[Community_garden] Treated seed question

[Gretchen Harvey]

Dear All,

We are a relatively new organic community garden in Minnesota (2004-) and
are learning as fast as we can about what is and is not acceptable in an
organic garden. We have some extra acres that we wish to plant corn in this
year and we have had a request to plant golden bantam seed that has been
treated--with something that prevents it from rotting before it has a chance
to germinate. I should also say that we live in a river valley with lots of
clay in the soil and I'm getting the impression that using treated seed is
common here.

We realize that we could not tell people the corn is organic. But the REAL
QUESTION	 for us at this point is:
Does this seed leave a residue in the soil (or on the plant itself) that we
should be concerned about?

Are there different kinds of seed treatments that are considered organic or
are all of them to be avoided?

Thanks for you help,
Gretchen

Dr. Gretchen Harvey
Department of History
Concordia College
901 8th Street South
Moorhead, MN. 56562 
218-299-4307