dealerships & burn SUV's claiming to be saving the rainforests.

I'll wager these are the same freaks.

2/23/2004 10:21:12 PM

Eugene, OR

Hey, those are the nuts that burned a Chevy dealership in Eugene, OR claiming that the large SUV's sold there are polluting the environment.

I wonder how much the pollution created by the fires contributed to the very thing they protest?

2/23/2004 10:39:11 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

i throw bolts out into my patch

2/23/2004 11:02:18 PM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

I do not know why iron would be toxic since it is one of the most common elements on the Earth. That is probably why it is essential in respiration, photosynthesis and other basic processes of life on Earth.
There is really nothing to worry about except to burn the leaves if you spray too much. Jernej

2/24/2004 4:01:09 AM

[email protected]

Jernej,

Perhaps I can shed a little more light on this.

All elements known to exist are toxic to mammals in some degree. It's just a matter of how much of an element we can safely consume before the trouble begins.

But Iron isn't the problem. However *ALL* mined Iron containing fertilizers will also contain at least some quantity of the other metals that occur when iron is found in a vain. Usually when an Iron mine becomes less productive than economic conditions favor, the operator moves to a new vain. The old vain might then be mined for fertilizer which doesn't require the same degreee of purity to remain financially successful.

But Lead, Selenium, Cadmium &/or Mercury sometimes are also carried along & end up in the bags. This is when some folks get all worked up.

2/24/2004 5:46:31 AM

[email protected]

Natural Organic (non human waste) sources of Iron rarley contain the toxic metals. But they also don't contain enough Iron to correct major deficiencies. This is because Iron is a mineral & is not organic (carbon based) at all. But some natural organic materials are rich in nonorganic (mineral) elements. Just not rich enough to make a major difference in soil fertility at reasonable rates.

The technology exists to clean Iron mine tailings (and municipal sewage for that matter) to remove the undesirable metals. But once an entire corporation and a market is established, the additional expense burden of cleaning is usually deamed cost prohibitive. Older processing plants are very difficult to physically upgrade. So regulators allow the "Grandfather" status of the "original" manufacturer for as long as the market will bear. But newcomers are held to new standards based on often unnecessarily high levels of purity to appease the publics concerns.

In time the new methods costs come down as the consuming public accepts the higther cost of the newer and cleaner products.

2/24/2004 6:45:24 AM

[email protected]

In this business we begrudgingly accept this evolutionary lifecycle & deal with it. On the one hand consumers detest the toxins. On the other hand they also detest paying for the alternative. In the end though, these things always work themselves out. It's up to the manufacturers to adapt to the ever changing business model or fall by the wayside in ruin. It is ultimately their own ability to adapt that decides their fate.

I don't know if these 2 "ELF's" are the same entities or not. But I do find it ironic they share the same initials & wouldn't be surprised if they are at least affiliated.

Their sort of environmental terrorism is certainly *NOT* the way to a cleaner world & these freaks who bomb & burn SUV's & truck often do end up in prison (where they belong) for their trouble.

See their website for the list of "fallen soldiers" who are sitting in jail. Just click the "Prisoners" button. They're freaks.

http://www.earthliberationfront.com/main.shtml

Steve

2/24/2004 6:45:35 AM

Long Island,New York

"I do find it ironic"....lol...nice pun Steve.......

2/24/2004 8:07:55 AM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

OK Steve, I got the point :-)
I have a small patch so I can apply clean iron products like FeSO4. And I never hesitate to throw old nails or even small parts of my Peugeot in the patch…

Other thing is that whenever we want to buy something they sell us another thing together. Let’s say vitamin C (ascorbic acid). You can buy it pure (white powder) in drugstore but in supermarket you get for the same price a commercial “super vitamin C” drink that has 100 times less vitamin plus useless sugar, CO2, citric acid,…
The same thing is with mobile phones: no one lasts for more than two years (mine much less) but you also get a cheap photo, games, internet…

So, I suggest everybody who needs iron to get FeSO4 – it’s clean and cheap. Jernej

2/24/2004 10:18:23 AM

[email protected]

I hear you Jernej. I also sell Iron Sulfate (FeSo4) but some folks object to the 11% Sulfur in it too. Some days are like this it seems. LOL

Steve

2/24/2004 11:27:32 AM

Oz

Ironite is about to be banned in Maine(freaks?).
They dont like the arsenic content

California has banned ironite.

A loophole(imagine that?)in federal makes it hard to regulate such products.
Ironite comes from an old silver mine.

It is belived that acid rain will release the toxins.

2/24/2004 3:51:08 PM

Oz

www.mofga.org

2/24/2004 3:53:03 PM

Indiana

I have put ironite on my garden for the past several years and I'm not dead yet (I think the beer washes out the toxins)
Steve

2/24/2004 10:00:03 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

I was kiddin' about the bolts ya' know

2/24/2004 10:51:31 PM

Wichita, KS

whew! glad you said somethin. I almost dumped a bucket of rusty nails in my compost pile!

!o)

2/25/2004 2:28:30 AM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

This debate remembered me on the last spring when I was digging a huge hole behind the house for my sequoia. On the brink was an old engine which I have for spare parts and I seriously considered to push it over… nobody would notice and sequoia would have enough iron for 5000 years! Well, that trash is still there…

Looking back this scares me a bit …am I turning into a freak who composts his own cars to grow pumpkins? :-)

2/25/2004 2:58:29 AM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Jim, may be the other option you asked for is to make a deal with a local car dump for a well aged and composted 1950s car... plastic free and possibly the one with wooden doors!
Well, we have a lot of snow these days… so please don’t take these jokes personal :-)

2/25/2004 7:06:59 AM

Long Island,New York

Too much lead in the gasoline.

2/25/2004 7:39:54 AM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

What about diesel?

2/25/2004 7:52:50 AM

San Diego

I don't mind the jokes guys, but just so ya know, my mom was exposed to some chemicals when she was young and over time she lost her health. She has been sick for 30 years now with no hope of recovery. I myself have learned to take the best care of my body from some health problems of my own. health is the most important thing in the world to me because I have learned the very hard lesson of not taking it for granted because of what I have gone through. So that's why I try to limit my exposure to anything even remotely toxic. Jim

2/25/2004 12:49:31 PM

Montoursville, PA

I just bought a fishing lure. On the package it clearly said the state of California calls nickel a toxin. This lure contains .0003% nickel. I can just see the treasury of the US putting that on a nickel.

2/25/2004 11:02:46 PM

Md/ Usa

In the case California, you talking about state through ballot initiatives has outlawed the law of gravity.

2/25/2004 11:36:45 PM

Wichita, KS

Yup. Thats my state. Messed up beyond all recognition. At least its warmer here...

2/26/2004 3:16:25 AM

[email protected]

I am sorry to hear about your Mom Jim. There are some people who really do develop hyper-sensitivity towards certain chemicals. And I really do feel for them. But banning Peanuts from a school because one kid is alergic to them doesn't sit well with me.

Before I get jumped for that statement please check the following.

I have a serious Neurological disease that many sufferers blame on exposure to various elements. We might someday discover a correlation to environmental factors in my case. But not yet. It doesn't really matter for me. My own studies do not yet support a tie to chemicals but more likely either a genetic fault or perhaps a geological earth positioning factor not yet understood by science.

I can certainly understand how it's easier to blame a chemical than it is to accept a faulty gene. Especially when that gene could have been passed on to my only son. My dry candor leaves my own mother with a distressed look so I keep my theory to myself when shes around.

Warning: All that follows is stated from here on is in jest & not intended to offend or poke fun at anyone!

Perhaps if my son Stephen were born in California I'd have to bring him back to the hospital now that I've been DX'ed for a tattoo that reads:

"This male Human contains genes that are known to the State of California to not effectively prevent disability or death."

That would certainly fix the world for everyone else. Or at least any other potential breeding stock.

It sure seems like everything we buy nowadays is known to the State of CA to cause some sort of malady or another. LOL

Steve

2/26/2004 6:45:04 AM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Jim, I agree with you about the importance of the health. We take it for granted too often and it is good for you that you know that (I don’t because I smoke).

So, to calm you down about toxic heavy metals: the point is that they accumulate wherever you introduce them (in soil, human body,…) and eventually cause problems when they reach high concentrations. As Steve said, in this regard is better to avoid prolonged use of “bio” fertilizers produced from waste materials (they usually already accumulated some heavy metals).
But remember one thing: toxins are everywhere; ultimately can even people be toxins to each other.

I believe that looking in monitor right know is more noxious than eating some heavy metals here and there… I wish everybody to stay healthy and get out in the patch as soon as possible! Jernej

2/26/2004 11:44:12 AM