Hormone Weedkiller in Manure

[glallotments]

I suppose you all know that it was mentioned on Gardeners' Question Time http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/gqt/

[ceres]

Yes, amphibian posted it on the other thread.  But I listened last night on iPlayer and it's not in that version.

[moonbells]

Thanks for all this info. So far nobody at our site has complained of a problem, but I've submitted a short piece for the next newsletter so that folk are forewarned and will know what it is should it appear. 

I've also added the weblinks that are given in this thread. I expect most folk on our site get their manure from just one person, and when I next see him, I'll make him aware of it too. I'll bet he makes a *lot* of cash from allotments so he won't want to jeopardise it!

moonbells

[glallotments]

Sky news web page has an article about Gordon Brown complaining that we are wasting food. I have emailed a comment about how much food this problem is wasting. If many more of us do maybe it will be noted. the link is http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/Prime-Minister-Gordon-Brown-Urges-Families-To-Waste-Less-Food-Ahead-Of-G8-Summit-In-Hokkaido/Article/200807115026136?lpos=Business_2&lid=ARTICLE_15026136_Prime%2BMinister%2BGordon%2BBrown%2BUrges%2BFamilies%2BTo%2BWaste%2BLess%2BFood%2BAhead%2BOf%2BG8%2BSummit%2BIn%2BHokkaido#comment

Sorry its so long - comments are moderated so may not get though but we can try!

BBC news ahave a comments section on this too http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=5071&edition=1&ttl=20080707153934

[slugcatcher]

This problem seems to be escalating, so I have been doing a few searches about the chemical and the company. I came across a page that Greenpeace was interested in, here is a copy of an email I have sent to another forum.

Hi…I have written to Greenpeace as I came across a report that worried me about some other chemical (PLEASE READ ALL OF IT)

http://www.stanford.edu/group/SICD/DowChemical/dow.html

The name of the company rang alarm bells so I checked the “about us” of DowAgrosSciences webpage the manufacturers of the weedkiller, they say

“Dow AgroSciences is a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company.”

Which is the company that the report is about.

Just thought it was worth noting.
Ron

[littlebabybird]

hi ceres, every one

i have read and re read but i cant see what i am meant to do with the effected plant matter?
i'm lucky only 1/2 of my plot got manured but i have lots of damaged potatoes and beans that are very poorly
also
should i scrap the plants on the same piece of land that are not affected?
lbb

[ceres]

Firstly, are you sure that you have hormone weedkiller damage - the foliage is very distinctive, curled and fernlike?  There are photos posted to compare with.  Plants can be poorly for many reasons - if you don't have the distinctive foliage, you don't have the weedkiller.

If you are sure that you do have the weedkiller damage, then there is expert advice from the RHS and Dow on what to do.  Any unused manure should be returned to the supplier for spreading on grass or pasture.  If they will take unused manure back, they may be willing to take affected plant matter too.  If they won't (which will be the majority I imagine) then if possible spread or dig the stuff into grassed areas.  If this is not possible (again for most of us) then the remaining options are to put it in your household rubbish bin (not the green waste one) or let it dry out and burn it.  It shouldn't be composted or put in green recycling bins.

If you have weedkiller affected plants, I would treat any plants in the same manured ground as suspect even if they don't show the signs and I would dispose of them the same way as the affected plants.  But please be completely sure first that you do in fact have weedkiller damage.

[littlebabybird]

the council/rep says thats what it is, they arrange the manure deliver to us and another lotty site
she says the cases on the other site are confirmed so that must be what our problem is

[ceres]

You should have an easier job than the rest of us getting rid of your affected material then.

I hope you, or someone from your site, and from the other site too is writing to the PSD and Dow giving the details of the contamination.

[littlebabybird]

i will email the ones in the links tomorrow after a proper look round our site and an attempt to get into barsbrook to see whats happening over there
thank you for all the info
lbb

[northener]

Can i be cheeky and ask someone to explain in a nutshell what its all about. Its obviously a concern with the number of replyys but i don't have the time to read all the links.

[ceres]

A new weedkiller (aminopyralid) was brought to the market 2 years ago by Dow.  It is sprayed on pasture and animal bedding and feed crops by farmers to kill broad-leaved weeds.  The sprayed material gets eaten by animals and it gets passed out as manure.  The weedkiller is very persistent so it is still active when we use affected manure on our plots.  It causes very distinctive distorted growth on 'sensitive' crops - potatoes, tomatoes, beans, lettuce, raspberries.  It is currently a nationwide problem - hundreds if not thousands of gardeners are affected.  If you want any more, you'll have to go back and read! 

[northener]

Thanks Ceres. Greedy farmers? Has the substance been banned?

[twinkletoes]

Northerner, you really just need to read this thread - all the information is there and although there is a lot of responses to go through you will probably find a lot of your questions have already been answered in depth.  There is also another thread under Edible Plants - "Catastrophic Potato Problem" which is on the same theme.
twinkletoes

[Gail-M]

 Hi everyone,

This is terrible !! There was a small item on Countryfile or Landward last week which is how I was first aware of the problem but I had no idea it was affecting so many of us growers.

I have a long double row of raspberries that were growing fine early on then started dying off - leaves shrivelling, browning, then canes look dead. I cut out the affected ones. Each end of the row look ok & now have fruit.

I was thinking it was raspberry root rot but not sure. The after reading all this info i recalled that sometime in the winter I had put some spare manure on the middle part of the raspberry bed - could this be the problem ? any way I could be sure ?

The potatoes and broad beans look ok so far - but that manure was dug in last autumn after being stacked for 6-12 months.

I was planning on putting a load of manure of the rasps & see if they recover next year - now don't know what to do. 

Any advice welcome....


I find it strange no authority can say for sure if it is safe or not to eat the produce .................


regards Gail

[glallotments]

PSD have issued an update today  - this is a quote from it:

Based on reasonable worst case assumptions: that cattle are only fed grass, or silage made from grass, treated with aminopyralid; that vegetables are grown in soil mixed with manure produced from the animals; and that all the aminopyralid released from the manure is taken up into the plants; the highest residues would not be a concern for health, so vegetables should be safe to eat.
Link is http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php?action=post;topic=43062.40;num_replies=54

I have also added some info on our web site http://www.glallotments.btik.com/p_Contaminated_Manure.ikml - if you don't want to read thread - all the information is there set out as an article.

At least one MP is now asking for a Parliamentary debate!

[Trevor_D]

At least one MP is now asking for a Parliamentary debate!

Hooray! Let's all lobby our MPs to push it! (Which MP, by the way? It'll be helpful to know, so that we can exert pressure.)

[ceres]

Paul Burstow, Sutton & Cheam - YAY!!!

http://paulburstow.org.uk/news/000879/allotment_holders_up_in_arms_over_contaminated_manure.html

[moonbells]

Letter seen in the Grauniad:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/14/food

moonbells

[ceres]

Thanks moonbells!  Good letter.