Toxic Rain in North Carolina????

Ok, many here don't know me but I will give my credentials as follows. Biology/Chemistry double major, I started but did not complete my Masters in Chem. I suppose P Chem took me down a notch, I went to work. I now work collecting air pollution data with a state nearby that I guess it would be best to remain unamed just so I am able to keep my job. First, Acid rain pollution has been, at least prior to the recent uptick in volcanic activity, going way down. Granted I do have some recent data I have NOT studied which I obviously need to soon concerning our regional acid rain reports. Second, my experience with gardening as a side hobby, I have seen those spots that look eaten in similar fashion with japenese beetltes but the white spots are fungi like in appearance.

Mainly I want to point out, any kind of real stress to the plants will make them vulnerable to fungi and bacteria. Logic would dictate that with the gulf oil and the volcanic activity, there could be what we call a soup of chemicals that are of unknown quantities being mixed up and dispersed to some locations on land. IF that is happening the plants will succumb to anything in the neighborhood that is an opportunist like fungi and bacteria.
Collection of rainwater is imperitive in getting to the bottom of this. You should always contact the local health department to let them know and seek a way to get some water both collected and tested by a chemist or other scientist in the field. It is likely a one time event however, or let us all hope.

I live in Minnesota. This last storm that came threw was part of a line of storms that stretched across the US from south to north. Our rain smelled of methane...it was the first time I have ever smelled this kind of foul rain...makes me wonder if the gasses and chemicals from the gulf are carrying in the clouds????

Originally posted by Guzzeppi

Originally posted by Gouzze
Circular black spots 1/4 inch in diameter appear on upper leaf surfaces. Each black spot has a feathery margin and is surrounded by a yellow halo. As the spots enlarge and coalesce, the entire leaf turns yellow and falls from the plant. Purplish or brownish spots and streaks may appear on canes. The picture i saw on the net was the same as yours and it says it is a fungus

I have to agree, it's bacterial.

Here is another link with some more info as well.

www.planetnatural.com...

You are not really agreeing. He said fungus. You said bacteria. They are most certainly not the same. A bacterium is unicellular. Fungi, except yeasts, are multicellular. Bacteria reproduce by binary fission, where one cell divides into 2. Only the yeasts, among fungi, do so. Most fungi reproduce by either sexual or asexual sporing or fragmentation. The cell walls of the two organisms are strikingly different, and the fungus is nucleated and has organelles while the bacterium is ribosomatic and plasmidic.

Much more local source...

www.independentmail.com...

"The train, en route from Atlanta to Linwood, N.C., derailed Thursday night in Liberty. Twenty-four of the train’s 97 cars derailed.

More than 400 homes were evacuated then, as officials worried about chemical spills, and a second evacuation was ordered Friday. Those evacuation orders were lifted Saturday.

Among the chemicals that officials have been concerned about are chemicals used in rubbing alcohol and antifreeze. Another chemical, toluene diisocyanate, which is used to make polyurethanes, was in one of the tanker cars. Officials ordered the second evacuation when they had to move that tanker car."

reply to post by boondock-saint

Not sure if this was mentioned...

You might want to get some litmus paper just for a easy do it yourself check for acid rain. healthtreasures.com_ph-test-water

Pure rain should have a ph of 5.6 healthtreasures.com

For some reason your pics in the OP don't show up for me.

Peace

edit - never mind, pics show up now.

[edit on 20-6-2010 by FearNoEvil]

Well, I have a document titled "Chemtrails". It's a course that was done at the USAF Academy and it has an entire section dedicated to "acid rain".

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/327a4927ad42.jpg[/atsimg]

Nice work in documenting this. Scary!


[edit on 20-6-2010 by OurskiesRpoisoned]

reply to post by ElectricUniverse


He never said oil didn't evaporate, he said oil evaporates at a different temperature to water.

Which is pretty much what the paper you linked to discusses.

What it doesn't discuss though, is the link between acid rain and oil.

From my understanding, acid rain is caused by oil and other fossil fuels being burned, releasing sulfer dioxide.

Now, how much of that oil is currently burning? And would it really contribute much more to the millions of tonnes of fossil fuels already being burned every day?

Ok a little logic here ( at least MY logic). First off, if this were in connection to the GOM, wouldn’t you expect that people would be reporting in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina too? There has been a lot of rain lately in all these states so you’d expect at least anecdotal accounts of it. From the first two pages of this thread (admittedly, I didn’t read further than that):

Mississippi – no one has responded with anecdotal evidence from Miss.

Alabama – no one has responded with anecdotal evidence but I called my sister (for what it’s worth) who lives in Alabama and she has not seen anything wrong with plants in here area.

Georgia: - Not noticed in Georgia

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
reply to post by HunkaHunka

I have this urge to get a flashlight and go check my plants...we've been having some really odd HEAVY sudden rains here in Atlanta.

South Carolina: – Not seen in South Carolina either (my beautiful state)

Originally posted by PayMeh
Coming from anyone else I'd take this with a grain of salt. I'm in the neighbor state below you. I will definitely keep a closer eye on the rains around here. I have also felt something is not quite right in the rains lately. Even small uneventful storms put me on a heightened alert. Thank you for bringing this up.

Originally posted by Redwookieaz
UH...oh....I'm gonna have to look myself! I'm in Charleston right below you! I'm gonna have a good look in the morning. It rained today and yesterday here. That's the first rain in over a week and a half but that doesn't look good. Thanks for the heads up! S&F.

And…. ME. I’ve not seen any evidence at all that anything is wrong with the rain. So, the rain in SC is fine.

North Carolina: – other North Carolinians aren’t seeing it either.

Originally posted by Nosred
reply to post by boondock-saint

 

That's very strange. I too live in NC but I haven't noticed anything like that. I guess it's possible that the oil spill is affecting us but I live on the coast so you would think I would have noticed something like this before you if it was the oil. Chemtrails? Maybe.

Originally posted by Tunatarian
I'm about an hour north of the OP. I can't speculate as to the cause and I havn't noticed anything like this at my house. I've got tomatoes, squash, zuccini, and peppers. Maybe it's fairly localized. Keep us informed Boondock. Maybe it hasn't quite reached me yet.

Now, on to other logic falicies (according to MY logic ):

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
If it is from the gulf it would necessarily have to land everywhere.

But wouldn’t it have to land SOMEWHERE other than OP’s yard??

Also, if it were due to GOM chemicals/toxins in the rain, wouldn’t you expect it to be on ALL the plants to some degree? OP intimates that it’s only on a few plants. In fact, he has to hunt for the ones infected (which is what I think this is… an INFECTION):

Originally posted by boondock-saint
I can go back and find the leaves, however I wanted
to leave them there long enough to see if they too
indeed burn holes into the ones that were yellow today.
I hope I can find them again. There's a lot of bushes
to sort through for 1 person.

”There’s a lot of bushes to sorth through..” to find the ones that have been affected by something that would have affected everything it touches???

Additionally, in the pics provided by OP (thanks OP), THE PEACHES RIGHT NEXT TO THE AFFECTED LEAVES ARE NOT TOUCHED.

Surely, this is not associated with GOM chemicals but is simply a fungus.

Here is a video that was on the new 19 days ago stating that crops are dying:

News Video Link

My father said that the OPs pics is a fine example of "acid rain". He said that it looks like people could also mistaken it for a plant that receives to much sunlight. Those pictures however, are blatantly obvious; acid rain.

EDIT: Just to remind all those people out there that are not familiar with the hydrological cycle, here is a picture to help explain it: Hydrological Cycle (water cycle)

Its beyond obvious.

[edit on 20/6/2010 by the_denv]

reply to post by OurskiesRpoisoned


Oh no a chemistry book that has a chapter on acid rain.



Glad to see you love to embrace ignorance.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 20/6/10 by Chadwickus]

reply to post by FearNoEvil


No need to waste your money or time on litmus paper tests, it will be less than pH 5.60 no doubt. We are averaging about 5.00, which is no where near as bad as 4.5 but clearly acidic rain has been that way as long as the studies have been conducted. It might be with the constant belching of volcano's we have always had acid type rain. It was likely a lot worse in the 18 and 1900's as more coal was used "unscrubbed" than ever in recent history during those two century's. Modern technology virtually eliminates the more sever emmissions of SO2 and the data is trending towards a more balanced pH. When Volcanic activity increases we do see more acid rain no matter the pollution prevention techniques of modern man.

The train derailment story has merit when you consider the alcohol is extremely volatile and would be readily absorbed in the atmosphere then redistributed. That would give a concentrated rainfall somewhere. It would take modeling of the pollution verses the actual weather to confirm that possibility. This type of model, plotting data after the fact, works way better than prediction models on future data that does not exist and may not ever. Hindsight is 20/20! Either way a scientific study is warrented in this case.

Don't know if this has been introduced yet, but this is Botrytis Blight - a type of fungus. I did not link to any fact shets as I would like you to Google it, look at the pics and the associated fact sheets and decide for yourself.

Boondock, you know full well that I ALWAYS have your back, but this time I disagree. I'm NOT saying that this isn't from the oil spill, or something else. But the pics look genuinely like Botrytis Blight to me. What do you all think?

I am going to ask my brother today about these pictures, he is a horticulturist and knows more about this subject than I do.

I have been looking at some of the pictures the previous poster linked regarding Botrytis Blight and although it could be a fungal infection, it lacks the white spots. Those white spots on the original photos is just to obvious that they are rain drop stains.

Well, I am no scientist or horticulturist, but they really do look like rain drop stains.

I,we seen some parasite-attacks and plant-illnesses,
but this looked allmost acidic:S

reply to post by boondock-saint


Hi BDS! I haven't read all the replies and I'm sure some have hit on the possibilities. I'm a former Rutgers certified master gardener. No, I haven't been "defrocked" I just don't garden any longer. All of the photos show signs of varied plant diseases and insect damage. The tomatoes look to have early blight or something along those lines. Very common. And there are other photos that look like black spot, powdery mildew, leaf miner damage, Japanese Beetles and so on. Some plants might have multiple things going on. The bout of rainy weather and the subsequent high humidity has put all of these natural occurrences in high gear. And thus you've noticed the advanced signs all at once. Check with your county agricultural extension agent or a local garden center for help if you want to treat those. Here's a link:

North Carolina Cooperative Extension

There are rather benign treatments available but they are dependent on how much time and effort you want to invest in the appearance of the plant for this season or the fruit harvest. Fast action is important in treating all of this.

reply to post by boondock-saint


In Fayetteville out on River road there is a Carghill Grainery that often stinks up the air. The turkey farm/processing center in Raefford also stinks a lot (? air polution), there is that food processing plant on 87 on the way to Wilminton, it often stinks. Thre are plenty of food/ Grain and textile mills in NC any of them could be polluting the air and the rain just takes it out of aerosol supension (in the air) and attaches to the water molecules (hydrophyllic). There may have been a Hazmat incident that didnt make into the papers (I've seen Hazmat carriers on the back roads in NC). I've seen this kind of "blight" in my flower garden in the past and in my lawn...I'll be back from overseas soon I wonder what will be left of my flower garden.

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


I appreciate that, but have you ever seen it rain across the street and the sun is shining on your side, I imagine that it can be like that and not necessarily come down in every section.

God I wish I could talk, lol, I can't think this morning,

I have to ask, has anyone else been feeling sorta out of it, a little light headed, I spoke to several people having the same feelings.

reply to post by Hemisphere



Thank you Hemi, it is good to know those facts.

Appears to be some sort of fungus.
Im no farmer, or botanist, but Ive grown a few....[snip]...plants in my lifetime, and have seen something similiar to this.

Hows the humidity been in those parts?


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[edit on Sun Jun 20 2010 by DontTreadOnMe]

My dear friends. Any problem you are having pass the Mason Dixon line is NOT from the oil volcano.

I watched rain all afternoon and I smelled nothing but clean rain and there was no residue of any kind on my garden plants.

There are fungus, bacteria and insects that can devastate a garden almost over night.

I just sprayed my tomato and bell pepper plants with neem oil because I have a fungus and a nasty looking bug eating my plants.

If any area were to get effects from the gulf it would be me. I am within 200 miles of the disaster and our wind comes from the west to the east where I am.

Calm down, the sky is not falling.................yet.

I do expect some problems but it is still early for my area.

Considering a trip down interstate 10 as it runs by the gulf and see with my own eyes what is happening.

I just realized we are less than two hundred miles from the oil since it is now in the Florida panhandle.

Please, facts only when reporting events concerning the oil problem. If I believed every post concerning this issue I would already be on my way out of here.

I weep for my friends that are already touched by this diabolical event.

Please, families that are forced to move contact me. I Just cleared out several acres of land. It's rough camping but there is a fresh water pond and I can quickly put a pump in the well by the pond.

I have a huge smoker and several other grills that I will be more than happy to help you feed yourself with.

People here are friendly and will donate much food. And, so far the fishing and shrimping is still good here.

Peace and love to you all. My soul is in mourning as I try to make sense of what good might come out of this disaster.

Edit to add the camping and water are free. It's what I can do for my fellow humans.

[edit on 20-6-2010 by dizziedame]