Hormone Weedkiller in Manure

[ceres]

Can we all cease and desist from propagating the myth that aminopyralid breaks down once in contact with the soil. It does not.

Do you have a reference/citation/proof to support your assertion?

[Trevor_D]

Regarding the danger to water: it is not licenced for use in New York State for precisely this reason!

And American websites specifically state that it should not be used on any grassland (eg camp-sites or parks) which may be used by children, in case it is accidentally ingested.

[tonybloke]

Received this from my M.P. yesterday

[thifasmom]

can you give a summary i can't see it properly to read it, thanks.

[tonybloke]

Phil woolas, M.P.(minister for environment),  responding to my M.P.'s letter to Lord Rooker about Aminopyralid.  He states that although the presence of aminopyralid has not been confirmed in any cases of crop damage, it is likely that it is the culprit in some cases. Blaming farmers for not adhering to labels on product. Dow have withdrawn products from sale containing aminopyralid, and the PSD have formally suspended their auyhorisations whilst they investigate the options for preventing a recurrence of this problem. A key issue in their consideration wil be whether the conditions of use regarding manure are sufficient, or sufficiently well known!!

[thifasmom]

thanks for that.

[froglets]

Hi All,

A ray of hope here.

We used the manure on heavy clay and to aid breaking the clay up on the bed, OH rotovated the council compost. manure & clay to a really fine tilth.  We forgot to settle the soil again before planting Anya's.  Ok, we lost all the beans in that bed and the photo of our Anya top growth looking curled and stunted is appearing on websites all over the place.  We left the potatos to do their thing & got on with the other jobs.

Well, we have a harvest of potatoes!  They are horribly knobbly, not like the Anya from non contaminated areas, so I showed them to a couple of people on site & their response was, that's what happens to Anya's when they're starved of nutrients.

OK, they're still contaminated, but at least the plants managed to recover enough to produce a goodly load of tubers.

What I take from this is that the oxygen we introduced by tilling the soil & not knocking it back down again has accelerated the breakdown of the weedkiller.  I did wonder when I started to see dock like weeds coming up but being cynical, I just tought that was the icing on the cake - kill the spuds but not the weeds.......

It may be worth "fluffing" up your soil with a Tiller or such like and see if that accelerates the breakdown of the nasties - gott abe worth a go.

Cheers

[thifasmom]

Hi All,

A ray of hope here.

We used the manure on heavy clay and to aid breaking the clay up on the bed, OH rotovated the council compost. manure & clay to a really fine tilth........

It may be worth "fluffing" up your soil with a Tiller or such like and see if that accelerates the breakdown of the nasties - gott abe worth a go.

Cheers

Your outcome i would say supports this remedy found on this site:
http://www.allotment.org.uk/garden-diary/273/aminopyralid-contaminated-manure/

[froglets]

<LOL>

This is our Lottie site!  The guy who runs that web site is one of the ones I showed the Anyas too & he took the piccie of the foliage that is now circulating all over the show!

[thifasmom]

<LOL>

This is our Lottie site!  The guy who runs that web site is one of the ones I showed the Anyas too & he took the piccie of the foliage that is now circulating all over the show!

its a small world after all

[PurpleHeather]

This problem has not gone away. The land sprayed with the substance earlier this year will still be effecting vegetation grown on it.

I am not a scientist but it seems to me that the active ingredient stays active. It is diluted either by water or by 'clean' organic material to the point where it is too weak to be harmful.

Does any one know of any proper tests?

Me thinks that if the active ingredient does become inactive, in time. The manufacturers would be the ones keenest to show this.

Sometimes one learns from what is NOT said.

[theothermarg]

Full page on it in the Daily Mail! it doesn,t add anything to what has already been said here, just thought someone might be interested
marg

[ceres]

It's good to hear it's still getting coverage, marg.  The more publicity, the less folks will be affected next year.