Sat, 2nd August 2008
What to do if you have Aminopyralid Contaminated Manure
The currently suspended herbicides based on Aminopyralid will be working their way through the food chain to end up on our allotments and gardens for years to come. Assuming the suspension becomes permanent and the farmers stop using their stocks, the problem of contaminated manure will still be around until 2012 or even later.
Testing for Aminopyralid Contaminated Manure
If you suspect your manure is contaminated, the way to test is to start a few tomato plants off and transplant them into a compost with 50% manure. Make sure the manure is chopped finely or shredded and well mixed.
If the plant shows the distorted leaves typical of hormonal weedkiller damage then you know you have the problem.
From what I gather people are being charged over a hundred pounds for a test that basically consists of growing a tomato in the manure and seeing what happens.
What to do if you have Aminopyralid Contaminated Manure
Having discovered you have a load of manure that’s contaminated with this persistent hormonal weedkiller, your next problem is what to do with it.
Legal Redress for Contaminated Manure
Now it has been suggested to me that you might have legal redress against the supplier of the manure and could return it to them. But the supplier of the manure most probably had no idea it was in there. It could have entered the manure directly through cattle or horses grazing on grass sprayed with Aminopyralid or via silage or in the hay or straw.
If people start suing farmers and stables for damages caused by manure, often sold at a price that covers the cost of delivering it, they are either going to stop supplying or put the price up to cover possible liabilities and insurance. Madness. And you’re probably just suing someone who is as much a victim as you are.
The problem with returning manure to the supplier is that you are just passing the buck back to someone probably blameless who has done you a favour. Handling the problem directly makes more ecological sense as well.
Decontaminating the Manure
We know the Aminopyralid is eventually broken down by microbial action in the soil and this is what we need to encourage.
If you have a manure pile and just leave it stacked, or even turn it over, the relative lack of the right microbes means it could be two or three years before it becomes safe to use.
The best way is to select a patch of ground and spread the manure a few inches thick on the surface and then rotovate it well into the soil. Don’t bother sowing anything in there because it could be counter productive as the chemical will be taken up and bound to the lignin in the crop. When composted, the problem cycle starts again as the Aminopyralid releases.
After a month, rotovate again. And again, and again and again. After six months or so it’s probably OK and worth testing with tomatoes or potatoes grown in the soil. Don’t just test soil from one place. Ideally test five points - imagine a number 5 on a dice.
What we are seeking to do is to ensure no lumps of contaminated manure remain and the microbes have had chance to do their job thoroughly. That’s why multiple rotovations will help. If you don’t have a rotovator and can’t borrow one, then chop up the manure with a spade and fork it into the top six inches. Turn it over with your fork each month, incorporating any weeds so they rot down as well.
We’ve won a battle against this, if not the war and we need to remain vigilant for at least the next 4 years. Now we know what the problem is and how to deal with it, at least we can keep on growing.
Filed under Pests & problems by John
Comments on What to do if you have Aminopyralid Contaminated Manure »
Kerry @ 3:46 pm
Hiya, I’ve been campaigning about aminopyralid for a little while now and I’m running a website campaigning. I’m really pleased that people like you and I (and others) are publicising this issue.
In the course of the work I’ve done so far I’ve been in touch with many people including scientists and legal bods. I agree with what you say about the testing, part of the problem is that small traces barely picked up in chemical analysis are enough to damage crops.
But I disagree with you regarding legal action. Individuals have the right to legal redress and in our legal system the person who sells you the manure is legally liable.In the case where only a delivery charge has been made, or no charge has been made, there is no opportunity for legal redress through the small-claims court. While the supplier might be themselves innocent, they in charge need to take action against their own suppliers, and so on up the supply chain.
I agree with you that this is a far from ideal situation which is why I am currently investigating legal precedents. However, action against anyone other than the supplier of the manure would be a lengthy, and costly, legal battle.
As regards disposal of the manure, there is no coherence between government departments, and while PSD is telling people to dispose of their manure in the manner you describe, the environment agency has in fact suggested that as the manure is contaminated, anyone who wishes to spread it in this way needs a license from them, even if it is a home gardener, even if it is their own land. As for disposing of it to anyone except the original supplier, you would need to use a registered waste contractor at your own expense.
It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? Do you ever feel like you’re trying to swim through treacle? That’s how I feel with this blimming aminopyralid.
frank willcock @ 5:25 pm
at our site HADDOCKS WOOD ALLOTMENTS in runcorn we stopped getting manure in a number of years ago and left it to the individual plot holders themselves,because we found that we were getting lots of horse tails or mares tail depending were you live and these persistant weeds can last for years i know they are not in the same class as the current problem ,but it highlights the different side affects that can happen when you start inporting manure.
frank willcock chairman haddocks wood allotments ass.
Lawrence Banner/Barford Allotments Oldbury West Midlands B68 @ 6:52 pm
Thanks John,
Great news about this problem, we are lucky with our supply it is from a sole horse sanctuary that has not sprayed his ground. We will carry out the test suggested.
I know I have been on before about Allium leaf minor which is prevelant in the Black Country, fearfully it is spreading further afield. Our latest treatment is Bug Off or Provado this needs to be sprayed on the crops in february and again in March, for winter alliums, and September/October for leeks and onions. Hope this helps.
Zanonni @ 7:36 pm
Thanks for this information and all the work you have done.
Indeed a GREAT many thanks.
Do you know who arranged for the suspension? I would like to write to them.
Zanonni
John @ 7:37 am
Kerry, without getting into the legal situation, my arguement is that ordinary stable owners and dairy farmers who unwittingly supply contaminated manure to gardeners are as much a victim as the gardener.
Taking them to court will result in them deciding not to bother in future. So I ask that people do not exercise their right.
As for the government with conflicting advice etc.. well children might learn new words if I said what I think!
Vanessa @ 11:31 am
Brilliant, great news! Thanks from me too John, all your efforts are much appreciated.
What I did find disheartening on my own allotment, was that although the so-called officials knew about it, absolutely NO notification has been circulated to the plot holders!
… One comment I got from the allotment shop was “well be organic, make your own compost!” … Hardly helpful when one would have to wait a few years to reap the benefit!!
Kerry @ 11:59 am
Zanonni, the suspension was announced the same day that Conservative MP for Worthing, Tim Loughton, asked questions about it to Phil Woolas (Minister for the Environment). It was the second time in a week that Woolas was forced to answer questions about it in Parliament. Coincidence? I suppose that depends on how cynical you are…
John, I fully understand what you are saying, but some people have incurred significant costs that they simply cannot afford because of this, and they have the right to redress. I would not personally go to court, but I have the luxury of still being able to put food on the table. It is only fair that people know they have the option. And any supplier who is an innocent party in all of this has the right to redress from their suppliers, too, and would have to exercise that right to not be out of pocket.
And I know that is a pretty rubbish situation, which is why, as I said, I and a lawyer are working extremely hard to build a case proving that ultimate liability rests with Dow. It’s not impossible, just tedious hard work. Anyway, I don’t want a row about this, because as far as I know we’re all on the same side
I know what you mean about hearing kids learn new words… I’ve heard a lawyer and a doctor swear when talking about it, both in relation to the latest letter from DEFRA regarding it.
Roz @ 9:54 am
Hi there John, Ive lived on farms, and kept horses for many fortunate years, and also given away manure. The thing is IF you buy in straw to bed your horses on, the person you bought THAT off may or may not know it’s origins. Also, the feed, hay, and haylage fed to your horses, may be from several different places, and some middlemen, i.e. Feed Merchants, may not know the source either. I agree totally with you John, that it would probably be unfair to sue the person who has helped you out with free or cheap manure, as you say, the only outcome will be that they will burn it instead, or spread it on their own land if they are sure of it’s origins.
Usually you would be aware of any herbicides that have been applied to land your animals are grazing on, however, horses are often grazed on rented land, etc too.This also applies to cattle / sheep / goats etc. The opportunities for this herbicide to arrive on our allotments are endless, and I shall certainly be following your tomato test myself, if, infact I use any manure on my plot. I took it over this Jan, and it hasn’t had anything on it apparently for years, and my crops (touch wood) are coming off lovely.
I add chicken manure, and seaweed, and am very pleased with the results.
val @ 11:39 am
im 63 years and have always used manure and my mother befor me ,i used it last year as i always do and i could not understand why i was not getting good crops and i thought that it was blight as did a lot of us allotment holders did ,but as we have found out its this herbicide ,the manufacturers need shooting, ive lost over 300 bulbs i put in my flower beds and its stoped my grape vine from flowering my wistera did not put out any new grouth and my cues are just not growing ,the rest of my plot is terrable nothing is growing ,in my greenhouse i grow carrots in boxes and my parsnips thay are ok and i have not put any manure in where my freanch beans are only from last year and SO FAR thay are ok ,but my butternut squash have not flowerd neather has my secound lot of peas ,i am not going to use manure again im useing chicken manure now for my winter veg on ground that i did not add the manure people that have any manure over need to take it and dump it outside the owners homes that make this poisen.val
Angela @ 5:43 pm
Thanks for bringing this to the wider gardening community. I wondered why all the carrots we had grown this year were horribly deformed. I grow on raised beds and had added manure in quantity to this particular bed when I set it up a couple of years ago.
I had had some issues with parsnips last year - I then stuck to salad veg not realising the issue. I thought it might have been some poor quality topsoil, little did I know the manure was the culprit!