Horse manure and Courgettes

[Greenleaves]

If in doubt,chuck it out

[veggiechicken]

Its up to you whether you use it or not, Marb. All we've done is alert you to the risks.
However, given the problems that you have growing veg it may be wiser not to add another potential risk into the mix.

Your choice!!

[Scarlet]

If you don't know where it's from, bag it and put it in the bin. Best be safe.

[Nicos]

Four years Snadge?...I thought it was 10 years if not exposed to air/ light?

Either way it's a blinking long time for land to lay fallow instead of producing yummy crops

[Nicos]

Interesting thread Marb.

I 've been having a think and nattering to myself as you do whilst ironing

Your original post reminded me of when I was a little girl helping my grandpa in the garden.
He used to collect the horse muck off the roads when the milkman and rag and bone man had gone by.
Nipped out as fast as he could before anyone else spotted it!

'Sadly' those days have gone for us gardeners and we rely on the stables of horses owned for pleasure riding.

Unbeknown many horse owners have, and still do , feed hay from land which was sprayed with this selective poison.
Thing is, it has also been used on land for growing grain, so straw may well be contaminated too.
(My horse in the UK will happily tuck into straw bedding given half a chance!!!)

As this chemical takes up to 10 years to break down when exposed to the air/ light once the manure containing it is applied to the land then it's effects remain a massive problem for years to come.

For this reason, we growers need to be super vigilant about what we put on our crops and land if we want to avoid potential problems

We don't have this problem in France because it was banned here from the start.

This thread is great in that it shows how, a once traditional, impulsive ,collecting of free, fresh manure used to be OK is now fraught with potential hazards .

Your manure may well be perfectly safe to use / rot down Marb, but you really can't be 100% can you?

If any newbie gardeners, or those lurking on here have been encouraged to think twice about free horse manure of unknown origin, then you may well have saved some poor sole from making a massive mistake

[PyreneesPlot]

We don't have this problem in France because it was banned here from the start.

Some folks from the UK have just arrived here in France with their horses and have offered me manure. They have brought hay with them to start with so I guess I'll wait until they are onto local hay.
And I know a couple who run an organic market garden are also having a share and are probably totally unaware of this potential issue

[starloc]

Chemical companies like to sell weedkiller....but also plant foods!

People always used low cost manure as a feed and soil improver....

Chemical companies probably didnt like this.....(Obviously.....)

So now they make sure you need to buy the chemical feeds they also produce by destroying the manure people used to use......

they have seeds to grow in conjunction with it....special seeds.....now no cheapo feeds only special feeds.....

Next will be a government manure waste tax..... for people with it who can no longer get rid for plant growing

[Snadger]

Four years Snadge?...I thought it was 10 years if not exposed to air/ light?

Either way it's a blinking long time for land to lay fallow instead of producing yummy crops

Surely something that persists for 10 years can't be legal tho, can it?

[veggiechicken]

Marb, don't know whether you've seen this http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...mal_85335.html but you need to be aware of the ongoing issues with manure.

[bario1]

Yes, you can't be too careful! I've been collecting free manure willy nilly for the last 3 years, and this year i got stung! You wouldn't believe how destructive this chemical is till you've seen it in action (even after passing through the guts of a horse and sitting in a field for a year). The stuff you got is probably fine, but is it worth the risk? If I ever get free manure again (which i doubt), I'll test it before i use it!

[starloc]

Its not only free stuff to watch a few years ago I lost lots of plants to this after using well known diy store manure, just dont use any!