This topic contains 36 replies, has 13 voices, and was last updated by Steve Long 4 years, 8 months ago.
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Hi Mark and this is so maddening.
I attach two photos of growth in normal and aminopyralid-affected compost, to help any others with identifying the issue.
Symptoms include curling of new leaves, pale colour and small size.Does this problem only involve horse manure? Cows manure is never mentioned: maybe their digestion is more thorough?
Plantmark,
Sorry to learn of your experience, its worrying at a number of levels. I believe that its actually advised that crop residue treated with this compound, should not leave the field.
Dow are aware of the issue, see their information site at :
http://www.manurematters.co.uk/home.htm
Unfortunately there are no ‘approved standards’ for the manure supplied; although your suppliers’ forage should have.
Having seen the “greenwaste” bin at the local amenity site, and the dubious material it contains, I am fearful of this material also, especially in the light of lawn weedkiller .Yes Cleansweep it seems farmers sign an agreement that ‘produce grown with it does not leave the farm’.
So much for signed papers!Dalesman, cow manure is safe from aminopyralid because it’s an expensive weedkiller that they don’t need, mainly because they make silage not hay, and silage is cut before ragwort might be much grown + their leys are recent rather than old pasture, also because they are on a tighter budget than horse owners.
I do wonder about the fear of ragwort https://friendsoftheearth.uk/nature/ragwort-poisonous-ragwort-mythbuster and whether this helps Dow to sell their horrible herbicide.
It is also in some grass mowings, not much yet as far as I can tell.Out of curiosity, I hope as I got some horse manure very recently, does this noxious stuff eventually break down if left for long enough? Will anything grow in it or are all non-grass plants damaged?
Hi Charles and Mark,
I fear that I too have become a victim of Aminopyralid contamination. I thought I would post here as a follow up to yours, and thank you Mark for all your posts on the subject, hugely helpful, and of course Charles for your continuing wonderful and generous advice on all things.
In brief, I took on a plot last year at my local allotment. Hadn’t been touched for 5 years and I’ve had a great time returning it to cultivation, based on Charles books, videos, forums, and courses! Initially I covered with bagged compost about 5cm deep and covered in fabric (Permatex) from June 2017. I removed the fabric end of March 2018 and made 20 beds of 4.8m x 1.2m. I used well rotted horse manure from a local farm. I did ask them about Aminopyralid (oh no nothing like that), and since our allotments have always used them I figured it would be fine. And then covered the horse manure with a few cm of the finer bagged compost.
All seemed fine, initial growth was excellent, weeds have been scarce. I also constructed a greenhouse in the spring and filled the bed with the same horse manure and compost.
20 June was the day I realised this might be Aminopyralid.
Potatoes (King Edward) were starting to show leaf curl after a healthy start. Dwarf French Beans Speedy were doing badly, I had initially assumed due to cold nights. Broad Beans, previously growing well, started to show distortions. Tomatoes in the greenhouse were showing some leaf curl.
I started a bioassay test on June 25th. Six 5″ pots with a 50:50 mixture of the well rotted horse manure and multipurpose compost, six pots with just the compost. Four different bean types in each (Greek Gigantes, Dwarf French Bean Speedy, Climbing French Bean Cobra, Broad Bean Aquadulce Claudia). Those in the compost only pots grew fairly well, those in the mixture were poor. I’d had 3 x 4 tonne deliveries of the horse manure over the months, and I used two samples from each batch. Pics below.Despite this, some plants have done well. Tomatoes (Sungold, Sakura, Iris), mostly in the greenhouse, have been super productive, but had quite a bit of leaf curl. I assumed this was AP, but maybe its leaf roll (he said hopefully)?
Potatoes were doing really well, but started to get leaf curl in June. Charlotte still produced well, King Edwards not so well. Peas were very successful, but French Beans (Speedy and Cobra) planted in the same bed were terrible. Greek Gigantes Beans started badly after planting out, but after a month have come back to life and are now thriving. Jerusalem Artichokes (which should be v. susceptible?) have had mixed results, most showing leaf curl at some point, most recovering fine, a few less so. Onions have seemed Ok but not very big, beetroot good, corn good.So I’d appreciate your view on all this. I have assumed this is AP and that I’ll need to strip all the raised beds off and start again. Which depressed me for a few days back in June, but I’m over that now!
Many thanks if you got this far!
And a few more pics to add to the above post
Ah Paul this is so frustrating after all the effort you put in to reclaim the wild area.
I would not remove what is there because I suspect the ap has finally or almost finally broken down, in contact with soil organisms.
Your crops are certainly not the worst and greenhouse tomatoes show a mild effect only.
Do a bioassay on a bed with a few broad bean or pea seeds.Sarah Raven suffered it this year with here fine new bed of dahlia bulbs. She was so upset and has got her MP on it and the NFU, I hope that makes a difference as this stuff is lethal and should not be allowed ever again.
Farmers are supposed not to sell treated material, and they sign an agreement to that effect: your farmer must have done that, unless nobody is enforcing it.
It’s a legal requirement, was a condition for Dow being allowed to sell it again after the original ban.Helpful tips Mark.
On longevity in soil, I reckon it depends on the amount/concentration in manure.
Paul seems to have relatively little and I suspect it is mostly gone now.
The advice to rotovate (aargh) is just taken from the lexicon of misunderstandings about soil, and what do Dow know or care?
Rotovating kills a lot of microbes.
Whereas compost (old manure in this case) encourages microbes, worms etc to feed at the surface, as is their habit. Breakdown of ap should then be quicker than if it were incorporated.
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