Foreign objects in manure

[Plot70]

I am sure we have all seen foreign objects like crisp packets and so on but there is more.
Our local equine centre boasts an all weather trekking circuit made from recycled materials.
The horses are grazed on grass over brick making clay making them get sticky hooves in wet weather.
At one time they had one made out of tire rubber. I did not see the trampled in bits that got into the manure too much of a problem as the clay is over limestone so the sulphur in the rubber in the rubber just reacts with the lime to form hard calcium sulphate that does not react with anything in soil.
Then someone came up with the misguided idea of using recycled carpets. These things are 90% plastic and have most likely been shoved through a wood shredder before use.
There has been much debate about plastic getting into the environment and this really takes it all the way to the wire.
The stuff does not dissolve like tire rubber does after a few years but instead remains releasing fibres for years.
I have never found out what fibres and fine plastic particles actually do to living things. Certainly I have never heard of humans being harmed by chewing pen tops unless they are swallowed whole so whatever the environmentalists are on about is not treated too seriously by me.
I do pick the bits out if I see them leaving any hoof or main clippings as they do rot down.

[Mr Bones]

That's really annoying P70. I read years ago that some plastic when left exposed to UV light releases estrogenic chemicals (similar to female hormones) and eventually washes into streams and rivers etc. Can't be at all good for the environment. Maybe it's time to find a new source of stable manure.

[Plot70]

Most of it had one or two bits per barrow load but one batch had a lot more. I got a carrier bag full from about half a trailer.
I doubt there will be enough to release eastrogen and related chemicals.
There is likely to be more risk from making plant food from urine from anything including humans that is on certain medications.
Very few medications cause a problem apart from hormone replacements and contraceptives. Obviously these are in common use.
Old MDF from kitchen units and other furnature is the most likely thing to be a problem on an allotment.

[burnie]

I have used the councils re-cycled soil improver in the past, but I was also concerned about the added extras you don't want, but to be honest I am now seeing bits of rubbish in Multi Purpose Compost too, seems that isn't screened very well, so I am contemplating trying to make all my own in future.

[mrsbusy]

Hi Burnie. We all need to contemplate making our own in my opinion. We are being urged not to use peat based compost, with peat to be banned quite soon. How did gardeners manage to grow anything when compost in bags was not available - they made their own.
I have put a request on my village website for some spare wooden pallets and am going to get a heap going. I do have those darleck type bins but the compost is not great and understand open type heaps give better results. However one bin has deciduous leaves in it which are doing well.
I am sure many contributors to this forum do make compost, and not everyone has the space or materials for a heap, but it should be a top agenda item.

[ameno]

How did gardeners manage to grow anything when compost in bags was not available - they made their own.

They did, but it wasn't as simple as just making some compost.
Old potting mixes were complex recipes, containing specific ratios of things like leafmould, garden compost, sieved topsoil, silver sand, sharp sand, composted manure, bonemeal, lime, and so on.
You'll find disappointing results if you try to grow stuff in purely garden compost.

[mrsbusy]

Rather like making a good cake....

[burnie]

Seeds will germinate anywhere(well most of them will lol), it's when the seedlings need food to get them going that needs some balance. Seed compost can be made with 50% leaf mould and 50% sand, however potting compost needs more nutrients, my intention is to go back to producing loam to add to this mix, some also add vermiculite, not something I have ever used. Gardeners used to have designated seed beds, something that sort of fell out of fashion, for years I have used plastic trays, but as they break and I dispose of them I don't want to replace them, so I am going to make seed beds in my cold frame and green house. Feed the soil as I would normally, i.e. compost(my own made) or manure in the Autumn, create a fine tilth in the spring and sow seed direct in the borders, these can have added protection if required, I will try it at the end of this year and let you see the results.

[Penellype]

I have very impressive results from growing potatoes in buckets of 100% home made compost with bfb added at planting time. I give them the odd bit of tomato food when I remember (not often) and usually get between 0.5 and 1kg potatoes per seed potato in an average year, sometimes more. The compost straight out of my hotbin (which contains my food waste as well as garden rubbish) grows excellent potatoes regardless of the fact that it can be extremely chunky.

When the potatoes have finished with it I sieve out the chunks and grow carrots in it (with more bfb at planting time). I then continue to use it for other crops, refreshing it with bfb each year.

I don't use it for sowing seeds, partly because of the possibility of disease, and partly because I start most of my seeds in the house and I am not keen on the wildlife that comes with garden compost.

[burnie]

I shall be using Mole hills too, they do a lot of the sieving for you and as most of my local ones are under grass, I'm hoping it will be a bit loamy too.

[mrsbusy]

I have very impressive results from growing potatoes in buckets of 100% home made compost with bfb added at planting time. I give them the odd bit of tomato food when I remember (not often) and usually get between 0.5 and 1kg potatoes per seed potato in an average year, sometimes more. The compost straight out of my hotbin (which contains my food waste as well as garden rubbish) grows excellent potatoes regardless of the fact that it can be extremely chunky.

When the potatoes have finished with it I sieve out the chunks and grow carrots in it (with more bfb at planting time). I then continue to use it for other crops, refreshing it with bfb each year.

I don't use it for sowing seeds, partly because of the possibility of disease, and partly because I start most of my seeds in the house and I am not keen on the wildlife that comes with garden compost.

What is BFB ?

[mrsbusy]

Think I've worked it out !!

[Penellype]

What is BFB ?

Blood Fish and Bone. Sorry.