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| Hi everyone; thanks for the help you've provided me in this forum so far, and in advance for any help you may provide with my current question.
Being in Toronto, I'm right next to Lake Ontario, and whenever I visit the beach, I can't help but notice the large amounts of seaweed washing up on the shore. I would really like to make use of this resource, because a) it's local, plentiful, and will go to waste otherwise, meaning it could really help lower my garden's carbon footprint; and b) I've read that seaweed is one of the best compost additions out there, especially for veggies (which is what I mostly grow). However, I do have one reservation: the safety of Lake Ontario's water is in question. Every time there's a heavy rain, the water quality is labeled as "red" for a few days, and you can't swim in it. This is because having been built long ago for a much smaller population, Toronto's sewers are insufficient and overflow into the lake when it rains heavily, infecting the water with e.coli, making it unsafe to swim in. After a few days, I guess the e.coli dies or dissipates, and the water is deemed safe again. So, what do you think? Assuming it hasn't rained recently and the water quality is deemed ok, can I collect seaweed from the shore and add it to my compost? My main concern is that this isn't just roses we're talking about- it's my food. Would the composting process kill any residual bacteria that might by some chance be remaining on the seaweed? Or would the seaweed contaminate my whole pile? I should mention that I don't have a hot or "organized" pile at all, I just throw in food scraps, leaves, and weeds as they come and let the pile do its thing, rarely turning it. Again, thanks for your input, and take care! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Tue, Jul 31, 12 at 17:44
| There should be no problem from putting that stuff into the compost pile. Aerobic composting will make any e coli die off after a short time, the same way they would in the lake. If you compost that for a few months first, it will just be compost. Note, composted manure starts out as manure, absolutely loaded with e coli, but after a few months of composting, it's perfectly safe. It's the magic of composting! Just don't eat it. :-D |
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| Go for it!! I've used that freshwater, filamentous green algae directly as a mulch in the garden, and it does wonders. Bit heavy, but if I haul it out of the pond and drag it up a ways and let it sit for a day or so, a lot of the water drains out. Similar to the stuff you're finding. |
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| There have been studies that found some disease pathogen spores clinging to seaweeds, so while the seaweed you find on the shore of Lake Ontario could be a good addition to what you add to your compost pile, and if your compost pile does heat up to around the 135 to 145 degree level, you probably do not need to be overly concerned about them. But, caution is always better then disregrding the potential. |
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| When it comes to avoiding adding pathogens to your garden, always keep in mind that the fly that just landed on your ripe tomato might have been on some raccoon droppings in the very recent past. Wind will blow who knows what spores onto all your garden, including, out here on the Colo / Utah border area, botulism spores because we have the highest concentration of spores in the soil of anywhere they've bothered to measure. just keeping everything in perspective. Wash your food. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Fri, Aug 3, 12 at 13:25
| The unintended burden of science: when we were kids, we swam in the pond/lake/river/industrial lagoon and didn't know any better. Ate apples right off the tree. Now, the world is full of data, and there are minutiae of contaminants and pathogens everywhere. It is a struggle to survive. :-D |
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| So does that mean that you do not follow the precautionary principle and take steps ahead of time to try and limit your exposure to potential problems? When you drive down the road do you ignore the stop signs and stop lights and just keep in going to your destination? Would you knowingly drink polluted water because you are exposed to potential harmful products even in the air you breath? We all, every day, take steps to limit our exposure to potential harm and since knowledge is power, "scientia potentia est", knowing is always better then not knowing. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Mon, Aug 6, 12 at 10:44
| No, of course I didn't mean that. Sigh. I was merely remarking on all the extra work required to sort these things out and explain how things fit in. I hope you know me better than that by now. |
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