Dried Leaves And Pesticides?

So I found some nice magnolia and oak leaves, but I have no idea if they have pesticides or not. Is there any treatment to get rid of them? I plan on boiling/baking, but aside from that, how can I make sure they're pesticide free?
Also if anyone knows if UGA uses pesticides, lol

 

No, once pesticides are used on the tree, there is no way to remove them from the wood or leaves. They are considered as contaminated, and should be discarded.

 

Ah well, guess I gotta go find more leaves

 

Why would there be pesticides have been used ?

 

Why would there be pesticides have been used ?

Not sure, honestly I don't know that they do, it would be quite a pain to treat the whole campus

 

Also I just kinda collected them from the pine straw bed, not the tree, so there is a chance. If I boiled and tested with pond snails, would that work? Maybe ramshorns?

 

The most likely source of such contamination would be the grass being treated for insects such as grubs. But it’s also possible the trees could’ve been treated directly.
Pesticides can be either persistent or short lived. If they are the latter, natural biological processes and sunlight break them down fairly quickly into non-toxic byproducts. Those types of pesticides are usually applied directly to a tree by spraying.
However, for commercial reasons, it is more likely that any pesticides applied in a landscape context are more persistent. It is to the manufacturer’s and applicator’s benefit for the product to last a long time. Some can last years even.
Testing for them is prohibitively expensive, and there’s no way to remove them inexpensively for a homeowner or hobbyist.
You are far better searching for the same kinds of trees in a site or situation where pesticides would not have been used.
There are also some situations of which I have personal knowledge where entire regions or municipalities are treated with heavy duty pesticides for invasive pests such as beetles. This would be rare outside of the United States, due to legal permissiveness around pesticide use there. But I don’t know how the general public would know if such a campaign had been undertaken where they are.
Better safe than sorry, I say.

 

I love living where there isn't an area untreated, it really helps when you want leaves and branches.

 

Some plants have been studied to be poisonous to fish. Oak leaves for example are marked as poisonous to carp (Koi, goldfish)

 

I love living where there isn't an area untreated, it really helps when you want leaves and branches.

Lol, stop bragging
My parents have some state owned forest right by them, may grab some from there next time I swing by.

Some plants have been studied to be poisonous to fish. Oak leaves for example are marked as poisonous to carp (Koi, goldfish)

Good to know, I plan on using them for bettas and shrimp, and I got a good bit of magnolia leaves as well

 

But if I test with ramshorns and some blackworms for a week or two, does that mean they're safe?

 

But if I test with ramshorns and some blackworms for a week or two, does that mean they're safe?

Modern pesticides tend to be relatively organism-specific. This helps reduce excess effects on non-target wildlife.
Shrimps are the closest taxonomically to insects (at least among aquarium friends), and thus most likely to be (negatively) affected.
So “testing” it on snails (mollusks) and blackworms (annelids?) does not necessarily mean anything either way for fish.
“BUT!” you say, “you just said they’re targeted to insects (or even certain types of insects), so they should be fine for fish, right?” Maybe, if we knew the product we could check the msds and screen for known effects on aquatic life, but we don’t know what was used, so assuming it is broad-spectrum would be prudent.
A week or two also won’t rule out long term or chronic effects.

 

What's a good place to collect? I was thinking the national river area thing by my parents house, since obviously no pesticides being used there, but there's a neighborhood right in front of it and I bet they use pesticides. Would going a bit deeper in, around 1/4 mile from any houses work?

 

I think a 1/4 mile would be fine, but a hundred yards (or even half that) from any manicured lawn would also probably be okay. Unless you're downhill of such an area (where overland and below ground flows might move chemicals). I'd also avoid any area near a high-traffic road; car-drippings (hydrocarbons, etc) have a tendency to be kicked up during/after rains.

 

Okay, thank you! Unfortunately the river is on a slope from the homes, but the nearest major road is a few miles away. May as well get a nice hike in when I go, so I'll go about as deep as I can, since it has been raining a lot too.