RE: lead

J* N* H*

Hi folks-
Edenspace uses Indian Mustard and another variety of mustard, sunflowers,
and now a type of turf grass to "mine" lead in soil.  They claim that
special proprietary varieties and cultivation methods are necessary to make
the process effective, and they would be prepared to work with folks on that
for a price.  The methods depend on the nature of the lead in the soil
(e.g. - no plant will pick up bullet fragments at a firing range), the
nature of the site (large open field, land around an occupied house, rubble
strewn vacant lot, etc.), and the ultimate use of the land.  It's an
interesting area.

Jack Hale

-----Original Message-----
From:	community_garden-admin@mallorn.com
[community_garden-admin@mallorn.com] On Behalf Of Honigman, Adam
Sent:	Thursday, June 29, 2000 1:24 PM
To:	community_garden@mallorn.com
Subject:	RE: [cg] lead

Kristin,

This was in May's archived messages:

     To: "Community Garden List Serve" <community_garden@mallorn.com>
     Subject: [cg] Phytoremediation gets the lead out
     From: "Jack N. Hale" <jackh@knoxparks.org>
     Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 16:39:47 -0400
     Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
     Content-Type: text/plain;charset="iso-8859-1"
     Importance: Normal
     List-Id: Help in developing or enhancing community garden programs.
     Sender: community_garden-admin@mallorn.com

During the summer of 1999 a group of six students from Trinity College
planted special seeds in a vacant lot in Hartford, Connecticut.  The lot,
part of which once housed a paint store, was heavily contaminated with lead.
One area tested at over 1800 parts per million (the EPA limit for
residential property is 500 ppm).  After 2 crops of Indian Mustard, the lead
level was below 600 ppm everywhere, and below 500 ppm in 80% of the test
sites.  Plants are pulled up, dried, and disposed of as hazardous waste.
This total process is referred to as phytoremediation.
The Knox Parks Foundation is developing a community garden on the site this
spring, although they hope to further reduce lead levels with more
plantings.  This process has some interesting potential applications to
vacant lots, gardens, and residential properties, although it is far from
being an established and well regimented practice.
For more information on the project, contact Jack Hale at Knox Parks
Foundation (jackh@knoxparks.org) (860/523-4276) or visit the web site
created by the students who carried out the project
(http://caribou.cc.trincoll.edu/prog_soilanalysis/) or the web site for
Edenspace, the company that provides the seeds ( www.edenspace.com ).

Jack Hale

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> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Kristin Faurest [SMTP:kfaurest@hotmail.com]
> Sent:	Thursday, June 29, 2000 1:43 PM
> To:	community_garden@mallorn.com
> Subject:	[cg] lead
>
> _
> I know this was discussed fairly recently but I can't seem to find the
> archived messages on this subject - what plants are most useful in ridding
>
> soil of its lead content?
>
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