On 11 Aug, 13:28, Charlie Pridham wrote:
In article , says...





"Charlie Pridham" *wrote ...
Some kind person has dumped two lorry loads of fresh horse manure at the
side of our gates to our allotments, a large grab lorry was seen dropping
it
over the fence.
Considering what's going on these days regarding herbicides I wonder if
there is any way to tell if this mountain of manure is contaminated
before
some of our gardeners start use it.

yes just put some young tomato plants in it the leaves will react in
hours if there are problems

But this stuff is fresh and steaming Charlie, so unless I'm mistaken would
burn the roots anyway.
Could dilute some and use it as a fertilizer, would that work or is the
herbicide not water soluble?

worth a try, tomatoes are incredibly sensitive to the stuff.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwallwww.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea- Hide quoted text -

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I would go along with Charlies recomendation of planting a couple of
Tomato plants in it.
If you havnt got any plants to spare then whilst the manure is rotting
down you have time to root a couple of sideshoots that are meing
removed from tomato plants, they will root easily and will be fine
for testing the manure when it's rotted down a bit, alternativly once
it starts cooling you could use a marrow or cucumber plant, they are
also sensitive to hormones in compost.
It could be that someone is stuck with the manure as everyone starts
to panic and they just have to get rid of it and thought they would be
doing you all a favour.
Also you didn't say if it is straw or shavings in the manure.

David Hill
Abacus Nurseries.