"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...

The International gardening ngs have been full of articles about horse
poop contaminated with a herbicide used for pasture. Apparently this
herbicide can be residual in horse poop and will especially kill or stunt
things like tomatoes or potatoes (these two being particularly sensitive).
No mentions so far of greens having a problem by being stunted or bubbly,
but the description of one plant doing well and one only a few inches away
doing very poorly is similar to the probs people have experienced.

hm, and "eww".

mind you, have had the good plant/dud plant dichotomy going on ever since i
began gardening, so the possible reasons might be endless!

The 2 herbicides (control of broadleaf weeds) are Aminopyralid and
Clopyralid. I know they are used here as my husband has some of
herbicides for paddock use where these are the active ingredient - bloody
good stuff for the weeds that need knocking too. The Poms have banned
them for no good reason that I can see other than the sale of contaminated
horse poop to gardeners.

That 'may' be a factor but even if it is, don't worry about it as the
recommended way for it to disappear is to spread the manure. Course the
Poms like to pile it so they get that mythical thing "well rotted manure".
Piling it concentrates the stuff.

Have you tried adding a pinch of trace
elements when you'd done your bed preparation? Or even a one off
application of packet chemical stuff at the start.

don't know anything about that stuff even if inclined, so no.

I would recommend it. Your soil is lacking in nutrients and some of the
trace elements are very important for plant growth. I have a bottle of
trace elements (about the size of a mid size Vegemite jar) and I've had it
for at least a decade. I never used to use it but started to give the
beds a dash of it once a year and I'm convinced it has made a difference
to overall health and performance. When I do my Spring fertilising of 9
parts (I use old kitchen cup measures and measure 2 and a quarter cups)
Blood and Bone and 1 part Sulphate of Potash (quarter of a cup) I add
about a teaspoon of the trace elements.

ok, thank you :-)

i've been
adding in blood & bone periodically as well as keeping the mulch going,
and have even been organised enough to have limed a few times! :-)
oh well, thanks farmie.

Most welcome. Must be about time for the annual Axe murderer's lunch????

i think it must be getting on for that time!!
/heads out to sharpen axe
kylie