Today we see if it is safe to grow food in tires and discover that it isn’t as straightforward as first thought. To see the video if you can grow food in plastic bottles follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2sHVXgdeyk
Sources:
Personal opinions – http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1421356/growing-veggies-in-tiresany-downside
http://tennzen.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/ask-tennzen-is-it-safe-to-grow-veggies.html
Subscribe to our new newsletter here:
http://localfoodinitiative.com/growfood
Take a look at my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HuwsGardenNursery
What a great video! You've taken as much into account and presented enough info as could possibly be imagined. And, although your conclusion is a bit abstract, it gives the viewer enough information to make up their own minds. Well done! If I could suggest some things for any future videos?: I had to look up your Welsh growing season info, as mine is different. It would be nice to know that, but I'm not sure if putting that in every video that you do is necessary (a link to another video or a weather channel website?). That way, those of us not blessed to live in Wales could adjust accordingly. Also, you might want to warn people NOT to just use any white paint. There are older, lead based white paints that could really make a mess of things.
what kind of yams were those sir?
I was worried about chemicals leaching also, so I did some searching. The EPA does not think growing veggies in tires is a problem. They tell you to stay away from tire burning and ground tires. They even tell you how to grow potatoes in tires: https://ask.extension.org/questions/305496
Good Luck.
https://ask.extension.org/questions/305496
if theres any doubt, there is no doubt.
personally id just grow flowers in them. still helps the plot with pollination etc.
best solution is to find free food grade plastic drums and use that for the planter. then cut a tire around the edges to fit around the barrel….
Thanks for the suggestion for painting them white! Make sense and I definitely want to do that since I live in FL. Also maybe once they have broken down and may be leaking harmful chemicals maybe use them for growing stuff your not gonna eat? Like flowers to keep pest away or pumpkins.
ive been doing it for years and it works great
What if you line the tires? would that stop any leach?
I tore out a 200 sq. ft. perennial flower bed in the fall of 2017. It was horribly overgrown with weeds. In the process, I didn't try to salvage much of the top soil. I just dug everything out, soil and all, and dumped it in an adjacent, weedy field. As a result, I was left with a new growing area that was primarily clay. I collected 8 used auto tires, cut off the sidewalls, then evenly spaced them on the ground in the new area. I partially filled them with fall leaves and left them for the winter. The following spring(2018), I placed two alternating layers of rotted leaves and fresh grass clippings in the tires, then added about 4" of finished compost. I then planted several varieties of tomato seedlings in the tires. I pinch out tomato suckers, which may encourage the plants to grow taller, and all of my plants grew to 6+ ft. tall. I had enough tomatoes for fresh eating, for sharing with family & neighbors, and for dehydrating, which I used during the winter in homemade soups, and even for a tomato pesto recipe I cobbled together. And, yes, it was pretty darn good!
I'll be planting tomatoes in the tires again this year. It's no trouble to dig out the previously used soil to replace it with fresh. The soil is light, loose, and is easily disbursed throughout the rest of the garden. Cheers!
There are more countries in the world who can actually spell tyre than can't. Please don't succumb to the American spellings and pronunciations.
U r so awesome. Thank u for ur channel.
I got two odd/specialty tires from craigslist-free items that I want to use as planters. They accommodate rims with a longer 'spoke radius', than usual and seem somewhat thinner but with a wider road surface – racing tires, perhaps. I will get specific construction-material information before planting.in them thanks to this video and the various comments. Thanks, Hew, and commenters!
Cover the tires with piled up hay or leaves to keep the tires cool. I have 3 MONSTER zucchini experiment plants growing together in a field out of ONE tire on wetlands. A large mature zucchini fruit is laying directly on the tire sidewall unaffected because the tire is buried in hay. The upper roots get air from the tire soil and taproots go down into the wetland soil, no need to water.
I live in hot climate, growing summer squash in them ,they are stacked 2 high and painted colors and placed in partial shade,I do NOT get squash bugs,they seem to not smell the plants.i experimented with growing in raised garden beds and had a infestation of sqush bugs but had no problems with bugs grown in the tirers. New Mexico, USA.
Cut the walls of the tire off on one side and then paint the tread side white. That should minimize exposure to any sunlight.
Wow, you really know what you're talking about and did your research. Thanks for sharing. Great job.
You don't need personal preference or a lot of these chemicals to get nasty diseases. Paint contains even more poisonous chemicals.
Rubber tyres contain:
Acetone
Aniline
Arsenic
Barium
Benzene (a known carcinogen)
Benzothiazole
Cadmium
Chloroethane
Chromium
Cobalt
Copper
Halogenated flame retardants
Isoprene
Latex
Lead
Manganese
Mercury
Methyl ethyl ketone
Methyl isobutyl ketone
Naphthalene
Nickel
Nylon
Phenol
Pigments
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), suspected as a carcinogen
Polyester
Rayon
Styrene‑butadiene (suspected as a carcinogen)
Toluene
Trichloroethylene
Zinc
Despite the fact that the EPA and Center for Disease Control have not found statistic links to health hazards from either intact tires or "crumb" products, studies are still underway and officials acknowledge that more data is required. The Mount Sinai Children's Environmental Health Center has noted that "Exposures to chemicals present in crumb rubber at very high levels, typical of animal or occupational studies, are known to cause birth defects, neurological and developmental deficits, and some can even cause cancer."
North Wales here – wonder if i should paint the tyres white… sometimes is hot, sometimes not 🙂
A Doctor once told me that even when one breaths, there is a chance that he can have side effect.
Tires are safe up until they begin to break down. My grandparents did it and we are all still alive .. it takes years for tires to breakdown
I m planning on getting bees but I have very clay soil that doesn't drain well. I will plant lilacs and other fragrant flowers in tires, but not edible food. The chances that there would be enough toxins in pollen that would get into honey isvery slim I think.
I live on a steep property in the north of New Zealand – clay soil, hot dry summers and windy wet winters. During the autumn I used tyres to retain a steep bank, filled them with rammed clay topped with some better quality top soil and mulched with chippings. I planted them with landscaping plants, used others as holding beds for strawberries and rhubarb, and also planted buttercup squash and courgettes. Everything grew abundantly, but the surprising thing was that I never needed to water once throughout 5 months of drought!
I grow my fruit trees and veggies in tyres they are fine I paint them to stop the sun cooking the roots. I'm in NZ
Love your videos I subscribed! Brilliant idea thanks for showing. You know i had same concern about chemical heavy metal leaching in soil issue. So happy you clarified. One option could be shady area or just using short term before leeching could occur? Thank you!
Tires in Alaska are working great salamat
Intact tires do not leach/release toxins that are literally bonded into the rubber. Only when the tire has been cut or burned and the bonded chemical exposed can it leach. Leaving a tire in the sunlight is NOT the same as burning. Again do not cut the upper side wall out nor use tires that have blown out and have slits or cuts. Only use intact tires with NO damage that can potentially expose the bonded chemicals to atmosphere where they can unbind and leach into soil. The U.S. EPA has conducted multiple experiments and have not found planting in intact tires to be a hazard.
why are all these videos on youtube of kids in there 20s and younger acting like experts about things our grand parents did when we were kids and if it were dangerous, they would have poisoned themselves, our parents and us from eating the vegetables they grew in their old tire beds.