Iron oxide and organic garden?
Monday, November 30th, 2009 at
7:36 pm
I was cutting some steel poles in my backyard. Now there is a lot of rusted iron oxide lying on top of the dirt. Is this bad? I am planning on planting vegetables there and eating them. Is the iron oxide rust bad? I can remove it right now, before I plant, if it isn’t a good idea to leave it there.
So it is not dangerous. Thanks Rocky.
Filed under: Organic Gardening
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There’s a folklore legend that it helps to bury a rusty nail next to anything planted in limey (or alkaline) soil in order to help lower the ph and make the soil more acid. I don’t know if this technique works, but I believe it does makes the point that rust will not harm your vegetables (or harm YOU when you eat them!) Of course, if the amount of rust is really excessive, it wouldn’t hurt to scrape some of it off the top and discard it. But any remaining deposits will not be dangerous.