Neighbours Tilling Plastic Bags (with compost) into Soil

[yesok]

Has anyone ever seen this? The ricefield which neighbours my farm and home brought his farm truck in yesterday and started dumping the mushroom compost over this farm. The thing that completely boggles me is that he will not remove the compost from the bags and will proceed to till the compost WITH the plastic bags into his soil. I have seen this practice done on a few farms now. 

 

What kind of effect does this have on the soil? I can't find any information on large plastic dumps on soil health, is there anything I need be worried about for my farm 1 meter away? This seems so absurdly stupid. 

 

I will try to post a picture today. 

[tonray]

The good news is that if this is non-biodradeable platsic...not much will break down and contaminate the soil...the bad news is not much will break down and the soil will be full of plastic for decades to come, affecting wildlife

[4MyEgo]

23 minutes ago, yesok said:

The thing that completely boggles me is that he will not remove the compost from the bags and will proceed to till the compost WITH the plastic bags into his soil

If the compost bags are biodegradable, all and good, best you look into that, if they are not biodegradable, they will just stay in the soil for many years to come, Thai's don't usually give a rats a$$, but if the compost company is going biodegradable, good for them.

[IsaanAussie]

I am looking forward to seeing those pictures. Especially what implements he uses to incorporate bags and compost. Compost by the bag is a very expensive way to do it on a farm. The guy is hardly the sharpest pencil in the box. 

As far as it effecting a neighbours land, little chance of any problem other than shreds of plastic blowing around. 

I have a large concrete mixer that uses a bag of cement per load. The locals just chuck a full bag in and let the process rip the bag open and then pull it out. They say it saves a lot of effort and spillage. This is Thailand (TIT)!

[djayz]

Had/Have a similar problem with the land we bought. The previous owner just ploughed the drip line back into the ground before selling the land... he simply couldn't be bothered to role it up and dispose of it in a better way. 3 years later and I'm still finding bits and pieces of it every time I do something with the land. 

 

Ignorance is bliss

Edited February 26, 2020 by djayz

[yesok]

9 hours ago, IsaanAussie said:

I am looking forward to seeing those pictures. Especially what implements he uses to incorporate bags and compost. Compost by the bag is a very expensive way to do it on a farm. The guy is hardly the sharpest pencil in the box. 

As far as it effecting a neighbours land, little chance of any problem other than shreds of plastic blowing around. 

I have a large concrete mixer that uses a bag of cement per load. The locals just chuck a full bag in and let the process rip the bag open and then pull it out. They say it saves a lot of effort and spillage. This is Thailand (TIT)!

They're from a local mushroom farm, definitely not bio-degradable, gave them a feel while I took pictures and the plastic feels very thick. 

[IsaanAussie]

OK I though these were actually compost, but they are used mushroom fruiting bags and probably close to a solid lump about 6" in diameter. Now you really got me interesting in seeing how they will be incorporated in the soil (even without the bags). 

For me, strip off the bag and hammermill the "lump" and corporate that into compost heaps before spreading as shown. As they are, the only thing they have going for them is they are free. 

[CLW]

Terrible. You can't fix stupid. Can't say this more often.

 

Labour is cheap here, they are just too f* lazy. 

 

Actually, this should be reported to the local authorities as improper garbage disposal. 

[IsaanAussie]

2 hours ago, CLW said:

Terrible. You can't fix stupid. Can't say this more often.

 

Labour is cheap here, they are just too f* lazy. 

 

Actually, this should be reported to the local authorities as improper garbage disposal. 

Agree but they are not garbage. They are a valuable source of plant available nutrients but not an solution by themselves. I have never seen vegetables growing in pure mushroom substrate or mushrooms with more then a capping or fruiting layer of compost or soil. Please teach me more. The closest I have seen is using straw bales but dependant on the correct type of mushroom and a different nutrient balance.

[Grumpy John]

Not familiar with this method.  Maybe they go over it with the rotovator to break it up.  Would be easier to buy sugar cane waste which is easier to spread.

[CLW]

On 2/27/2020 at 2:29 PM, IsaanAussie said:

Agree but they are not garbage. They are a valuable source of plant available nutrients but not an solution by themselves. I have never seen vegetables growing in pure mushroom substrate or mushrooms with more then a capping or fruiting layer of compost or soil. Please teach me more. The closest I have seen is using straw bales but dependant on the correct type of mushroom and a different nutrient balance.

Sorry I was only referring to the plastic bags as garbage.

[khwaibah]

On 2/26/2020 at 6:24 PM, yesok said:

They're from a local mushroom farm, definitely not bio-degradable, gave them a feel while I took pictures and the plastic feels very thick. 

I see this done all the time. For that matter my fl does it. They  put out their bag with what ever then when time comes they will go back empty the bag and pick up the bag for disposal. They do not till it into the ground.

[IsaanAussie]

I would rather cut the bag open with a knife. Trying to get the PE "shrink wrap" off the rotary blades would be a nightmare.