Sue has asked us to make it clear that “well rotted manure” and “farmyard manure” should be used with caution because of the recent problems with herbicides containing aminopyralid. Manure resulting from plants sprayed with these herbicides, (even if the plants have been made into hay or silage & then eaten by horses or other animals who make the manure), has had detrimental effects on some potatoes and other growing vegetables.
Sue has built a very informative website http://www.glallotments.btik.com/p_Contaminated_Manure.ikml
It explains how the contaminated manure affected their allotments in 2008 & 2009. The site details how the manure chain can become contaminated and points out that it is almost impossible to know if the manure is contaminated, unless you can truly trace its history back from farmer to farmer, and obtain all the spray details.
Dow Chemicals have launched the Manure Matters website. Dow say “Manure, from horses or farm livestock, is a wonderful soil conditioner and natural fertiliser, and we do not want gardeners and allotment holders to be afraid of using it. This is why we have created the manurematters website – to provide guidance and advice for its future use.”
Sue advises: “If you have a pile of contaminated manure contact the Manure Matters website as Dow will arrange to have it removed.”
Sue says: “In the Uk we have had problems caused by using manure containing an hormonal herbicide so always take care when obtaining manure.”
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