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Post by goofy on Oct 9, 2020 12:19:36 GMT -5
So I prepared my raised bed for nearly a year with everything you can think of. Worm castings, organic soil, compost, fish, etc. I have my seeds ready to go and transplant and today I realized that there were all sorts of root systems in my raised bed. After some confusion, I realized they must be coming from the ficus shrubs about 6 feet away from the garden. They clearly grew under the soil and up into the garden. I did not block off the bottom of my raised bed.
Here's the issue. My parents have the ficus shrubs sprayed with "imidacloprid" every 6 months. I presume this has infiltrated the soil around the plants and is well into the root systems, which have now infiltrated my raised bed garden. All this work and money to grow my own, organic food and now I feel like tossing the whole project. This is super stressful. The stuff seems to be fairly toxic, and certainly not anything I want in my organic garden. I don't know if its worth scrapping the whole project over this. What do you all think?
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Post by tom π on Oct 9, 2020 13:10:50 GMT -5
I realized that there were all sorts of root systems in my raised bed. Welcome! Roots in raised beds are a problem. You can keep these root out of your bed by grubbing around the bed.
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Post by desertwoman on Oct 9, 2020 14:00:07 GMT -5
I wouldn't scrap the project and wouldn't worry too much about it. But certainly stay mindful of the situation. Digging out the roots from the raised bed is very doable. You'll have to do that every year. But that should keep your organic veggies pretty clean. In this day and age having a 100% organic garden or produce is next to impossible with the infiltration that happens from neighbors, the community and yes- parents! We do the best we can and know that we are growing way healthier food than most.
Welcome to the forum! Keep us posted on how it's going!
btw, where are you located. If you put that in your signature line in your profile, it will show up each time you post and it helps everyone to know when answering certain questions.
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Post by gardendmpls on Oct 9, 2020 14:04:32 GMT -5
The chemical is sucked up by the roots where it is sprayed and goes up into the plants. I doubt that it would reverse and go along the roots the wrong way and into the soil. That's not how things move in general. You can dig up the roots and perhaps line the bed with some type of barrier to prevent them from stealing all the great nutrients you have added. Others here may know more.
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