Aminopyralid still around?

My oh kindly delivered a nice pile of well rotted horse manure to the poly last winter. It was duly spread and dug in, and peas,salads all growing happily. I had a couple of Amish Paste tomatoes spare so popped them into the remains of the pile. They are showing all the signs of weedkiller poisoning, stunted,curled leaves etc. sorry can't post pic as camera dead ATM.

Thing is, if I dig out a ring around them and refill with compost, will they recover, or have they had it?

I had this aminopyralid problem several years ago, also from horse manure, which affected beans,tomatoes,potatoes etc. and thought it had been banned? I gather it came from straw used for bedding. So I didn't bother doing a bean test,which I should have done. Interestingly, none of the other plants in the main garden are showing any signs of being poisoned and have had manure from the same source.

 

It was banned temporarily and then the ban was lifted after much more stringent controls were brought in. There is NO WAY that you should have been given contaminated manure as there is a very strict duty on the chain of communication from the people spraying the pasture to anyone using Hay or Manure subsequent products.

I don't think it will be from the straw. Aminopyralid is a herbicide used on grass / pasture, so more likely to come from the hay that the animals ate.

Perhaps speak to Ministry of Agriculture and see from whom you should seek redress.

 

I'm not so certain its a weedkiller problem, after all...all other plants are ok besides your tomatoes.

Further to that, a friend of mine at the allotment has a couple of stunted tom plants, with curled leaves etc...I think his plants are a victim or huge temp changes between day and night. Maybe you have the same issue, cold nights and boiling daytime temps undercover?

Steve...

 

I now have 6 plants affected, in greenhouse and polytunnel. I strongly suspect the very old horse manure from my neighbour which he brought up for me this spring.I will try and take photos. There are affected plants right next to unaffected ones which makes me think the residues are very localised, or that some tomatoes are more resistant.. The old manure was from the bottom/ middle of the heap and hadn't been exposed to the air for years.

 

The Aminopyralid problem has not gone away completely. The main issue is that the herbicide molecule responsible is very resistant to degradation unless it is incontact with soil where various soil inhabiting bacteria breaks it down. The molecule remains potent in a compost heap for a considerable number of years.
In 2012 I saw considerable damage done to a commercial crop of sweet peas,which had very old horse compost applied as a mulch. The flower stems were distorted with cupping of the leaves, resulting in total crop loss.
This year I have seen severe damage where the grower had emptied the compost heap and applied it as a mulch to his raspberry plants. This was old compost of some years. This damage was of "fern fronding" of the raspberries and the plants were as good as killed.
There is another source of the problem and that is green composting. The related herbicide, Clopyralid, is used on amenity grass, the cuttings of which are sent for green composting. In 2012 I saw damage to an established Magnolia (cupping of leaves) and Wisteria (distortion of new growth and cupping of leaves) which had copious mulching of composted green waste.
The green waste situation seems to be sporadic and there is no need to avoid it, only be aware of the possibility.
Google " Aminopyralid bioassay " for information to be able to do your own testing if you are concerned.
Plants such as Broad bean, tomato, potato, raspberry, curcubits and others are affected down to 1 part per billion, which is undetectable by more sophisiticated techniques.
Hopefully it is a problem which will decline with time.
See this website - http://www.dowagro.com/uk/grass_bites/faq/allotment.htm