What is plant tissue analysis? Is it a helpful tool to identify toxic elements in plants?
1) Plant tissue analysis is the process of analyzing an ash sample from a plant in order to determine if the plant is getting the proper nutrients during it’s growth or that phase of it. Though it can be used for other things, it generally isn’t used to find toxins. There are other tests for that and they involve testing the soil, not the plant. 2) General construction will not be an automatic assumption of contamination. Avoid planting near (or using in your garden area) pressure treated or preserved lumber as the materials that keep it from rotting is CCA (chromated copper arsenate). These are poisons and heavy metals and work threw their being toxic; they will leach into the soil solution and contaminate plants. Avoid areas where freshly painted wood surfaces would shed their rain runoff into food planting beds. Power blasting/ cleaning/ washing solutions (industrial house siding cleaners and the like) should be looked at on a case by case basis to determine what products are used a
