Warning! Contaminated manure & compost - Its back in 2009

We all still need to be careful when getting manure/compost, there are reports that the same problems are occuring this year!

Some of you will no doubt remember the bad experiences I and many others had with contaminated compost last year:http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/contaminated-manure-compost-15248.html?t=15248

In summary our problem was caused by a new very persistant weedkiller which was finding its way into manure/compost. Last year many of us unwittingly bought bags of compost or deliveries of farm yard manure that killed off our crops. In the end we got the weedkiller banned, that was in July 2008.

Trouble is the weedkiller is very persistant and reports suggest some farmers are not aware it has been banned and are still spraying

The lady who ran the successful campaign last year is keeping tabs on it here:
Victims of Contaminated Manure 2009

Just be aware of the problem folks, I'm not scare mongering as I'm certain the problems will be very limited this year. Just ask a few basic questions if you are getting any farmyard manure this year, or are using a pile already dumped on your allotment.

:gnthb:

 

Larkshall; I think thats true, I've heard of one compost manufacturer getting stables to confirm in writing that aminopyralid (the weedkiller) has not been used in any of their manure, hay etc. I reckon they would pass on any compensation claims to the stables, so thats bound to add onto the costs.

Steve; thanks for asking if my garden has recovered from last spring (when I spread 30 bags of contaminated compost (ironically labelled as organic) over most of my veg patch).

Since then I have thoroughly mixed the contaminated compost into the soil to help break down the weedkiller. I swapped soil from untreated beds into my greenhouses which were the worst affected. This seems to have worked as none of my crops show any damage this year. I have concentrated on generating more of my own compost to lessen the risk of poisoning my plants. I've produced something like 2000 litres, which is double what I've made in previous years. The only compost I've bought is for seeds, maybe next year I'll try producing some of that.

I still have one of the compost bags remaining from last year, so I decided to do a little experiment. About 4 weeks ago I planted one tomato plant into a mixture of 50% contaminated compost with 50% garden soil. The tomato is just starting to show fern like growth which is the sign of herbicide damage - (picture taken 22nd June 2009):



This goes to show that aminopyralid does not break down in compost,even after a year it is still potent.