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Possibly poisoned soil

cool_breezecool_breeze Posts: 6
edited June 2023 in The potting shed
Hi all,

It's with a tinge of sadness I post my first topic on this forum.

I have a suspicion a somewhat deranged neighbour has killed off at least 3 of the plants in my garden out of spite. He's dropped hints he might have used salt and/or root killer.

I have 2 questions:

  1. Is there somewhere in the UK I can send off a small sample of the soil to get it tested to see what contaminants might be in it?

  2. To save me digging out a ton of soil (and then having to dispose of it), would it work if I drenched the soil with water to try and flush away any contaminants, removed perhaps a 6 inch layer off the top and then added some fresh topsoil / compost before planting anything anew?
Below are some photos that show how the plants looked before and what's left now.

July 2021. Look at the plant between the door and right window next to the water butt:




I should have taken the next photo while the dead plant was still up, but I'd already cut it all down before I thought about taking a photo. Nevertheless, it can be seen, it's completely dead:

Edit: I managed to pull off a fuzzy image off the CCTV camera that shows how dead it is and how the other plants are doing just fine:




In the next image, look at the plant to the left of the composter:


And look at it now:
It looks half alive, half dead:

Any advice will be much appreciated.
I just wish I could have made my first post a more pleasant one 😒 

PS I just realised I posted this in the wrong category. Is there a way I can move it?
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Posts

  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    Somewhere like this;
    https://www.safesoil.co.uk/
  • cool_breezecool_breeze Posts: 6
    Slow-worm said:
    Somewhere like this;
    https://www.safesoil.co.uk/
    Thanks for the suggestion. Hmm, none of the tests seem to cover the commonly used root killer glyphosate and I couldn't see salt listed under any of the tests either.
    Not sure I'd want to spend that much money on a non-comprehensive test. 
    I'll drop them an email to see if they can do something. Thanks again for the suggestion.


  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    I googled it but the few sites I found were charging £250 - £400.
    Rutland, England
  • clematisdorsetclematisdorset Posts: 1,348
    I am so sorry to hear this. It looked like a healthy lovely plant before. Does anyone know if rain or water can dilute or lessen the impact of all weedkillers or salt. I would like to know because I think weedkiller is sometimes used nearby by certain types of people and if I was aware of this happening, I  could then water the area in my garden at the same time or after, if I was aware of it being applied near my garden boundary. Or does water have the potential to spread the poison?
    Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus 
  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
    Did your neighbour come onto your property to do this spiteful thing?

    Glysophate in the soil should break down after a while but I've read that you can speed the process up by adding organic matter which will encourage the micro organisms it needs to break down.  

    If they used salt and just chucked it at the plant, that would kill the plant but the soil should be OK, however if they watered the soil with salt it could take a longer time for it to wash through.  I would think that here, if you added organic matter to salty soil, the salt will kill the micro organisms, so it really would be worth finding out which contaminant was used.

    But it beggars belief that anyone would do this to their neighbour's plants.
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    Does gypsum work for salt?

    I only mention it and my SIL added gypsum to his clay soil as he thought it would help break the clay down.

    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • cool_breezecool_breeze Posts: 6
    edited June 2023
    didyw said:
    Did your neighbour come onto your property to do this spiteful thing?
    They would have had to as the damage is localised to specific plants. Unfortunately, by the time I spotted the damage, there's no CCTV footage that goes back far enough to catch him in the act.
    Glysophate in the soil should break down after a while but I've read that you can speed the process up by adding organic matter which will encourage the micro organisms it needs to break down.  
    That's good to know. I drenched the soil with water yesterday then have piled on all the blanket weed I pulled out of the pond on top. Will soak it some more tonight to let all that organic goodness drain into the soil.
    If they used salt and just chucked it at the plant, that would kill the plant but the soil should be OK, however if they watered the soil with salt it could take a longer time for it to wash through. 
    It's more likely to be the latter. I didn't see any salt lying on the soil around the plant.
    I would think that here, if you added organic matter to salty soil, the salt will kill the micro organisms, so it really would be worth finding out which contaminant was used.
    Hopefully the soaking I'm giving it will help. Time will tell.
    But it beggars belief that anyone would do this to their neighbour's plants.
    Unfortunately, he is really petty like that. I've been nothing but nice to the whole family the 20 odd years we've been here.

    It all seems to have gone downhill since the one time I politely asked his daughter's boyfriend to not block the shared drive with his car when he visits.
    Ever since then they're always doing these little passive aggressive things. e.g. letting some shrubs in the shared drive grow out too much where they start scratching my car. When I've asked them to trim them back, his wife goes "well you shouldn't drive such a big car then". At the time we were driving an Auris I believe (which is just a small family car).

    I built a brick outbuilding at the back of my garden about 10 years ago (the one that can be seen in the pic above). I let him have my old 10'x10' wooden shed that the outbuilding replaced.

    Within a few months he'd planted two conifers, one just over a meter away and the other less than a meter away from that. I respect that he's free to do what he's like in his own garden, but I'm pretty sure the law says you can't do anything that a) could cause damage to a neighbours property and b) block their enjoyment of sunlight in their home.

    Given that these can easily grow to about 200ft tall, I've been worried about a) the roots damaging the foundations of my outbuilding and b) the trees eventually blocking the sunlight that currently reaches our dining room and garden in the evenings.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    The plant that was by the door (in a pot) looks like a hebe and a lot of people have lost them this last winter due to the early hard cold snap, and a plant in a pot would have been more vulnerable, so the neighbour might not be responsible for that one (although they might). I can't tell what your other affected plants were though. It does seem odd that a vindictive neighbour would target only a few plants.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • cool_breezecool_breeze Posts: 6
    JennyJ said:
    The plant that was by the door (in a pot) looks like a hebe and a lot of people have lost them this last winter due to the early hard cold snap,
    That's exactly what the guy in the garden centre said. So I came home and was looking up frost damage, but didn't come across anything that described the whole plant just suddenly going all brittle. Do you know if the whole plant just dies completely like that?
    and a plant in a pot would have been more vulnerable, so the neighbour might not be responsible for that one (although they might). I can't tell what your other affected plants were though. It does seem odd that a vindictive neighbour would target only a few plants.

    I am keeping an open mind. Life will certainly be simpler if there's an altogether more innocent explanation 😀
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I suppose you could plant something there that doesn’t matter much to you and see if it dies,   Maybe it’s just suffered from heat and drought. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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