Roundup Use

[Ironman]

I have always been concerned with the over use of herbicides on the Big Island.

When originally looking to buy land I was told that even the old cane fields was cleared with Roundup and other herbicides and that there was absoultely NO problem with it's use around humans and or animals. I was offered it as an option to bush hogging a parcel that I was going to build a house on.

I wanted to share a recent article regarding the birth defects that are being documented both in the US and in Europe.

See full article at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/24...d=webmail1

I just wanted to share with my fellow "GREEN" gardners that we need to find better and more natural ways.

Mahalo

Will Peratino

[Lucy]

I agree with you and have hardly ever resorted to pesticides, or herbicides.

In our area of Texas, the lot is small but have been able to use large sheets of black plastic held down on the sides with building bricks for some weeks until the grasses or weeds below have been killed. No harm done to the enviornment or consequently us.
The prior cane fields have more problems than just Roundup. Some pretty severe long lasting ones. Puna is not immune to that since there was some there too. There are also problems with the old houses with lead based paints, since lead leaches out 20 feet from a house and stays in the ground. Not a good thing if you plant your vegetables/herbs/fruit trees there or the kids play in the dirt.

I like the new orange peel derived insecticide called Orange Guard for bugs or Orange Oil by Medina out of Hondo Texas, here locally, used as a foliar spray or drench. Uses only 2-4 oz per gallon.
Rather have the birds and the bees and some spots on my apples! :-)

Lucy

Having another Great day in Paradise, Wherever that Maybe!

[Carey]

I have had to use herbicide, mainly for maile pilau and guava.... both of which sprout hardily from root fragments... and are extremely invasive in our area.

For control we paint the herbicide (usually crossbow type) directly on the sproutling or cut stump.... no other way have we been able to eradicate either from our land, but we have not used herbicide for broad area clearing either, as our lot was already cleared & planted (and most likely the past owner HAD used herbicides more broadly.

[Rene Siracusa]

Worse even than Roundup was the use of Paraquat on the cane fields. Paraquat, a systemic herbicide, was applied in powder form by crop dusters (small airplanes). The idea was to kill the entire cane crop at once so it could all be harvested at the same time. Cheaper that way. It also killed the rats who ate the cane, and the cats that ate the rats. Paraquat is now illegal. The crop dusters were not supposed to spray on windy days, but they did, and the wind blew the Paraquat onto neighboring parcels. I remember driving through the cane fields above Pahoa high school and, on hearing the approach of the plane, had to quickly roll up my car windows to keep the poison out. When I returned home, my car was covered with the stuff. I have no idea of the half life of Paraquat, but if I were considering buying old cane land I would definitely seek out that information.

[Carey]

In land with soils with clay particles, deactivation is very quick, due to the charged nature of the herbicide. More info from Cornell:
http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/her...aquat.html

[JerryCarr]

I believe there are still toxic levels of arsenic in the soil on some cane plantation sites. IIRC, there was a plan for building a motel in Kea'au Village some years back, and one impediment was the required removal of a large amount of toxic topsoil. The motel was never built, but I don't know if the soil contamination was the ultimate reason.