Planting veg where domestic oil tank used to be?

B

babydays

Registered User
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We have a small vegetable plot to the side of our garden where we grew potatoes, courgettes and lettuce last year.

We wanted to expand it by 3 meters this year but just realised that the old oil tank used to stand on that area. I think it leaked a bit and certainly when it was being removed there were leakages. It was taken away about 2 years ago (maybe just 18 mths).

Does that mean we shouldn't cultivate there? Were hoping to do potatoes there? There's no visible residue but I wonder what it would have done to the area long term as the tank would have been there decades.
 
I don't know if there really are dangers , but its not a nice thought as you sit down to a dinner if new potatoes . Why not dig out the top soil around where the outlet was and spread it under some shrubs . Then level up yout veg plot .
pjq
 
I seem to remember a company advertising a product some time ago (on Irish radio) that was designed to clean up domestic heating oil spills. The product was some kind of organism (bacteria?) that ingested the oil and broke it down. I'm sure if you google this you may find out more info. Otherwise I'd be inclined to regard the area as being "contaminated".
 
A bacteria that ingests oil and breaks it down?

Surely the Oil states have killed that one off!
 
Welfarite said:
A bacteria that ingests oil and breaks it down?

Surely the Oil states have killed that one off!
Click to expand...

Try this [broken link removed] it's actually a "microbe" and does indeed ingest and break down the oil....................
 
Amazing stuff! The "save the planet" microbe! I hereby nominate them for a Nobel prize!
 
Imagine if the bug escapes into a pertol station , Ballygowan for less than 98.9c a litre!
pjq
 
Sounds good pjq! A new get rich quick formula?!

Might just have to give the area a miss - what a pity it was in a real dead-end zone of the garden but perfect for veg! Will have to colonate some other area - maybe the neighbours' garden...
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by babydays
Will have to colonate some other area

Pooh!
Click to expand...
Colon-aid , cow-poooh might be the answer , you will have the whitest perfect skin new potatoes if you use plenty of cow dung , lime in the soil causes harmless potatoe-scab .
When you think of all the vasaline that gets into our system ( chapped lips ... and when we were young !!) The contamination is probably more a psychological than a health issue . Another possibility might be to grow something very greedy for a year to soak up any traces of oil , nettles?
pjq
PS Of the above ;dung & scab is science , but the rest is not
 
I would not recommend it, or at least have the soil analysed for hydrocarbons and heavy metal content. You'd need to contact a lab that takes environmental samples. Or as someone else suggested, dig up the spot and replace the soil.
 
"Microclean", sounds like a liquid detergent which is afaik the only substance which dissolves oil. If the spillage is slight you could disperse the oil by neutralising it and washing it deeper than your planting-level with a few buckets-full of hot soapy water. The soil isn't likely to be in good heart if its been covered by a tank for years and might benefit from being restored to fertility by a nitrogen-fixing crop for the first year (any of the 'green manure' plants such as clover, legumes or buckwheat are good) or dig in a good quantity of manure as previous posters suggest.
 
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