Aminopyralid contaminated manure

[Steve49]

Reks

There is so much information circulating about this issue, some better than others, that it is difficult to know what it is best to do.

The RHS quote the following

"Plots already treated with contaminated manure: The Pesticide Safety Directorate (PSD) has investigated the risk to human health and concluded that produce from affected land is safe to eat".

I think one of the reasons is that the amount of weed killer is at very low levels and the fact that it is bound so strongly to lignin, which is not broken down in the gut so is not actually taken into the body. This is why there is a problem with the manure!


The most susceptible crops are potatoes and tomatoes, peas and bean, lettuce, spinach and beets. Less susceptible will be cucubits eg courgettes and squashes. and least susceptible are brassica and sweet corn. I have seen Jeruselem artichokes that were affected last year and they are OK now

The RHS also say
"It is not advisable to compost ruined crops. If they cannot be incorporated into the soil, bag them up and put out with household refuse (NOT green waste collection). Seek advice from your council if they won’t accept green waste in domestic refuse".

There is a lot of good information on the site:

Royal Horticultural Society - Gardening Advice: weedkiller in manure

Other info can be found at
Home

[Reks]

Reks

There is so much information circulating about this issue, some better than others, that it is difficult to know what it is best to do.

The RHS quote the following

"Plots already treated with contaminated manure: The Pesticide Safety Directorate (PSD) has investigated the risk to human health and concluded that produce from affected land is safe to eat".

I think one of the reasons is that the amount of weed killer is at very low levels and the fact that it is bound so strongly to lignin, which is not broken down in the gut so is not actually taken into the body. This is why there is a problem with the manure!


The most susceptible crops are potatoes and tomatoes, peas and bean, lettuce, spinach and beets. Less susceptible will be cucubits eg courgettes and squashes. and least susceptible are brassica and sweet corn. I have seen Jeruselem artichokes that were affected last year and they are OK now

The RHS also say
"It is not advisable to compost ruined crops. If they cannot be incorporated into the soil, bag them up and put out with household refuse (NOT green waste collection). Seek advice from your council if they won’t accept green waste in domestic refuse".

There is a lot of good information on the site:

Royal Horticultural Society - Gardening Advice: weedkiller in manure

Other info can be found at
Home

Thanks Steve49 - I spent lots of time reading through all these articles and you are right they are very useful.

I also went to my local horticultural society run by folks who are exerts on allotment and offer very good advice. Their suggestion was for me to leave all my plants as they are, maybe remove the leaves of potatoes and beans to see if they recover. If they do then good and they were not badly affected else I have lost the crop this year. They asked me to water the plants as much possible to try and let the water wash off the herbicide. I will leave the remaining manure in a corner and cover with some net so the rainwater can get to it and do its work. they also adviced me to use the manure in autumn on all my empty beds and dig it deep so it breaks down for spring.

I must say I was very stressed last 2 days but feel much better now. All of this is lessons learnt!!!

Will not use any more manure for this years crops, just feed using liquid organic feed.

[emilymup]

Sorry I have not been on earlier, my pc decided to do a post-mortem on itself!! I think its on its way out!!

Thank you Realfood. I read with great interest what you have collated.

I have rung Trading Standards - who weren't interested at all, DEFRA, Environmental Health, the local horticultural college, Council allotment office and couldn't get through to DOW Agro.

The Environment Agency were the only people who could offer some advice and after a long conversation I concluded with them that they are not really that bothered about this as the problem will only persist for 6 months if the land is well dug repeatedly so the organisms in the soil can break down the chemicals.

My remaining crops are only very slightly affected on the extreme tips of the plants. For the time being I am watering them very well on a regular basis and will wait and see what happens.

Like you Reks I too have been very stressed for the last few days. Lesson learnt in my case. No more manure for me!

[glallotments]

I've just stumbled on this thread so just in case this is of use - I was affected by this problem last year as were others on our allotment site who had used the same manure source.

At that time there was little information about the problem so I set up a page on my website to post everything I managed to find out. This was started in June 2008 and has since grown to several pages as I found out more and more about the problem. I also have a list on victims from last year which provides some evidence of the widespread effect of the misuse of this chemical and is also a page that I refer people to when I write to them about the problem.

I have also posted replies from the experts to the questions that I have asked and given an update as to the situation on our plot now. This season we appear to be 'in the clear'.

Anyone interested all the links on my website to the pages devoted to this issue are on Manure Menu

There is also an email contact on the website for anyone who would like to have their name added to my list.

The encouraging bit is that there is life after aminopyralid but the discouraging bit is that even after a year many people, including those using the products, are not aware that there is an issue. Even though the licence is suspended, albeit on a temporary basis there are still people using stored supplies in ignorance so for a while yet we need to be cautious when using manure.

One development on our site is in that a plot holder has the same symptoms as we had last year and that the RHS diagnose as affected by hormonal herbicide. However, he hasn't used any manure or had anything on his plot or near his potatoes that could have contaminated them. Just one variety is affected. Evidence points to the tubers having somehow been contaminated prior to him buying the seed potatoes. I haven't heard of this anywhere else so it could be a one off mystery. If anyone else has had a similar experience I would be really interested to know about it.

[Reks]

Thank you all so much for replying to my thread

Just to answer a few questions, the manure was delivered to the allotment site last August time by a lady who has horses quite nearby and has been supplying the lottie for years. Lots and lots of people took some from the huge pile.

1/ How much manure went into the greenhouse ?
The greenhouse is 6' by 6' so a good few spadefuls.

2/ How rotted was the manure ?
We let it stand all winter and applied it to beds couple of weeks before planting spuds in March. Was in big clods when we got it so I don't think that well rotted.

3/ Did the manure seem to contain a lot of straw ?
Yes, lots. Hasn't broken down very well either. You can go along bed and pick up lumps of it. (Which I have been doing to get rid of it).

4/ How well was it dug in ?
Not rotovated in, just dug by hand, leaving some on top for worms to do their bit.

5/ When were the tomato plants planted ?
Tomatoes were in pots of compost in greenhouse doing fine. Planted them directly into borders about 3-4 weeks ago.

6/ How long did it take for the tomato plants to show symptoms ?
About one and half to two weeks. All extra tomato plants went into big pots of compost as well as peppers and are sat side by side with diseased tomato plants. These are positively thriving and not affected one bit.

7/ Exactly what are the symptoms on the tomato plants ?
Same as potatoes. Leaves on the top are curling into little spoon shapes and looking long and deformed.


Not quite sure whats going on as Marshalls analysed someone elses potatoes and said it was potato leaf curl virus. But, as I keep saying, that is an airborne virus and everyone should have been hit, not just selective plots.

My main concern is whether or not to eat the produce. I planted chard, sweetcorn and squashes in the beds after destroying the potatoes and digging them over really well as the thinking was potato leaf curl virus. They don't seem to be affected at all after 3 weeks or so.

Will talk nicely to OH and try to get him motivated!

Thank you everyone for your support

Hi Emilyup - How are chard, swetcorn and squashes doing now? I left my bean plants where they were to see what happens and they r not growing. Wondered if its worth the risk to uproot the beans and dig in again and plant sweetcorns or maybe just leave that bed to grow on next year.