Aminopyralid Remediation

[J. C. Walker,Jr.]

 

[Alex Winstead]

I contacted a chemist friend of mine, Orion Polinsky from Whole Energy biofuels, and asked for his input on the chemical structure of our Aminopyralid contaminant. He confirmed that it is petroleum-derived and that it has some weak points that would allow it to be degraded and potentially "busted-apart" by some hungry organism such as bacteria or a specific fungi. The compound also contains a nitrogen component which would be a snack for any adaptable organism, and a double-bonded oxygen group which is its weak point and allows for degradation. It sounds like he would be interested in providing more help and understanding on the chemistry end of things if we want it. Apparently water treatment plants use bugs to degrade toxins and they add other carbon-chain foods to the sludge to facilitate degradation by the bugs. The most popular additive being glycerin a byproduct of producing biodiesel...some food for thought for now

[J. C. Walker,Jr.]

Great news Alex, I was thinking of running shiitake, oyster, and turkey tail one after the other. I'm setting up a grow room to keep going with this through winter. Any thoughts on treating soils outdoors through fall and winter? You rock Thanks again.

[J. C. Walker,Jr.]

Today I took some Trichoderma (originating from Smit's compost) and a local Oyster into G2 (2nd generation grain master). I also began G1's of Fomitopsis Pinicola, Tramets Hirsutus, Tramets Versicolor, and Fusarium. Tomorrow the grow room should be close to completion. I'm excited to finally get this thing going. I'll post photos when the pots are filled and the lights are on.

[J. C. Walker,Jr.]

On the way out of Celt's seed saving class last week I saw where someone had left a few tomatoe plants that had seen better days with a sign saying free. Unable to resist my need to help everything in sight I went for it. After about 5 days I realized the plant might have issues beyond PH or nutrients and feel it may be contaminated with Aminopyralid. If you grabbed one of these plants and have had a similar experience please post back. It might be prudent to grow it in a container without jeopardizing healthy soil until more is known. Mine has gone into the grow room / lab. I've started sunflowers to test various mycelium strategies and the soils are showing signs of mycelium growth.

[J. C. Walker,Jr.]

[J. C. Walker,Jr.]

[J. C. Walker,Jr.]

These shots are showing the first six sunflowers: 3 in potting soil and 3 in 1 part smit's compost and 3 parts potting soil. Notice the viens on the first leaves. The effect of Aminopyralid caused elongation, asymetrical formation of the viens, and enlargement of the viens as well.

[J. C. Walker,Jr.]

The red group has the Aminopyralid.

[J. C. Walker,Jr.]

Enlarged viens

[J. C. Walker,Jr.]

This is oyster mycelium and the control group. They went under the 14 hr light cyclce 2 days after the first group

[J. C. Walker,Jr.]

This mycelium culture originated from contaminated soil grown out in agar.

[J. C. Walker,Jr.]

This mycelium is smit's grown out in agar