Suspected aminopyraliod damage from a well known compost brand

[sunloving]

I thought it was just a couple of tomatoes but a survey of the dahlia cuttings this morning shows quite a bit of damage.

I potted these up in the wickes multipurpose compost i bought in march. Please if you bought this keep a close watch on your newly growing stuff. Ive emailed them about it but its only three years since we lost 40 dahlia varieites and i d be gutted if this year the replacements weve been nurturing were also killed off.

A plague on both their houses.
x Sunloving

[sunloving]

[saddad]

I'm using it and noticed some of my potting on was suffering... I thought it was the silly weather...   :o

[grannyjanny]

This is getting beyond a joke, not that we have found it at all funny. What can we do??????????.

[goodlife]

I have used some amount of wickes compost in ground (not in my garden)...and so far so good..I haven't noticed anything unusual in new growth, but then again would it affect flowers same as veg...is veg more 'tender'?

[shirlton]

Betty used some cheapo stuff last week and her stuff rotted off.

[Squash64]

Betty used some cheapo stuff last week and her stuff rotted off.

Our Stores chap had been telling us how good this cheap stuff was so I thought I'd give it a try.  Thank goodness I only potted on 4 begonias because the next day they were dead.  That has never ever happened before, but I've always used good compost in the past - Erin or Clover.  I can't remember the make of it, was it something like Focus, Shirl?

[shirlton]

Don't remember the name of it Betty

[Digeroo]

I have some sun flowers in wickes compost and so far no sign of AP.  But I have some beans in Recycled compost which are looking very sad.  So far this has been ok so I am rather frustrated that it too is now showing problems. 

Also beans and raspberries showing minor signs of damage from manure added more than years ago.  Broad beans in one patch flowering well but all the leaves are slightly curled and  pointing upwards.  I have been comparing with other broad beans and their leaves are more or less parallel to the ground.   This seems to get worse when watered from tap, so it if it become very dry taking rainwater for them will be a pain.

I have emailled manurematters about it but failed to even get an automated response.  I also think that the powers that be should be aware of just how long the wretched stuff persists. Certainly no sign of it breaking down in the soil in a relatively short time.

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

Trading Standards.......?

[claybasket]

I never new about this stuff just read up about it ,WOW! it really sounds dangerous ,can it entry the food chain? some lottys in Edinburgh last yr got it from manure from a farm! :-\ is it ok for to feed the live stock contaminated feed ,wonder what the long term effect is for them and us ? I think its meant to be reported to the government department and they trace it back if possible,how long dose it stay in the soil for? what a nightmare to have it in your lotty .

[Duke Ellington]

I used some of that Wickes woody compost to pot on some sweet peppers.  The peppers just don't seem to be growing. They have stood still!! I bought some bags of Verve B&Q and the peppers in this compost are doing really well.
Wickes compost must be robbing the soil of nitrogen due to all the wood in it. I love the garden centres that have an open bag of compost on display!

Duke

[Melbourne12]

It's clear that much modern compost is highly variable in quality.  But I doubt very much that aminopyralid is to blame.  I'd be more inclined to point the finger at the unintended consequences of recycling.

Maybe we're all guilty.  In our enthusiasm to replace peat with recycled materials, we've encouraged the building of giant composters capable of taking all sorts of rubbish.  And targets for recycling are now enshrined in law.

I suspect that I'm typical of most A4A'ers.  All our nice healthy plant waste and veggie kitchen waste goes into our own compost heap.  All the woody prunings, diseased plants, pernicious weeds, and meat waste goes into the municipal bin for organic waste. Or gets taken to the dump, where it's worth looking at the organic waste area.  Our local one is normally full of hedge clippings and woody material from commercial gardeners.  I've never seen municipal grass clippings in it, which would be the only possible source of aminopyralid.

And this is the feedstock for the compost makers, so don't be too surprised that it's not a brilliant growing medium.  After all, garbage in, garbage out.

[sunloving]

I recognise aminopyralid damage from ten feet away , it was only on plants potted into the compost i named. I think i was clear about it.

It important to report these things. three years ago we were scratching our heads trying to understand what was happening to the beds of plants with one batch of manure on and it was only through reading the posts of other people with the same that i discovered what the problem was.

The problem is that the compound has a long life and the waste is being used in a long chain where the origin is unclear and if it is based upon council waste then they should be reporting that they cant certify that weed and feed and aminopyralid type compounds have not been used in its components. therefore it actually should not be leaving the site let alone being sold on to compost producers and users.

It was one bag of the stuff so buy it if you feel like herbicide roulette and are happy to supplement the nitrogen that the wood is sucking out of the soil.

maybe we now need to do bean tests on compost as well as manure!
x sunloving

[chriscross1966]

I second Sunloving here, aminopyralid damage is just so easy to recognise, the mixture of chlorosis and growth defect is just so stereotypical.... thankfully it's only really a pain on beans and tomatoes from what I've seen... I did think potatoes were affected but now reckon my issues there alst year were more drought related than anything else.... but it looks like the areas that got affected manure last year are still an issue. I've got a lot of damage on broad beans this year but it looks like it might only be in places that got manure last year rather than all over (which it would be if this years was affected. I'#m advising all folks who take manure frmo my pile (I've got loads, they're welcome, we're a tiny site) not to use it on beans or tomatoes, but if it goes on spuds then brassicas (and corn/cucrbits) then gets roots before beans then you've got two years for it to rot down and that should be enough....