"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
"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,

If it's fresh and steaming, have a really good look at it. You should be
able to break open some of the plops and see what the horse has been eating.
If it is full of grain then there is a fair chance the horses have been
stabled and, if it also contains either sawdust or hay or good feed that
looks likes it's dropped onto the floor and then gone out as stable
sweepings then it is fairly likely that they haven't been out on sprayed
pastures. 2 truck loads of the stuff if it's all of such freshness suggests
to me a stable source anyway.

so unless I'm mistaken would
burn the roots anyway.

I've used it like that on roses, fallow beds and under shrubs, and never
suffered a loss of anything, but then I also know what's in the droppings I
get. Roses seem to like the fresh stuff I've given them.

Could dilute some and use it as a fertilizer, would that work or is the
herbicide not water soluble?

Yes - till it looks like weak tea. Herbicide should be persistent enough in
such a mix. Worth a try given that getting rid of the stuff would be a pain
anyway.

I did a bit of a hunt and found some cites which suggest that the best way
to deal with the stuff is to dig it in and let the soil microbes break it
down and that this is more effective than going the aged manure route.

Hope these cites may help:
http://www.dowagro.com/uk/grass_bites/faq/allotment.htm
http://www.allotment.org.uk/garden-d...yralid-update/
http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/garden.asp?id=2480