My Garden

Contaminated Manure

Last post 30-09-2009 3:01 PM by red yead. 116 replies.

• 14/01/2009 08:18 AM	In reply to
  bogweevil Location: Joined on: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 2,043	Reply | Contact FYI http://www.dowagro.com/uk/mark-up/index.htm   Boggy Beware the bat-eared bogweevil

• 25/05/2009 04:04 AM

  In reply to

  Chocosmos Location: Suffolk Joined on: 08 Sep 2008 Posts: 4

  Reply | Contact This seems to be an ongoing problem... in my case until about 2011 when the 75% of my vegetable garden might be usable again.  I got my manure last December for free from a local stable owner in the village. I would have paid him for it or paid the delivery but he refused payment saying he was happy to know somewhere he could give it to.  My potatoes have all the symptoms — in fact everywhere I've spread it (in February) there is either low germination of beans and peas — if they have come up they're deformed and stunted — even the nettles around the heap are poisoned. I told the stable owner about it and he was very put out, denying he'd sprayed any of his fields, but I raised the possibility that he might have bought in winter bedding or hay... long silence. Although he kept insisting that he didn't think his suppliers would have sprayed, they must have done and either he didn't ask or more likely they didn't tell him when he bought the stuff after the harvest in 2008. The point is that human nature being what it is, no-one's going to come clean. Dow can hide behind their label instructions, farmers can keep silent to their customers, but my garden is ruined. What I don't understand is what was going on in their minds when they created a product which was made to make grass free from dangerous weeds for animal feed, but didn't forsee the further consequences at the next stage? Did Dow know that aminopyralid remained active in manure? If so why didn't someone step in?

• 27/05/2009 12:27 PM	In reply to
  ConservationGardener Location: Suffolk Joined on: 27 May 2009 Posts: 3	Reply | Contact I recently bought 40 sacks of well rotted organic horse manure from the shetland pony trust in Cambridge.  Being organic, am hoping to avoid this problem and helping support this equine charity.  Having used it on my potatoes, time will tell...

• 28/05/2009 08:57 AM

  In reply to

  bogweevil Location: Joined on: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 2,043

  Reply | Contact Once manure is in the soil natural micro-organisms very quickly break down the aminopyralid, so you garden should be free of contamination by late summer and certainly by next year.  Dow clearly completely under-estimated the close links between gardening and stables.  The whole point of aminopyralid is that it prolongs the life of pastures by very effectively eliminating weeds in a way that is more effective and safer to the environment than previous selective pasture weedkillers. Because of this they seem to have been taken by surprise when farmers treated grass destined for forage on a large scale, as conserved forage is mostly produced on arable land where weeds are controlled by frequent cultivation and planting with other crops. Aminopyralid is, for now, off the market but contaminated manure is still in the supply pipeline as it were and gardeners are compelled to be wary. You can feed back on the situation to Dow via their website: http://www.manurematters.co.uk/  Ditto Pesticde Safety Directorate:  Email: pesticides@hse.gsi.gov.uk Or phone: 01904 455775 (09:00 – 13:00 Monday to Fridays. An answer phone operates outside of these hours.)   Boggy         Beware the bat-eared bogweevil

• 03/06/2009 01:21 PM

  In reply to

  Nova Location: London Joined on: 03 Jun 2009 Posts: 3

  Reply | Contact I've just got an allotment after five years on a waiting list.  My joy was compounded by the fact that the adjacent city farm and stables provides the allotment association with abundant free manure.  So I merrily dug in manure, and paid no attention to the fern-like leaves of my neighbours' potatoes.  Other plotholders said the fact that many people (but not everyone) had these stunted potato plants was down to over-manuring or some sort of aphid-carried disease.  Then just this weekend the new theory--that apparently everyone else in the gardening world has been aware of for years!--arose of contaminated manure.  The secretary of the allotment association said that he had just heard that the straw used for the stables that produced the manure was definitely sprayed with one of the herbicides.  I have today noticed that the tomato plant I've had in longest has curled leaves and strange, clumped-together flowers at the top.  Last week, I put in 16 other tomato plants... Because I was late planting most things, my potatoes, beans and peas are just sprouting.  They look fine so far, but I suppose this is because they're still feeding from the seeds/tubers. So this is all a bit of a blow, but I would be very grateful for advice, especially about: --Should I dig up the tomatoes?  Most of them have only been in a week and are looking fine.  Or could I take side shoot cuttings?  Will these also be contaminated?  The plants were very well grown along in uncontaminated soil in pots before I put them in the ground. --What should I do with the unused manure?  I've spread it out in the sun, about 2-3 inches thick, but will that do any good?  Or should it be composted?  Digging it over for the next year and leaving bare ground seems rather grim. Any help much appreciated!

• 03/06/2009 01:49 PM

  In reply to

  Lloyd Location: Sandy Joined on: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 61

  Reply | Contact I'm sorry to hear Nova that yet another person is suffering from this problem.  As someone who was in a similar position a year ago, having started a new vegetable garden with copious amounts of free manure, I understand exactly how you feel.  We had great problems deciding what to do with the plants that appeared healthy, but were planted in the dodgy muck.  Not all plants will show symptoms.  Those most susceptible seem to be tomatoes, potatoes, peas and beans.   Despite loads of assurances that they were fine to eat, we decided the only sensible option was to pull up and destroy all our plants, and start again, using pots.  Fine in a garden - not very convenient on an allotment. Spreading the manure on the surface is not going to cure your problem - to break down the active chemicals it needs to be dug into the soil. You might be better off scraping the manure off the surface and disposing of it. Take a look at some of the links that are through this thread - although not much comfort, it is good to know that you are not the only one suffering, and there may be some tips on the best way to proceed. Lloyd

• 03/06/2009 03:31 PM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743

  Reply | Contact I am dismayed to hear this story, if the secretary of the allotments has found out for sure that the straw bedding was treated with aminopyralid, I am assuming that he found out this information from the people who supplied the manure, which in turn means that the people who gave the manure away were fully aware that the manure contained aminopyralid treated straw??? so why on earth would they give the manure away knowing that it had the chemical in it and also knowing what the problem of the chemical was, ( ignorance is not an excuuse, every farm has had notice of aminpyralid contamination from defra)? this type of irresponsible behaviour is giving real farmers a bad name. digger

• 03/06/2009 05:21 PM

  In reply to

  Nova Location: London Joined on: 03 Jun 2009 Posts: 3

  Reply | Contact Thanks, Lloyd and digger for your replies.  Yes, it is very dismaying... I should say that I'm not sure about who knew what when, or even if it is confirmed that the farm knew about the chemicals in advance.  This is what someone told the secretary... The farm is an inner-city show farm type thing, with stables attached, not a working farm, but I would assume the regulations are the same (if not more stringent, considering all the little kids wandering around and looking at the animals!). I've posted some pictures of the affected plants here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/19848319@N08/sets/72157619195912478/ Lloyd, how is your veg garden doing one year on?

• 03/06/2009 06:11 PM

  In reply to

  Digger Location: Northern UK Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,743

  Reply | Contact Yes I know of theses city farm outfits, they are required to adhere to the same rules as all of us, I'm just suspicious that your secretary knows for sure about the aminopyralid? and how he came about the information, I would speak with the people at the farm to see if they told the secretary and if not you could make them aware of the problems they are causing, apparently once the manure is in the ground the chemical should disappear after a year or so, none of my livestock has ever been fed the stuff that's been treated and of course the bedding isn't straw anyway, it's not hygenic to use straw especially where you have lots of visitors, good luck my friend digger

• 04/06/2009 01:10 PM

  In reply to

  Lloyd Location: Sandy Joined on: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 61

  Reply | Contact Nova, a year on, and we've almost forgotten we had a problem. But there are reasons for that. In the new greenhouse, we've completely ignored the borders, and are using growbags.  I still come across the odd bit of recognisble manure, and whilst that is happening, I'm not going to risk replanting. Outside, we were quite fortunate that we had not manured the whole patch that we now have.  Last year we left the contaminated ground bare, and I made sure I dug in over frequently.  I used the space for a very large pot with runner beans in, which was occasionally moved (so I could dig), and which was surprisingly sucessful. (In fact we are using it again this year, putting it on one of our patios.)  We had always intended to install raised beds in the contaminated area, and we did that this year, making sure that we did not disturb the existing soil when we filled the raised bed.  So far, so good.  Crops this year seem to be doing well, no sign of any distortion, so hopefully we are over the problem. I know it is not much comfort to you, but the ground will recover.  The important thing is to either remove the manure if you can, or make sure it is dug in well and frequently turned over.  (And if you do remove the manure, don't dispose of it in a green recycling bin - in this case it is better for it to go to land fill, otherwise someone else may suffer next year.)

• 06/06/2009 10:39 AM

  In reply to

  Lloyd Location: Sandy Joined on: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 61

  Reply | Contact Here is an update on the problem - it seems its license is about to be reinstated   5 June 2009 Extract from - Minutes of the 337th meeting of the Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP) held on 12 May 2009 5. Agenda Item 5: Applications for the use of ‘Forefront’ and ‘Runway’ (now known as ‘Mileway’) water in oil emulsion formulations containing 30 g/l aminopyralid and 100 g/l fluroxypyr, as an agricultural herbicide and horticultural/industrial herbicide on grassland and amenity grassland [ACP 7 (337/2009)] 5.1 Members considered the applications for the re-instatement of approvals for products containing aminopyralid. 5.2 Members agreed that the applicant had taken all reasonable steps to manage manure contaminated with residues, through the proposed stewardship campaign, training and monitoring. However, there was some concern about the practicalities of the programme which would need to be addressed and closely monitored as part of the stewardship programme. 5.3 Members noted that aminopyralid was persistent in ground water, and that further confirmation of the effect of irrigating vulnerable crops from ground water sources was required. 5.4 Members were also concerned that approval in Europe could result in UK stewardship measures being by-passed. Further information was requested from the applicant about the level of approval and stewardship requirements across the EU 5.5 Subject to satisfactory resolution of these outstanding questions, members were minded to advise Ministers to re-instate approvals. http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/acp.asp?id=2691

• 21/06/2009 03:24 PM

  In reply to

  headfullofbees Location: Cheadle Hulme Joined on: 13 Feb 2006 Posts: 114

  Reply | Contact I hate to say I told you so, but......... digger Location: North East Lancashire Joined on: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 4,394 Reply | Contact   I am dismayed to hear this story, if the secretary of the allotments has found out for sure that the straw bedding was treated with aminopyralid, I am assuming that he found out this information from the people who supplied the manure, which in turn means that the people who gave the manure away were fully aware that the manure contained aminopyralid treated straw??? so why on earth would they give the manure away knowing that it had the chemical in it and also knowing what the problem of the chemical was, ( ignorance is not an excuuse, every farm has had notice of aminpyralid contamination from defra)? this type of irresponsible behaviour is giving real farmers a bad name.

• 21/06/2009 03:31 PM

  In reply to

  headfullofbees Location: Cheadle Hulme Joined on: 13 Feb 2006 Posts: 114

  Reply | Contact As sure as night follows day.... I was absolutely certain this would happen again if no action was taken against the transgressors, and sure enough.... The problem is that those who use it are seeking a very clear labour advantage by its use. If THEY have to dig over the manure, etc, produced for up to two years, then not only is that labour saving lost, but storage becomes a problem. I haven't touched farmyard manure or bedding with a bargepole, like I advised those on here, and my toms are 4'6" high with up to 30 flowers per truss, my beans are going great, had two wonderful crops of peas, and my rocket potatoes were the best ever.

• 21/06/2009 07:50 PM

  In reply to

  realfood Location: Glasgow Joined on: 17 Aug 2008 Posts: 21

  Reply | Contact I know of two Glasgow allotment associations affected this year, as well as bagged manure from Garden Centers, so the problem is not going away. I would suggest that the best way of delaying the re-licensing the herbicide, is to complain to your MP. To advise other plotters, I have gathered the latest information, tests, links and photos of manure contamination here:- http://www.growyourown.info/page164.html

• 22/06/2009 05:02 AM	In reply to
  headfullofbees Location: Cheadle Hulme Joined on: 13 Feb 2006 Posts: 114	Reply | Contact The trouble with aminopyralid, is that there seems to be no advantage to many who are using it, UNLESS THEY DO SO ILLEGALLY.   Ban the stuff.