Topic: Aminopyralid advice

[staris]

it's not looking good for me it looks like i may have a 8 ton pile of contaminated manure  >:(
it came from the same farm  that i got a load from a few months earlier ,the first lot is in a lot of my beds my potato's was sat on top of it and they all look ok so hopefully the first load was ok.
the second load i havn't used a lot of,  there was some in my bean trench and the beans are now displaying curled over leaves and a couple of my tomato's are looking a bit dodgy.

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/3131/img0273i.jpg

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/6920/img0276t.jpg

i'll start the bean test to confirm this is the case but it's not looking good, i read that you are better off spreading the manure and digging it over ,i don't like the sound of that with the amount that i've got.
hopefully this is only going to affect one side of my polytunnel most of the plants are in pots with the bottoms cut out with a bit of manure in the bottom, they have only been in a couple of weeks so was thinking that if i take them up and dig out the manure i may be able to save them, any advice please  ???

[grannyjanny]

Sorry to here Staris. Someone with lots of knowledge on this subject will be along soon. If it is contaminated that's a lot of muck to deal with. Good luck.
Janet

[tonybloke]

the tomato looks scorched?  it doesn't look like herbicide damage ;)

[staris]

i hope it is just scorched, the 2 end tomato's have had the suspect manure on them for about a month they even have it as a mulch around the base, the beans don't look good though and i've seen pictures of beans with aminopyralid damage and they look the same as mine, do you think the bean damage could possibly something else the manure was maybe a bit to fresh could that have damaged them ?
there are about 8 people who have had manure from the farm and i'm the only one that seems to be having any problems, but we had 2 drops and i'm fairly sure i'm the only one to have used any from this drop.

[sunloving]

hiya
how gutting
we had this kind of damage last year, its really soul destroying particualrly as the manure thans contaminated is considered toxic and cant be taken the tip.

Had a look at your photos and the beans definately look like amionpyriloid damage.

As far as the good news, we spread rand dug in ours , then dug it another five times over the winter, ours was got well rotted to begin with but now we are seeing a return to at least semi normal growth on the beds that were affected.
If you stack it the amino pyraliod wont break down.

test it with runner beans and best wishes
it might be that dow and the farmer have ruined your patch for a year but hopefully this time next year you will be able to begin to get back to normal.
please consider notifying the pesticides people as they say only a very few people have been effected.

good luck sunlovingx

[staris]

i don't think spreading it on the land is an option i've got about 8 ton of it that would cover the whole of my plot  :(
i've only used this on one bed and and one side of the polytunnel.
i've also noticed that some of the weeds around the manure, nettles and docks are starting to curl the leaves, i'm not sure what to do with my polytunnel one side has the suspect manure, there are peppers, chiles, cucumber ,aurbergine and courgette, they are in pots with the bottoms cut out and have manure in the bottom but none are showing any damage.

[bigshod]

Having had affected manure last year, I can confirm that your plants have all the signs of the same effect.
If you can take the manure from the tomato pots and water well and frequently you may get away with it.
If your manure is next to your polytunnel you may find plants inside it are affected. I found it warped the growth of tomatoes up to 6 feet away from my muckheap, which was unfortunately upslope from my greenhouse.
By the way, spuds I didn't get out of the ground last year are coming through contorted - the aminopyralid is in the tuber. Where will it end?

[staris]

i thought that the chemical was locked into the plant cells and doesn't stay in the soil but if you got symptoms and few feet away this can't be the case.
this is a nightmare for using manure in the future as we can't tell what is infected and what is not, mine came from a local farmer who has supplied us before with no problem so even if you test it before you use it you can still be stuck with a big pile of dodgy manure.
i've only got the manure on 2 tomato's which i'm going to get rid of, the otherside of my tunnel i've pulled up the pots and dug it out.

[telboy]

Staris,
the symptoms are like the top of your bean but would affect the whole plant. Aminopyralid stops the plant having the ability to uptake nutrients. Having said that, if the roots started off in good soil & then grew into contamination (as in your trench) then you may have probs..
Try a few seeds directly in the manure & let us know.

[staris]

we have spoken to the farmer and he said he does not use aminopyralid on his land and he doesn't buy any feed in either, the manure was very fresh looking and he said were it came from it was very wet with urine so was to strong and that is probably what has caused the damage, would it cause that sort of damage ?

[Eristic]

No.

The farmer is a lier.

[amphibian]

I'd demand that the farmer removes the contaminated manure from your property.

[staris]

I'd demand that the farmer removes the contaminated manure from your property.

i'm not going to demand anything at the moment, i've mailed DOW, the RHS and the HSE, i'm also doing the bean test i want to be sure before i start accusing anybody i think thats only fair.

[amphibian]

I'd demand that the farmer removes the contaminated manure from your property.

i'm not going to demand anything at the moment, i've mailed DOW, the RHS and the HSE, i'm also doing the bean test i want to be sure before i start accusing anybody i think thats only fair.

That's very measured and reasonable. However, if you demonstrate that your manure is contaminated there is no reason whatever, why you should be left to deal with the toxic waste you have seemingly been lumbered with. Farmers have a tough time, but ultimately they have to accept responsibility for what they put on their crops. If the farmer feels aggrieved then ultimately that is an issue for them to take up with DOW, there is no reason why amateurs like us, should be burdened with picking up the pieces left from yet another agro-chemical balls-up.

[chriscross1966]

Is it possible that the (possible) aminopyralid has come in on bedding straw?..... It "sticks" to grasses after all..... glad I've got a source of manure which I can guarantee..... that said I have to walk round the field of horses collecting it in a bucket myself...... but at least I can tell that that field hasn't had a broadleaf weedkiller applied .... or indeed any fungicide,  so I'm hoping for some mushrooms this autumn :-)......

chrisc

[sunloving]

Aminopyralid was not approved for cereal crops so in theory it should not be on bedding straw.
I think most people have used it on pastures and so feed and hay will be the most likley sources.

[chriscross1966]

Aminopyralid was not approved for cereal crops so in theory it should not be on bedding straw.
I think most people have used it on pastures and so feed and hay will be the most likley sources.

I'm pretty certain I saw "Banish" being sprayed onto a wheat crop round here a couple of years ago.... at least that's what I think was on the drum that was being loaded, I mgiht be wrong... I know farmers as I was brought up in the countryside and with some of them, if you offer them a better broadleaf weedkiller, they will spray it all over cereals whatever the packet says....

chrisc

[staris]

well i'm no further forward on working out what is going on here, all my broad beans are starting to recover but in the polytunnel i got rid of the two damaged tomato's and have replaced them with two more which one is in a completly different postion and they are both starting to curl up on the top leaves just like the first ones, these have definatly not had any manure on them.