Canadian Industrial Hemp Council Help from Hemp CIHC newsletter, Vol 1, Summer 1997 -a contribution from Sasha Prytyk contact: Jerzy Prytyk hempco@interlinx.qc.ca

Hemp and Potatoes: perfect companions?

It is possible that hemp may be able to help farmers control the devastating Colorado Potato Beetle (CPB). Researchers in the Tamapol region ofthe Ukraine found that when hemp was grown around a potato plot, the potatoplants nearest the hemp plants were free from CPB infestation, whereas the othersbecame heavily infested. When flowering hemp plants were torn up and waved overinfested potato plants, the beetles fell to the ground paralyzed. When a decoction of hemp plants prepared by boiling them in water was applied to infested potato, no living beetles remained after 45 minutes. A similar preparation containing sunflower oil and starch killed the insects in 30 minutes and kept the plot free from them until the end of the season. There is still much experimenting to do, but this could be very exciting news for organic and conventional potato farmers.

Heavy Metal Elimination?

Hemp can clean up land polluted with heavy metals, the legacy of industries such as steel refineries and copper mines. Polish researchers have found that soils contaminated with heavy metals such as lead, copper, and cadmium, could be gradually reclaimed, over several seasons, through fibre crop cultivation. Hemp, in particular, is able to extract these metals, and even thrives on these contaminated soils. Interestingly, this research was funded largely by a giant copper refinery, interested in cleaning up their image, as well as their rural surroundings, by putting some tax-free zlotys into environmental technologies

David A N Cull 829c Allsbrook Road Parksville, BC. V9P 2A9 Canada ph. 250 954 1036 e-mail: <dcull@mail.island.net>