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.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

Bob Hobden 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.



No, I'm afraid there's no reliable way of testing for the presence of
aminopyralid in manure or compost without actually growing something in
it to see if it becomes affected.

Also, contamination may not be uniformly spread throughout the
manure/compost (gardeners have reported irregular patches of affected
crops on a single plot) so even if there was a reliable test available
it would be impossible to test it all!

I strongly suspect that the manure you have had dumped near your
allotment may well be contaminated so would advise against using it.
Many farmers are going to be faced with huge disposal bills to get rid
of affected manure so we will be seeing more and more of it dumped over
the coming weeks and months.

On 10/08/08 15:02, Sandy wrote:
Bob Hobden 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.



No, I'm afraid there's no reliable way of testing for the presence of
aminopyralid in manure or compost without actually growing something in
it to see if it becomes affected.

Also, contamination may not be uniformly spread throughout the
manure/compost (gardeners have reported irregular patches of affected
crops on a single plot) so even if there was a reliable test available
it would be impossible to test it all!

I strongly suspect that the manure you have had dumped near your
allotment may well be contaminated so would advise against using it.
Many farmers are going to be faced with huge disposal bills to get rid
of affected manure so we will be seeing more and more of it dumped over
the coming weeks and months.

Would it not be ok if it were left to rot in a pile for a year or so?

Ed

In article , says...
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
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

In article , ex@directory says...
On 10/08/08 15:02, Sandy wrote:
Bob Hobden 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.



No, I'm afraid there's no reliable way of testing for the presence of
aminopyralid in manure or compost without actually growing something in
it to see if it becomes affected.

Also, contamination may not be uniformly spread throughout the
manure/compost (gardeners have reported irregular patches of affected
crops on a single plot) so even if there was a reliable test available
it would be impossible to test it all!

I strongly suspect that the manure you have had dumped near your
allotment may well be contaminated so would advise against using it.
Many farmers are going to be faced with huge disposal bills to get rid
of affected manure so we will be seeing more and more of it dumped over
the coming weeks and months.

Would it not be ok if it were left to rot in a pile for a year or so?

Ed


unfortunately a year is a bit short, you get similar problems with grass
mowings after hormone weedkiller use and its normally 2 seasons before
the effects go
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

"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?

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

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 Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

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 -

- Show quoted text -

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.

"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.

I think that was a lousy thing to do, they would have known what they were
doing all right, horse manure is very difficult to get rid of nowadays, in
the old days it could be burnt but not any more. I used to have to pay a
local farmer to take my muck heap away, he used to dump it in the corner of
a fields so that is what I do now and it rots down easily, I am using some
that is about 6 years old and it is splendid, I just spread it on the
borders late Autumn. So if you do have a corner you can dump it in that is
worth doing but take care that they don't keep on dumping it. If it is
coming from a big stable yard the chances are that there will be manure from
horses that are on medication which is not too good for your plants.

kate

"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

On 11 Aug, 16:57, "Bob Hobden" wrote:
"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

Yes it will certainly break up clay but you'll still get nitrogen
depletion at first. I was given lots of this many years ago and it
worked wonders for the soil structure on a very difficult plot .

"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