Experiment To Determine If Growing In Tires Is Toxic 

You need to set-up a stack in which you DO NOT drill the tires. Since the tire is filled with soil/compost it will wick the water you observe in an empty tire. Additionally, that wicked water will be able to drain to the ground below. In fact, I am of the opinion that the small reservoir of water in the tire will be an advantage to your plants and that you may have ruined your chances of increased yield. Therefore I say again, do a test with drilled and undrilled tires to see which does best.

I grew potatoes in tires - used aged horse manure (no 'soil' was added), this acted like a wicking bed; used yukon gold seed potatoes; planted first tire; when plant was about a foot tall, I placed a second tire on top, used more aged horse manure - those were the best and sweetest (as is sugary) potatoes I had ever had in my life; location - Camden County, Georgia, USA.

Hi Marjory, was there any update to this video or a determination on the toxicity of the potatoes?

Did you ever do a follow up video for this? What was the result?

No need to drill the tyres,in my opinion ,as the potato roots will soon make good use of any accumulated water.In fact,I may use this as a reservoir,for the plant, if I am away for a few days.So,are tyres toxic for gardening?I run in homemade sandals made from scrap tyres.

One way to measure toxicity if you're not sure is to do a soil test before and after and make note of the difference in chemical levels. Some of the chemicals from tires may be carcinogenic (or not). Try your local state extension office and they can help with the testing.

I have used tire for years and have had good results, certain times of the years plants do better. It really has to do with with your climate variation, morning to night fog etc. Tomatoes in tires do good in summer. Tire are very good for raised beds. Use the low profile ones, more surface area. Potatoes were incredible. It is best to clean the inside of tire first, wash out the residue. Tire planting has been done all over the world for many many years. Toxic that is still debatable. Remember things blow in the wind. Think about it! Nothing is 100 % organic no matter what you believe. But do you best to try to achieve it.

In my old tires tree frogs breed in them. Where the tires were burned there is rich dark soil full of big healthy earthworms. I grow lots of garden plants there. Cherry tomatoes, tobacco, ground cherries and figs. I am going to use tires to grow water melons this year because I know they are harmless to amphibians and will be great for absorbing heat and holding rich soil while allowing access to the real ground. It even has a self watering circle !

If the people worring about toxicity, what do they think the part of the tire that wears off .It goes on road then in gutter and on to the river of mosts water supply.I think to be harmful they would have to be burned. See Ya :>)

I just learned last night about growing potatoes in a chicken food bag. Put some soil and or compost in the bag with the spuds. Then roll the bag sides down. As the potatoes grow add more soil /compost and raise the sides of the bag up as they grow. Keep adding soil.

Is there a follow-up video to compliment this one? I'm curious whether the potatos were found safe or toxic

You will have a lot easier time drilling those holes in the tires, if you use a spade bit (like you would bore a hole through wood with). I drill holes in bailer-belt, and it is impossible to get a hole open using standard bits like you used. If you switch to wood spade bits, it will make holes with ease. Looking forward to seeing the results! Great video & channel :)

I have good sucess. I paint them white for the the heat works great and clean the environment. Thanks for your video.

Hi, searched your other videos to find the follow up for this one, but could not find it. Maybe I could not see it. Did you get the potatoes tested? Cheers

If you cut both side walls off then you won't have to worry about chemicals leaching and you'll have a much bigger planting area.

Was there ever an update for this exsperiment? I am curious how this turned out.

Was there ever a update on this video? I was thinking of starting a small tire garden myself and very interested in the results. Thanks!

So how did it work? I don’t see any more videos I was hoping to see how you continue to do this so I would know what to do.

Do have an update on this subject? How was the yield and quality of the spuds? Where they toxic?

Formal experiments have been done. Finely ground tyre added to water kills algae very soon and duckweed pretty soon after. The sun and the moisture breaks the rubber down pretty fast. Sure the tyre lasts for years but all the stuff that makes them stretch and bend is leached into the soil.

Hi Marjory! Great video, can't wait to see the results of the tests. Could you make a video about finding testing companies for water, food, soil etc. in our local areas? Thanks for all the info.

Would love an update Marjory, thanks! :-)

Once she saw how much would cost to test the potatoes in the lab she backed off. lol

I think the jury is out regarding tire toxicity. However, Plywood can be source of formaldehyde and chemical resins/ glues. If plywood has been outdoors for a couple years and not molded, most of the chemicals have leached/off-gassed away though. Thanks for all the videos!

I think that you should try again, this was a really good start! This time, grow with uncut tires since this is what most people do. Do an additional grow from the same potato stock in a normal raised bed or in a the ground. Then compare the two for toxins and taste test.

in my opinion the only substances that could contaminate the plants grown in the wheels could be phthalates, which are often added to synthetic rubbers to make them soft. but I'm not sure they are used in the production of the wheels. natural rubber is made elastic by adding sulfur. however it would be interesting to know the result of the chemical analyzes

why use the whole potato for planting, you can cut three or four pieces with "eyes' and plant them separate. save on buying seed potatoes

What did you find out was the tire planting toxic for the food/potatoes

Hello, My question is, why do we need the tires in the first place. Also all foods will test with a certain amount of toxins the very air that we breath the soil that you put in the tire .the source it came from the area that it was composted . The fact that the water that you used to wash the tires out is not pure the soil is not pure.the potato farm it was grown on what was the soils there was a pure soil are there certain petroleum products being used on that property.

There is no problem in growing in used tires .. I do it all the time. First thing to consider is getting tires that are not in bad shape. No wire sticking out or dilapidated in some way. My advice is to take a utility knife with a new blade and set one tire on another so the tire is at knee level and follow the line near the outside of the edge of the tire and cut out one wall .. a new blade = one pass. By cutting out one wall you now have a large bowl. Take that bowl and put it upside down on a freshly tilled garden and fill with dirt .. now you can plant sweet potatoes in that tire and at the season's end you only have to pull up the tire and expose all the sweet potatoes which have been growing there. Whole lot better than digging with a spading fork into the ground and tearing up your potatoes. The tire holds the dirt so it acts like a hill and it limits the amount of weeds that can grow in that space. I would plant 3 to 5 sweet potato shoots in the tire. This is just one use. The problem with tire rubber happens when you shred the tire into a powdery or granular product. Sometimes this is used to "mulch" the ground. There are high levels of Zinc among other things in the tire rubber .. but this is only bad if you shred the tire. Keep it in good condition and you are going to be able to use that tire for a long time. Cars and trucks are shredding rubber all the time traveling the highways . and no one gets upset about it. If you had to go to Lowes or Home Depo and pick up a planter of this size .. you'd be paying a considerable amount of money. Keep your mouth shut and just get your tires. :)

Yes, please update. Thank you for these videos😄

Hi, do you have a follow up video please?

Hello, vers curious how it went ans the results or your experiment? Thx to give an update.

Is very good idea,i am in this moment growing red potatoes in tires i can't wait to harvest it .very good video.

Did you ever finish this project? I watched the whole video...no end and I can't find a update. At least say what happened please and what were your findings.

Love the vid. One key point to ask people that say tires are full of nasty chemicals is "Prove it". I have had the same problem here in the UK. They are made from rubber (a natural ingredient) about 80 to 90 % the rest is material steel and a tiny amount of cadmium 0.001 % of the tire. I got this info from a study done in Switzerland over a number of years. The reason for the study was to make sure workers in the recycling industry weren't at risk working with tires. the result was there is no risk and tires have no toxic chemicals in them. The Cadmium level is very close to the natural level in the ground which causes us no harm. I have lost the initial report due to a computer failure but I'm sure you would be able to find it on the Internet. My message is to use tires they are a natural product believe it or not.

Perhaps she didn't survive the experiment and that's why there's no update.

I can't find a followup video, Marjory. Did you make one?

Thanks for doing this project. Hope we get some answers.

I think that's a great job, i want to plant pineapple in tyres, what i thing I will do first is full up the inside of the tyres with the grass i cut from my yard then fill in with soil then plant my pineapple plants..that's for the great idea..greetings from Granada ❤

I'v seen others on youtube do this and it did not work out for them too well. I don't think there's any toxicity issue though it might be just a bit toxic like paper with a little ink in it is my guess?? Like the video's a lot, here in texas trying to grow stuff as well, take care Marjory, Joe.

i cut most of the rim out w a utility knife..easy n fast if u back cut it from underneath like u do shingles to keep from wearing out your blade..i tried this once but didn't get much yield n also how do u harvest the bottom tire which will have the 1st ripe spuds?

I used to think growing potatoes in car tires was a good idea. Especially how easy it was to harvest them. But the lack of oxygen to the soil and the heat the tires gain from the sunlight seems counter productive. Once your 3 tires high you end up watering more and the bottom two tires end up saturated and the top tire is always dry. The shape of the tire retains a lot of water causing root rot. It helps if you put spacers between the tires to allow air flow to the roots. You can drill drainage holes in the lower tire walls. I think using the tires to start your potatoes earlier in the season makes sense as the heat collected by the tires during the day protects against cold night time temperatures but i wouldnt use more than two tires. I have no idea what chemicals are given off or leaked from the tires?

Did you post the test results after this video? I'm intrigued to know.

Merci from Montreal, Canada.

Did you ever test the potatoes?

Her updates are on her website, appears project is not complete yet.

I seal mine up inside & out with two coats of kilz primer. Not a worry in the world.

Hi, is there an update to this video from a while ago?

Its so much misinformation about growing plants on the internet because people just go with what they are told instead of test ideas for themselves.

Marj ? anyone .. ?? MY tire growing working awesome for weed control , moisture control , it protects young plants from getting stepped on , lots of good things so far about growing in tires happening any one else ?

What's the verdict? To Tire or not to Tire?

Wonder if you should go with a hardware cloth rather than plywood. Plywood has its own toxicity that might leech and taint the results. But its a fascinating experiment, and I'm very interested in the results.

Hi there. Any updates on this please?

Well what was the test results?

Don't know where to send them to be tested but you should grow some of the potatoes in tires and at least some in an other location with compost but no tire so you can compare the potatoes. PS: Three days and no comments?!?

As you are not going to finish this project, you should pull the video. It's a bit embarrassing and makes you look bad. 1 thumbs down for making me watch something with no answer or end.

Cut the sidewall off :)

I would say that if you are near a university, they probably have biology and chemistry labs that might test the potatoes for you. You might try contacting the deans of one of those departments.

so are they safe to use?

thought maybe there were results here

Interesting 👍

Don't worry about the tires toxins we are already eating roundup weeds.

Buddy sounds good. Try some cranberry sauce and a portion of fresh steamed asparagus and rice with them.

i would say you fine growing in tires the roots will pass into the ground not the tire going to grow in tirees next summer ez to weed eat around

Results?

If you are here for lab results there are no lab results!

I grew in tires for years. I never had any problems at all. You are only growing in the 'hole'. not the insides of the tire. Also I used to fully mulch in the tire which kept water use right down. Having said that I'm sure that there was excess water that went into the tire itself. That wicked back into the mulch and kept the plants moist.

Is that "treated" plywood? Use weed mat instead.

Why was there no update?

no audio?

You should have added results. This didn't answer the question.

I see the results are not in. I would think the answer is obvious. Do you want to eat food that leaches petroleum products and road dirt from the soil and water?

WE NEVER HEARD THE ANSWER TO THE TESTING!! NEVER FOLLOWED UP ON THIS SOO THE VIDEO HERE IS A WASTE OF TIME !

Tires degrade over time they also have The basic components from which tires are constructed include pigments, chemicals, more than 30 different kinds of rubber, cord fabrics and bead wire. Maybe the first season would be ok but after that I would not use them

No update ?? Guess Marjory died eating those potatoes !!

you think growing in tyres is bad you should watch the series of my strange addiction

not safe to grow food in tires or newspaper mulch

No shoes eewww

I keep eating theses guys

wow wearing that mic is useless I can't hear you