Husband was speaking to a bloke yesterday and the talk got onto diseases and how chemicals and crap in the food supply could be contributing. I agree with this, I think it is more than likely that people, kids too, are sicker now because we are being slowly poisoned. Anyway, This bloke said that his neighbour, in our town, grows potatoes, commercially, and when they are ready he sprays the whole crop with Roundup!! WTF!!!! I'm not sure if it is true but this bloke has no reason to lie about it. He sprays the plant and it apparently goes down into the spud and it hardens the skin on the spud and saves the growers 4 to 5 weeks. Or so he says Unfortunately, I believe that it is very probable. This bloke says that he has been growing his own potatoes since he found this out. ...
Now I'm not fussed on spuds, I could easily live without them. Not so husband. I grow a few, enough to have fresh when he wants them but I have bought a big bag when I know he is going to be home more often than usual but hearing this has made me think about growing heaps more.l He will continue eating bought ones but as I probably won't be buying them anymore...I'll need to dig up a big patch of ground somewhere and see if I can get a *proper* supply. It will be my next big challenge.
Has anyone heard of this. What do you think the chances of it being true are?
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6 hours ago
Absolutely true. Have you ever heard of the term "Roundup Ready"? I don't know about the hardening them because I know nothing of potatoes.But, if the guy says he uses Roundup, I believe him and would not eat his potatoes.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/24/roundup-scientists-birth-defects_n_883578.html
Search for "roundup ready" and see what else you find, like how roundup works.
I can't comment on the truth of it, but it is just plain scary.
ReplyDeleteI've always seen potatoes as "too much work" to grow, but think I need to revise that now, and make a decent effort.
Hmmm. On that Top Ten List of Things To Buy Organic (because they have more chemicals on them) potatoes was pretty high. i think it's a US based list so I was wondering how applicable it was to Oz and whether I should make the effort to grow my own spuds but I think i will now anyway.
ReplyDeleteThat's terrible , I've never heard of it, but hey we probably never hear some of those things, if we did we wouldn't buy the stuff, Its put me off buying potatoes now, its funny because for a while now I hate the taste of potato skins they have a strange taste, I've never tasted it before.Its shocking what people do to make more money absolutely shocking. thanks for sharing that with us Barb. No wonder people are so sick these days myself included :(
ReplyDeleteSherrie from Simpleliving :)
Round up is the least of your worries when it comes to buying commercially grown potatoes, the amount of things that are sprayed on them during the growing season is huge (some of these things are banned in other countries, well I know they banned in the UK) that is why if you ever see a crop circle the whole top crop is dead when they start harvesting, part of it is to get the whole crop at the same stage when harvesting or it would be impossible to commercially harvest them with each plant at a different stage. And if you think this is bad then don't ever drink wine, the amount of sprays that go on the grape vines right through the growing stage is horrific
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exBEFCiWyW0
My grapes are never sprayed. But, the whole arbor is 9'x18', so it's not likely many people will benefit.Also, there is a chemical sprayed on potatoes at some point so they won't sprout in the store or home. Obviously, potatoes I buy dodged this.
ReplyDeleteThe proper way is to top the potato plants with a flail topper. You shouldn't be spraying the plants that close to harvest. Most commercial growers spray down with an acid based spray, not glyphosate("round-up"). The hardening of the skin of the potato occurs after the plant has been killed off by the first frost, or by chemical application. It's not actually glyphosate that is hardening the potatoes. It seems as though you are under the impression that the round-up is what does that. However, a mowing will also kill them off. most growers don't use that technique because it is easy to loose the rows when you chop the tops.
ReplyDelete...and now that I have typed "round-up," "glyphosate," and "kill;" an unhappy representative from Monsanto will be knocking on my door... presumably with a shovel, some duct tape, and a bag of lime... Darn, now I typed "Monsanto." I won't have long on this earth. I hear they like to implement acient chinese torture on anyone who says ill of their company...