aground
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:47 pm

arsenic contamination

Our garden is on the site of an old brickworks and I understand as a result of this there may be arsenic contamination in the soil. I guess this may seem a stupid question, but would it be dangerous to grow fruit and veg in this type of soil?

TheLorax
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Posts: 1416
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:40 pm
Location: US

Not a stupid question at all and one I asked myself a few years ago. Based on what you learn, you might need to check into some sort of remediation before you start a veggie garden but too little information to make that call.

I sent samples to a lab for testing. A good lab will test for lead and other contaminants. It wasn't all that expensive but please know there is a good possibility that if you are in the US your extension office might provide this type of testing for free. I found out our local extension office tested for free after I paid an independent lab.

Did a quick search and found this-
https://www.metrokc.gov/health/tsp/arsenic.htm

aground
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:47 pm

TheLorax
many thanks for your reply. Certainly worth investigating further

TheLorax
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Posts: 1416
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:40 pm
Location: US

Sorry I couldn't be of more help. I didn't have any issues here. My test results were good.

You do realize that if your test results came back unfavorable that veggie gardening is still a very real possibility for you, right? You would go for raised beds and you would bring in uncontaminated soil and I'm relatively sure somebody here would help you from start to finish. Veggies aren't my thing but hopefully they will be in the future.



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