Safe to eat manured veg

[peapod]

Hi, I have read that even if you use well rotted manure as a mulch, we shouldn’t eat anything raw grown in it, i guess salads etc, is this right? I have used horse manure in the past, but now have a nice steady supply of alpaca droppings which I leave for a year. Thank you in advance.

[charles]

Some people claim this but if it were true, humanity would not be thriving, in my opinion! Its all about details, for example on American feedlots where the cows eat no grass, are confined , and are having to digest a corn-based diet which is not their natural food, the manure contains some harmful ecoli. But this is unlikely in the manure found by most of us.
Your alpaca poo will be fine after a year. I use old manure and am growing many, healthy salads.

[peapod]

Thank you for a very prompt reply, I will carry on then.

Another question, I grew a courgette plant last summer next to a pile of this manure, it had huge healthy leaves, but not as many courgettes as I’ve had in the past, do you think this was because of the high nitrogen content, if so is it better to only use it on leafy veg,

[Author]

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