"Dave Hill" wrote after Charlie Pridham wrote:

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.

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.

It's straw which is why I'm concerned for the new young gardeners that are
champing at the bit to get some on their plots.

Ok will tell the others to try that Tomato thing. I get mine from a stables
I've known for years, they only deliver to regulars, and they keep it 12
months in a field before delivering so it's wonderful stuff with no straw
showing.

Last year someone actually removed our gates and dumped a lorry load of wood
shavings/manure on someone's "new" allotment. They simply dug it in as they
were double digging the plot over to remove all the large
stones/bricks/concrete etc . Despite us old codgers saying it will not do
the soil any good fresh it's certainly broken up the clay/silt on their
plot.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden