Horse Manure

[DensParticipant]

That sounds very encouraging. Just got to check if our horse manure supply is Aminopyralid free and then I can get shovelling.
Thanks Derek.

[MulchpilekidParticipant]

Thanks for all the information on this… I’m expecting a load of horse muck on Sunday, so have been mugging up! The name Dow’s aminopyralid goes by is Forefront T, suggested as the ideal way of ridding grassland of ragwort, which is ‘poisonous to horses’. Reading the Dow brochure, http://uk.dowagro.com/manuals/Ragwort-control-guide-Feb-14/files/assets/common/downloads/TP20048%20Ragwort%20v4GB.pdf, it says manure should be kept on the farm and used on grazing grasslands, but does NOT say should not be used for allotments or that it is noxious to most vegetables…so I’m guessing farmers just don’t realise – even if they have read the small print! So may be worth asking if they use Forefront T to control ragwort before taking delivery.

[DerekParticipant]

Mulch – you need to be careful just asking about 1 product as there are many products sold containing the active ingredients aminopyralid and closely related products like clopryalid, all of which may produce the same symptoms.

The only way to know if you are bringing in manure is to test.

[WelliesParticipant]

I had a 7 tonne load of cow muck / bedding delivered by a farmer friend. I decided against using it on my veg areas after learning about aminopyralid. It is still in a big heap waiting for me to spread it on a grazing area instead of the veg areas.
I did ask my friend about aminopyralid in any of his farm chemicals he uses. He told me the names of the two chemicals he uses. I found the technical details of these on the respective web sites and tried to determine if they contained aminopyralid. The information is there but in a very complicated format that requires you to have a phd in chemistry to understand. I couldn’t make sense of it all and just assumed there was a chance it does contain aminopyralid. I think the manufacturers hide the “bad news” within overly complicated documents so that most people don’t understand it but they have complied with their legal obligations.

[charlesModerator]

Yes the corporations don’t want to inform us.
Wellies in this case, I would trust the manure is alright because it’s cow manure. I have not heard of cow farmers being worried by the weeds that aminopyralids kill, especially ragwort.
Plus cow farmers are not keeping animals for hobby or pleasure, but are in business and don’t want to buy expensive aminopyralid herbicides.
If unsure, do a sowing test with peas in the manure, on a windowsill.

[WelliesParticipant]

Thanks Charles.
It would be far easier to spread it around where the heap is than shift it a hundred metres into the next field.

[Steve LongParticipant]

I’ve been using well-rotted horse manure mixed with soil for years, but lately created several beds using the horse-manure only, having noticed how well stinging nettles were growing on the source pile. When I say well-rotted, I mean at least 3 years old! I noticed that if you dig too deep into the pile it’s a lighter brown colour and smelly, so I presume that’s the anaerobic bacteria at work. When I reach down to that layer I just leave it for a few weeks and sure enough it darkens and loses the smell.

We’ve had no problems with leaf curl, and the only plants that put on too much green growth at the expense of flowering were annual cosmos. I suspect that was caused by a mulch of wood chippings though. All our flowers and vegetables have done just great, apart from the cabbages, which bolted.

I think our horse manure may be better for gardening because the horse is allergic to straw, so we use wood chippings for bedding.

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