soil and heavy metals..

Looking for people who have experience with living soils and commercial operations,

i had to throw out about a whole years worth the work because of testing .2 higher than the thresholds for heavy metals i dont know where This could of came from. i make sure all my inputs are premium and the same. i have taken many precautions to prevent any contamination. i have been growing for quite sometime now so this is not my first rodeo and have always tested good from previous harvest. the only thing that i done different was buy the living soil (12cubicyards ) last year instead of making it Like I previously had before.

im in the process of getting soil that was grown in and water supply tested and an unused 1yard tote of soil tested.

what would be a good mode of action have any of you guys had to deal with this before? do i have to start fresh with everything? I feel sick haveing to toss all my hard work and having to pay a disposal company to come get it but its what i have to do

im a solo cultivator and not a big brand business at all, I just got commercially licensed this year and this is a big loss for me.

im in this cause its what i like to do and not in this for clout or money im not a chad , i just want to be able to continue my work and grow and breed the best i can. i just need to get past this variable and find out what went wrong. any help would be appreciated.

sounds like you are on the path to figuring it out with the soil and water supply tested. Did you test your flower at different labs?

calyxhunter said:

Looking for people who have experience with living soils and commercial operations,

i had to throw out about a whole years worth the work because of testing .2 higher than the thresholds for heavy metals i dont know where This could of came from. i make sure all my inputs are premium and the same. i have taken many precautions to prevent any contamination. i have been growing for quite sometime now so this is not my first rodeo and have always tested good from previous harvest. the only thing that i done different was buy the living soil (12cubicyards ) last year instead of making it Like I previously had before.

im in the process of getting soil that was grown in and water supply tested and an unused 1yard tote of soil tested.

what would be a good mode of action have any of you guys had to deal with this before? do i have to start fresh with everything? I feel sick haveing to toss all my hard work and having to pay a disposal company to come get it but its what i have to do

im a solo cultivator and not a big brand business at all, I just got commercially licensed this year and this is a big loss for me.

im in this cause its what i like to do and not in this for clout or money im not a chad , i just want to be able to continue my work and grow and breed the best i can. i just need to get past this variable and find out what went wrong. any help would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

First what metals particularly did you fail for?
second Throw up a list of what’s in the soil blend and what you feed your girls.
do you foliar?
I am sure there are studies out there on nutrient uptake and isolation in plant tissue based on ph factors...

waterproof808 said:

sounds like you are on the path to figuring it out with the soil and water supply tested. Did you test your flower at different labs?

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yea im going to try to cover all my bases and see how and why. i didnt get it tested at a different lab yet. i still have flower that is from a different batch that needs to be tested so i will probably use a different one just to see

Joedank said:

First what metals particularly did you fail for?
second Throw up a list of what’s in the soil blend and what you feed your girls.
do you foliar?
I am sure there are studies out there on nutrient uptake and isolation in plant tissue based on ph factors...

Click to expand...

heres the heavy metals tested for and a copy of one of the test



heres a list of what the soil has in it as advertised



for the top feed i used the mr.b’s green trees once a month from July to October with a cup of azomite in the top feed. and used Super phos bat guano during the flowering months used less than directed for 200gallons of soil

-dry amendments -
mr.b’s dry feed -
grow 7-4-4
bloom 2-8-6

roots organic -
superphos bat guano 1-14-0

kelp4less -
bat guano 12-4-2
*used 1/4 to 1/2 cup each 200gallon pot each month and made an occasional tea with it during the season

azomite- a 12oz cup added when i top feed once a month



-liquid feed / tea every 10-15 or so days :

bloom city -
earthworm and bokashi tea concentrate
Silica boost -0-0-1

Gs plantfoods -
kelp 0.3-0-0.6,
humic
fish 2-3-1

unsulphered molasses on occasion

-very rarely used -
general organics -
CaMg+ 1-0-0 ,
Florolicious Plus 2-0.8-0.5

no foliar feeds and only IPM with Purecrop1 and Summit brand Bt for caterpillars

my water supply is tap and has 3x Rv carbon filters in series as filtration. And my hoses are for potable water.
grassroots fabric pots 200gallons

calyxhunter said:

heres the heavy metals tested for and a copy of one of the test

View attachment 4760432

heres a list of what the soil has in it as advertised

View attachment 4760578

for the top feed i used the mr.b’s green trees once a month from July to October with a cup of azomite in the top feed. and used Super phos bat guano during the flowering months used less than directed for 200gallons of soil

-dry amendments -
mr.b’s dry feed -
grow 7-4-4
bloom 2-8-6

roots organic -
superphos bat guano 1-14-0

kelp4less -
bat guano 12-4-2
*used 1/4 to 1/2 cup each 200gallon pot each month and made an occasional tea with it during the season

azomite- a 12oz cup added when i top feed once a month



-liquid feed / tea every 10-15 or so days :

bloom city -
earthworm and bokashi tea concentrate
Silica boost -0-0-1

Gs plantfoods -
kelp 0.3-0-0.6,
humic
fish 2-3-1

unsulphered molasses on occasion

-very rarely used -
general organics -
CaMg+ 1-0-0 ,
Florolicious Plus 2-0.8-0.5

no foliar feeds and only IPM with Purecrop1 and Summit brand Bt for caterpillars

my water supply is tap and has 3x Rv carbon filters in series as filtration. And my hoses are for potable water.
grassroots fabric pots 200gallons

Click to expand...

This got me curious so I did a little search. I found this that I thought was really interesting. I never thought about heavy metals with organics. I had no idea kelp was so high in arsenic.

calyxhunter said:

heres the heavy metals tested for and a copy of one of the test

View attachment 4760432

heres a list of what the soil has in it as advertised

View attachment 4760578

for the top feed i used the mr.b’s green trees once a month from July to October with a cup of azomite in the top feed. and used Super phos bat guano during the flowering months used less than directed for 200gallons of soil

-dry amendments -
mr.b’s dry feed -
grow 7-4-4
bloom 2-8-6

roots organic -
superphos bat guano 1-14-0

kelp4less -
bat guano 12-4-2
*used 1/4 to 1/2 cup each 200gallon pot each month and made an occasional tea with it during the season

azomite- a 12oz cup added when i top feed once a month



-liquid feed / tea every 10-15 or so days :

bloom city -
earthworm and bokashi tea concentrate
Silica boost -0-0-1

Gs plantfoods -
kelp 0.3-0-0.6,
humic
fish 2-3-1

unsulphered molasses on occasion

-very rarely used -
general organics -
CaMg+ 1-0-0 ,
Florolicious Plus 2-0.8-0.5

no foliar feeds and only IPM with Purecrop1 and Summit brand Bt for caterpillars

my water supply is tap and has 3x Rv carbon filters in series as filtration. And my hoses are for potable water.
grassroots fabric pots 200gallons

Click to expand...

Coming from Layman’s point of view it looks like cutting out the kelp will be a good place to start.
Tilling in some coco might be the call. But will still be rolling the dice

PadawanWarrior said:

This got me curious so I did a little search. I found this that I thought was really interesting. I never thought about heavy metals with organics. I had no idea kelp was so high in arsenic.

Heavy Metal Testing Best Practices Living Soil Growers – BuildASoil

Heavy Metal Testing and Best Practices for Organic Living Soil Growers We must stick together as a community and handle these problems out in the open for the betterment of all those that are going to grow in living soil and don’t want to be forced into hydro for fear of heavy metals. When we do...

buildasoil.com

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Thanks thats a good read and good info , i imagine i had an accumulation from the kelp and possibly the pre made soil already having alot in it

Joedank said:

Coming from Layman’s point of view it looks like cutting out the kelp will be a good place to start.
Tilling in some coco might be the call. But will still be rolling the dice

Click to expand...

yea i figure the kelp might be the main cause along with the extra azomite in it. will definitely be getting the soil and water tested , i might also run a few sacrificial hemp , sunflower and Chinese ladder fern plants theought the pots to try to remediate the soil ,

i am just now starting a build out for the indoor and will start fresh and mix my own soil for it im not taking anymore chances

just throwing out there that researching composting bin materials i found out arsenic was used in pressure treated wood before 2003

Looking at a 1-2 year old consumer report for the water. I think i found the cause fawk.. 8.0 leagal EPA limit is 10.0 for water , i have never had trouble with water and always used carbon filters on my water source and has always been enough. then i done some more digg and arsenic can only be filtered out efficiently with R.O. damn it. i feel stupid for overlooking this simple thing i guess with ever else on my plate trying to get the commercial set up left out this detail , lucky it was only about 12-15k worth The product and not more

samaples of flower were from three different pots and with how much higher the numbers are for arsenic and the rest are in reasonable amount.

I am proud to say i really screwed up any one else screw up this year aswell?

calyxhunter said:

I am proud to say i really screwed up any one else screw up this year aswell?

Click to expand...

Plenty. A bad cure.

raggyb said:

Plenty. A bad cure.

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I know what you mean , we had a bad ice storm here in ok , like a 1 in 10year kind of ice storm at end of October , i was mid harvest and power went out for a week and i did not have a generator or find one anywhere. lost alot of product this year

Damn glad you found out the issue at least.

Minor setback for a major comeback my friend.

calyxhunter said:

I know what you mean , we had a bad ice storm here in ok , like a 1 in 10year kind of ice storm at end of October , i was mid harvest and power went out for a week and i did not have a generator or find one anywhere. lost alot of product this year

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I'm tellin ya. gotsa have backup plans for your backup plans.

Arsenic can be removed from water using iron as a medium. Google some studies, it’s often done with rusty nails, etc.

Looking at your water report you can remove flouride by reacting it with limestone. I never see flouride tested in cannabis, I was under the impression the plant would accumulate it to toxic levels given the chance.

If you boil your soup with that water it will also concentrate the arsenic.

Thanks for the help and suggestions i really appreciate it. im been refocusing on the indoor build out since i know i the issue with my water and will need a commercial ro system.

have a question , does anybody have any experience installing tursscore to metal framing?

Freedom seed said:

Looking at your water report you can remove flouride by reacting it with limestone. I never see flouride tested in cannabis, I was under the impression the plant would accumulate it to toxic levels given the chance.

If you boil your soup with that water it will also concentrate the arsenic.

Click to expand...

the flouride was just in the water test. Im just gonna get a commercial ro filter to make it clean for the Plants.

man i still feel sick about the whole situation lost alot this year but im still pushing on and continuing with the indoor build. Luckily i found this error on the outdoor setup and not the costly indoor and paying for electric to just throw out the batch

raggyb said:

I'm tellin ya. gotsa have backup plans for your backup plans.

Click to expand...

I learned my lesson this year ..lol