Rhizofiltration and Rhizodegradation – Helping Nature Do His Thing part 3

10/25/20 • 12 min

Rhizofiltration and Rhizodegradation – Helping Nature Do His Thing part 3 – JP035

From PNW, to South Korea, from Silver Spring to Charlotte we discuss these two different techniques for cleaning and building healthy black soils!

Works Referenced

Asante Sana ߊߛߊ߲ߕߌ ߛߣߊ
Medase Paa ߡߍߘߊߛߋ ߔߊ
Modupe O ߡߏߘߎߔߋ ߏ
Thank you for listening to
Jìgìjìgì ߖߜ߭ߌ߬ߖߜ߭ߌ߬

Transcript (automated)

Peace,

I am Mason Olonade and this is Jìgìjìgì: Africulture Podcast. Here we believe building a healthy soil builds a healthy soul, so we share strategies for how to do both. To do both we ask two questions: How do you grow while you grow Kale, Collards, Tomatoes, and Melons. And why, do you think, the healthiest soils are Black?

Rhizofiltration and Rhizodegradation – Helping Nature Do His Thing part 3

Rhizofiltration is when contaminants are bound to the surface, or immobilized within the Root tissue by chemical action, usually precipitated or mineralized as a salt.

Rhizodegradation happens within the rhizosphere, or root zone, of the topsoil structure. Bacteria, yeasts, and fungi transform contaminants into basic phytochemicals. Rhizodegradation by fungi is called mycoremediation.

I first came upon these concepts, and rhizodegradation especially, as many others have, by learning about Paul Stamets. Specifically his experiment discussed in the documentary Mushrooms as Planetary Healers.

Excerpt from video

Of course you remember the free masters thesis project I gave you all in episode 33. In that experiment we discussed the Papyrus removing the levonorgestrel out of the water by phytoextraction, but as the paper also states “Additionally, mineralization on root zone epidermis played an important role in the reduction of LNG in water.” That is rhizofiltration in one sentence.

In the same way that the Oyster mushrooms Paul Stamets described can break down polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can also be the case for various pharmaceuticals. To prove that hypothesis, that plants can indeed filter water for pharmaceutical compounds and return either non-toxic phytochemicals or basic molecular compounds, the rhizofiltration and phytoextraction would have to be proven, followed by a rhizodegradation of the human-digested compounds. These compounds would all have to be isolated, quantified and assayed for their supposed non-toxicity of course, but if you choose the right lab, buying the kits to perform the tests for you is no problem! Even better, with the even better lab, they’ll have equipment to perform the experiment, and do the analysis for you!

As the plants live and die the fungi will be busy colonizing the substrate and gathering taste information of its new food present on the plant roots and within the decomposing structures. Once they have acclimated their tastebuds they will begin transforming these compounds into the phyto-hormones and other basic, non-toxic chemicals. At this point the subtrate and bioremediation apparatus will start contributing to the environment as a whole, functioning as a cleansing island in the middle of a stream, much in the way that Stamets described with his oyster oil mound.

Let’s discuss three other plants that y...

Rhizofiltration and Rhizodegradation – Helping Nature Do His Thing part 3 – JP035

From PNW, to South Korea, from Silver Spring to Charlotte we discuss these two different techniques for cleaning and building healthy black soils!

Works Referenced

Asante Sana ߊߛߊ߲ߕߌ ߛߣߊ
Medase Paa ߡߍߘߊߛߋ ߔߊ
Modupe O ߡߏߘߎߔߋ ߏ
Thank you for listening to
Jìgìjìgì ߖߜ߭ߌ߬ߖߜ߭ߌ߬

Transcript (automated)

Peace,

Rhizofiltration and Rhizodegradation – Helping Nature Do His Thing part 3

Rhizofiltration is when contaminants are bound to the surface, or immobilized within the Root tissue by chemical action, usually precipitated or mineralized as a salt.

Excerpt from video

Let’s discuss three other plants that y...

Previous Episode

Bioextraction/Phytostabilization – Helping Nature Do Her Thing Part 2

Fascinating experiments in Nigeria change our plans for growing lead out of the soil. Enjoy!

Works Referenced

Asante Sana ߊߛߊ߲ߕߌ ߛߣߊ
Medase Paa ߡߍߘߊߛߋ ߔߊ
Modupe O ߡߏߘߎߔߋ ߏ
Thank you for listening to
Jìgìjìgì ߖߜ߭ߌ߬ߖߜ߭ߌ߬

Transcript (automated)

Peace,

Bioextraction and Phytostablization – Helping Nature Do Her Thing, Part 2

Just as plants move nutrients from the soil through roots to shoots, tubers, leaves, and seeds, so it goes for pollutants.

Before I continue with this episode I must emphasize the importance of soil testing. When Mandela and I grew down at Nu Ray Research Garden we learned that approximately 1/4th of the land was contaminated with high levels of lead.

It wouldn’t be a big problem for us because we are healthy and young, but for children and older folks it is not advised to consume anything that grows in a lead contaminated soil.

So what do you do with the soil you have, that may be contaminated or polluted? Like most answers to most questions, it depends. In the Master Gardener class I took the instructor told us that a particular place in DC was previously a military dumping ground, and so, the school had to get the soil excavated and replaced because of the arsenic contamination.

This may be an outlying example but in our case, the lead came from house paint illegally dumped during a housing renovation. These contaminants don’t go anywhere, unlike nutrients that can be leached away, contaminants leach within the soil, within our bodies, unless we do something about them.

If we had the time to experiment with our contaminated soil I would absolutely try my Black Thumbs at phytoremediation and growing the lead out of the soil.

My original plan would be to utilize the phytoextractive properties of plants and the chelant EDTA or Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. The EDTA, in solution with water will alter the chemistry of the soil and of the lead polluted therein to maximize the plants extraction potential.

Think of EDTA’s extraction assistance like using soap to clean a greasy dish. The soap doesn’t break up the grease but what it does is break is the surface tension of water. Breaking the surface tension changes the way water interacts, chemically, with lipids and fatty acids. Water no longer is slippery and fat no longer floats. Soap makes water an incredibly destructive force and allows it to shear the grease into smaller and smaller droplets that can be rinsed away.
EDTA works similarly. It solubilizes the lead into solution, much like salt or sugar into hot water. From this the EDTA-Lead solution will be phytoextracted from the soil into the plant.

At this stage we deepen our “depends.” Meaning, depending on the specific plant chosen, the lead may go to a different place within that plant. Each of these locations further deepens the depends, especially if greater concentrations are stored in the roots.

In that case...

Next Episode

Bioremediation Wrap Up: Helping Nature Do The Damn Thing part 4

Bioremediation Wrap Up: Helping Nature Do The Damn Thing Part 4

In our final episode in the series of Bioremediation, we finally express the reasons why we shared this information and reviewed the overall point of these practices.

Works referenced

Asante Sana ߊߛߊ߲ߕߌ ߛߣߊ
Medase Paa ߡߍߘߊߛߋ ߔߊ
Modupe O ߡߏߘߎߔߋ ߏ
Thank you for listening to
Jìgìjìgì ߖߜ߭ߌ߬ߖߜ߭ߌ߬

Transcript (automated)

Peace,

Bioremediation Wrap Up: Helping Nature do the Damn Thing

In producing these episodes I’ve learned a lot and I hope you have too. It may not have been the clearest, I’m known to be a lil obtuse, so I just want to summarize some of the points.

We discussed some ways to clean our soils and build our soils at the same time. Why is this important? Why here?

Our communities, our lands, especially in suburban and doubly so in our urban environments will be among the most affected by pollution. As we mentioned before, where Mandela and I were growing near Howard University had been a previous spot where people cut corners and dumped lead pain chips into someone else’s backyard with no repercussions. Although I have no evidence for this, I am likely to believe that this has happened quite often in our communities.

Figuring out ways for us to be able to extract, sequester, or release these toxins from our soil is just as important as using the vegetables we grow to rid the toxins from within our bodies. Figuring out ways to do this with the least expenses incurred is also necessary for our community. We’ve shown studies that demonstrate certain composts can become chelators and transform the chemistry of these toxins, facilitating better uptake by your plants while improving the structure and health of the soil at the same time!

The caveat is that bioremediation takes time! It takes an entire season for Sunflowers to grow and accumulate enough biomass to store this lead in its tissue after removing it from the soils. Generally lead is stored in the more aerial parts of the plant, so as we discussed before, taking the grown sunflower to the municipal dump is one of the ways to extract the lead from your soils.

As we continue our conversations about urban agriculture, sustainability, regeneration, food policy and food justice, it is also our responsibility to grow clean soils in order to grow healthy soils.

I was very pleased to know that there is established and highly scientific literature out about building mycoremediation reactors. Although the presentation that we’re highlighting doesn’t go into detail about the construction of the myco-reactors, my understanding of the talk leads me to believe that they are constructed quite similarly to what I described in the episodes Rhizofiltration and Remediation, and Shrooms? In My buckets?

Since moving here to Charlotte we’ve collected many different species of fungi that we’ve added to our myco-reactors like Blewits, Blue Milkys, and other mushrooms we’ve never seen before. Per...