manure test

[zigzig]

The stuff (Aminopyrolid) was withdrawn a couple of years ago. But contaminated straw could still be around. In fact old batches of the herbicide may even be  in use still if some one bought several years supply.

Not only vegetables and fruit but flowers and other plants too can grow distorted if they are not killed off altogether by it.

The tests with beans will only tell you if the active ingredient is still active as a plant/weed killer (it does not show if there is aother element in the chemical which could cause other health problems, as yet unknown).

On the bright side. I know some one who grew a fantastic crop of onions using contaminated manure. Their onion bed was almost totally free of weeds too.

[zigzig]

[tonybloke]

 :(
there was me expecting to see different types of manure for us to identify!! ::)

[Digeroo]

The stuff (Aminopyrolid) was withdrawn a couple of years ago.

But is has since been relicenced with stewardship rules.  Except there is no way to monitoring whether these rules are being adhered to, and extremely difficult to trace the source of problems.  I am sure it will escape again.

It will be interesting to see how long it is before someone complains that their potatoes or beans look funny.

[staris]

i had manure contaminated with aminopyralid about 2 years ago, the strange thing is that about 10 of us got manure from the same farmer who swears he hasn't used the stuff and i was the only one who had a problem , i've since had another 2 drops from the same farmer and has all been tested and is ok.
so i've no idea how the first lot was contaminated but i always check before i use any now.

[chriscross1966]

One thought drawn from my own experience regarding these occasional very small-locality problems that people assume are contaminated manure.... weedkiller overspray from the near vicinity.... I lost a crop of garlic to it once. Thankfully it was my own weedkiller so it was just a lesson learned.... the lesson was not to spray the stuff but use a watering can, the bigger drops can't drift in the way that spray did.....even on a flat-still evening....

[Morris]

Thank you all for your replies.

Unless anyone rushes in to tell me not to, I'm going to start shovelling the manure at the weekend. The test (a 65cm diameter pot with broad beans and peas) has been planted up for just over two weeks now and the seedlings are growing away really strongly. They are in perfect condition, no blemishes to any of the leaves. As said before, they are in a heated greenhouse (not that the heat has been needed as the weather is very mild at the moment).

Is this OK?

[chriscross1966]

Thank you all for your replies.

Unless anyone rushes in to tell me not to, I'm going to start shovelling the manure at the weekend. The test (a 65cm diameter pot with broad beans and peas) has been planted up for just over two weeks now and the seedlings are growing away really strongly. They are in perfect condition, no blemishes to any of the leaves. As said before, they are in a heated greenhouse (not that the heat has been needed as the weather is very mild at the moment).

Is this OK?

That's fine, broad beans distort very quickly if they find aminopyralid....