Soap nuts?

Ah, the intricacies of the Web! I was looking for info on the uptake of lead in bramble fruits and came up with soap nuts.

Does anyone know anything about soapnuts? They are a plant with a berry that can be used for soap. They are of the Sapindus genus.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapindus

Soap Nuts Pro (a commercial site): http://www.soapnuts.pro/?gclid=COXNgenCgZ8CFQxbagodt0u5aQ

Sue

What about the uptake of lead in fruits and vegetables ? What did you learn? This has interested me, especially since we started our garden.

From what I have learned, most of the lead in food comes from two sources, old paint peeling off old buildings, and soil within several feet of roads where many years of leaded gasoline has contaminated the soil.

If you suspect lead, contact your Cooperative Extension Service [find yours here: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/] and ask who tests soil for that, and then call the lab and ask how to collect a soil sample properly.

If you have young children (esp under 8), the lead should be less than 100 parts per million (ppm). For adults, anything less than 300 ppm should be okay unless you've got a family member that eats soil with a spoon. Over 300 ppm (or 100 ppm for children), you'll need to take a bit more care.

Leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, kale, etc, take up the most lead of all plants. Depending on your soil lead levels, you may want to grow these as far from the contaminated sites as you can, or in tubs or barrels or raised beds, all filled with clean soil.

Root crops are contaminated by the soil that clings to the outside of their roots, so you should peel them and wash them thoroughly. They apparently don't absorb lead.

Other crops like squashes, melons, corn, tomatoes, beans, peas, tree fruits and shrub fruits (raspberries, blackberries, etc) just don't take up much lead. The biggest danger with them even in areas of soil with lead is the dust on them, so just wash them thoroughly before eating (no grazing).

Lead likes acid soils, so adding lime to raise the pH to 6.5 or 7 (no higher) will make the plants unable to absorb the lead. Good phosphorus levels in the soil will help to do the same thing, as will organic matter that isn’t acidic. Oak leaves and peat moss are usually acidic, so try to avoid those as mulches or compost.

And that seems to be it. It really isn't as bad as I had thought. The worst lead toxicity with children seems to be the hand-to-mouth contamination, or eating dirt (pica).

Sue

Thanks for the info! I am going to have the soil in my garden tested just in case.

Huh ... I thought this was going to be a thread about soap operas.

Happy New Year!!!

Trust me, Ken -- I am the absolutely DEAD LAST person that would start a post, contribute to a post or even open a post about soap operas!

Sue

The best one was on Carol Burnett: "As the Stomach Turns."

I remember the Soap soap opera. It was pretty nuts.

edit
Anyhow, those plants don't seem to grow very far north.
What about other saponin carrying plants like Horse Chestnut(Aesculus hippocastanum) or Bouncing Bet(Saponaria officinalis)

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SAPIN

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SASAD

I'm not a soap watcher either. Ugh.

Not to hijack this thread, but the absolute funniest thing I remember about the Carol Burnett show was a skit they did related to Gone with the Wind, and for some reason she (as Scarlet) comes down the stairs wearing a curtains as a dress with the curtain rod still attached across her shoulders. VERY funny.

I also liked Tim Conway a lot too - especially his Mrs. Hwiggins skits.