Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Search Smarty Plants

See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

rate this answer

Not Yet Rated

Thursday - July 07, 2016

From: Houston, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Diseases and Disorders
Title: Possible Herbicide Contamination of Soil
Answered by: Anne Van Nest

QUESTION:

My mother will be 80 this year and lives in Houston, Texas. She has a raised bed garden near her neighbors fence. It has been there for many years. She feels that he uses Roundup for his weeds near a large building on the other side of the fence. How bad is it for her to eat her veggies from her garden now that we know this information? What could we use to flush any toxins out if they are in the soil? Could I move this well-tended raised bed soil to the other side of her yard and feel safe eating the produce?

ANSWER:

Sorry for the delay in replying to your question. Regarding your interest in the herbicide Roundup, the Nature World News website just announced that a recent study revealed that 94% of Americans have been exposed to glyphosate (Roundup). Glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide used by many gardeners and farmers. For details visit the www.natureworldnews.com website.

Jeff Schuette of Environmental Monitoring & Pest Management, Department of Pesticide Regulation says in an article entitled "Environmental Fate of Glyphosate" Soil: In general, glyphosate is moderately persistent in soil. Soil studies have determined glyphosate half-lives ranging from 3 to 130 days. In the soil environment, glyphosate is resistant to chemical degradation, is stable to sunlight, is relatively nonleachable, and has a low tendency to runoff (except as adsorbed to colloidal matter). It is relatively immobile in most soil environments as a result of its strong adsorption to soil particles."

To find out more information about pesticides in garden soils, visit the National Pesticide Information Center and look at their soil and pesticides page or if you have questions about this, or any pesticide-related topic, please call NPIC at 1-800-858-7378 (8:00am - 12:00pm PST), or email at [email protected]. If you are thinking of testing your soil for pesticides before you move it to another location read the NPIC information about this subject on the "Testing for Pesticides and Pesticide Exposure".

The safest course of action would be to move the raised bed to the other side of the yard and bring in new soil to grow edible fruits and vegetables.