Reply To: Manure Trials

[plantmark]

ocrowe, I am so sorry to hear that you have had a problem with AP. I know it is very disheartening but you must keep going! The people who report ongoing problems for several years will without doubt have worked the contaminated material into their soil,
As Charles recommended, don’t broad fork your beds just remove it as best you can. The only fortunate thing was that mine was laid on the surface of firm clay and was easy to identify. I brushed off every last scrap of the contaminated manure. The advice from Dow comes from the fact that they assume everyone mixes the manure with the soil, and that is where it is a much longer process to resolve it.
Once all of the contaminated material was removed I purchased Green Compost for £100 per load (8 loads for my garden including flower beds), which was about 2 tons per load I think. I found it much easier to work with than manure. As the nutrient levels are not as high as that in manure I apply a dressing of pelleted chicken manure to the surface, and everything I plant gets a sprinkle of pellets into the planting hole. Results have been fantastic. I had a great crop of Broad Beans (said to be the most sensitive plant to AP) from the outside beds. Runner and French Beans I am still using from the freezer from last summer. Tomatoes in the greenhouse were superb and towards the end of summer I struggled to get into my 20′ greenhouse for the lush growth. I don’t grow Potatoes as I have limited space. This winter I have had a continuos supply of tasty salads from the greenhouse, Mizuna, various Mustards, Lettuce, Rocket, spinach etc.
So now, I would never again buy animal manure from a source I cannot check, as Don Foley does. I use a small amount which I source from an adjacent field where I know they don’t use weedkillers.
I will continue to use the Green Compost with added Chicken Pellets which gives me great results.