Horse compost revisited

[Vinther]

Hello,

[NB! my apologies if this posting is doublicated – i couldn’t see my first posting after an edit]

I learned about the aminopyralid issue in this forum only few days after I had purchased 4 m3 horse compost and laid a 15 cm layer on my new beds. According to the vender the compost should be ripe, but when I shifted it onto the beds, it was steaming in the middle of the pile, so maybe it is not quite decomposed after all.

However, I have made a germination test comparing the horse compost with my home-made green compost and the results are not uplifting. After 10 days the germination results are:

My own compost: broad beans 70%, peas 30%, salads 70%
Horse compost: broad beans 40%, peas 10%, salads 0%

I sowed 10 broad beans, 10 peas and 40 salads in each type of compost. The broad beans in my own compost is roughly twice the size of those in the horse compost. I guess I’ll have to wait a few more days to see how the leaves are developing.

This leads me to ask two questions:
1) if the horse compost is contaminated with aminopyralid, will it eventually be broken down, or is it there forever?
2) if I plant vegetables that are not impaired by the aminopyralid, will it then be absorbed in the plants, and in turn in my body?

Regards
Erik

[Author]

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