Our Plot at Green Lane Alloments Blog | Our Weather Blog | School Vegetable Patch Website | School Vegetable Patch Blog
© Our Plot on Green Lane Allotments -
! |
Our website is about more than just manure - |
If you have a pile of contaminated manure contact the Manure Matters website as DOW will arrange to have it removed.
11 June 2008
I suppose signs that there was a problem started several weeks ago but at that time we didn’t realise it. The situation that we now face was building up within the very soil that we thought we had enriched with wholesome manure. Unaware we carried on planting!
The first signs were at the time not considered to be anything out of the ordinary. One of our plot holders commented that his tomatoes were curling as they grew and looked funny. Being fairly new to growing tomatoes he asked advice and was told that tomatoes often do that sort of thing! Still no-
Then Pat our plot neighbour asked me if our potatoes were OK? She said that her potatoes looked funny and so did those of Charlie and Gill further up the site. At that stage only one or two of our potato plants looked anything out of the ordinary and nothing like as distorted as those on the other two plots. Those did look strange so I headed for the Internet (as you do nowadays). The nearest answer that I could find was potato leaf curl virus but that didn't look right. We tried to find a common link. The potatoes were different varieties but Pat’s and Gill’s had been bought from the same nursery so was it possible that a virus had somehow entered the seed potatoes at the nursery?
Then our potatoes started to deteriorate and show signs of the same problem. We had bought our potatoes elsewhere. The common link seemed to be the manure that we had bought. Gill was convinced that this was the problem. Had we perhaps used too much, was it too fresh? The most damaged potatoes seemed to be around where we had our manure piles dumped.
I took photos and create a post on our blog asking if anyone else had come across these symptoms or could suggest what the problem was. The photos in the album below may help you to identify whether you too have a problem. Let's hope not.
I continued to browse the Internet and came across a forum on the Allotments UK forum. Click here for the discussion. One of the threads seemed to be describing exactly what was happening to our potatoes and linked to our suspicions that the manure was the problem.
I decided to visit the Kitchen Garden Magazine forum and posted a thread asking if anyone else has suffered from a similar problem. Click here to read. I was a bit worried at this point as from the reaction to my post I thought that I had got something badly wrong. Then another contributor found a link to a website that seemed to give more credence to the suspicion Click here
Ploughing on I browsed more and found a posting on the RHS blog entitled Dodgy Muck. This asked for anyone who thought that they had a problem with contaminated manure to get in touch Click here to read. So I did, explaining that there were photos on our blog illustrating the affected crops.
I had a reply the next day from Guy Barter Head of Horticultural Advisory Services at the Royal Horticultural Society and I quote:
"Many thanks for your most interesting report.
The potato distortion is classic hormone type weedkiller damage. In the last two years a new herbicide has been introduced which binds to the lignin (update June 2009 -
The label of the herbicide specifically states that manure from beasts fed or bedded on treated crops should not be used for horticultural crops – so something has badly slipped. The Pesticide Safety Directorate is on the case.
Weedkiller in the soil should dissipate by next year, but in stacks of contaminated manure it may take two or more years to decay. Any left-
This information confirmed what we had suspected. So it was back to The Kitchen Garden Magazine Forum to let everyone know what I had found out and suddenly the worms leapt out of the can and we all started trying to find out as much as we could about the problem. Farmers taking part sin the discussion were appalled that this was something that they had no idea of – they didn’t know that a herbicide existed that could stay effective for such a length of time.
Video of symptoms
On the same day Helen Bostock from the RHS emailed to say that they were issuing a press release warning gardeners about the problem so could they use one of the photos on our blog. They had pictures of pieces of plant sent in to them but none of growing crops. I was happy to oblige. Helen gave permission for us to publish Guy’s email response on our blog. Shortly afterwards an update report was posted on the Pesticide Safety Directorate's web site -
Meanwhile all sorts of questions were being asked such as Can we eat affected crops? Can we eat crops grown in affected soil? How long will the residue last etc? The bottom line was that no-
Back on the site we decided to check other plots and found more crops becoming affected and we also started to link the earlier problem with the tomatoes and found sure enough it was the same problem. All plots affected had bought manure from the same supplier. I contacted the farmer who had supplied our loads and he told me that he didn't use a herbicide at all on his pastureland but had bought in silage from some other farms but had no idea that anyone had used the herbicide in question. In common with farmers on the KG forum, he had no idea that a herbicide existed that had such long lasting effects. He was as much of a victim as we were. He said that he never sold manure until it had been stacked for at least three months so that if any supplier had used a herbicide it would have totally dissipated by the time he passed on the manure. Incidentally this herbicide is considered to be a safe herbicide but just read the restrictions on the label.
Meanwhile back at the KG forum we decided to mount a publicity campaign to try and make sure that no-
I informed our Allotments’ Officer saying that I felt that all allotment sites in our area and the officers of allotment sites nationally should be made aware of the risk of using contaminated manure.
The RHS added advice to their website click here and here
There are still many questions that need answering. When will our soil be free from the affects of this chemical. We are told that any residue in the spread manure will dissipate within 12 months -
At this point we still don't know how much of our crops have been damaged as the treated plant material releases the chemical as it decays. It's a case of each day going along to see what else has fallen by the wayside. The jury is still out on whether we risk eating veg from the contaminated areas -
In total now twenty plots on our site are affected some more seriously than others.
Some plotters spread the manure over their entire plot and used it to mulch fruit trees and roses. A couple of plot holders have just about lost their entire crops.
29 June 2008
Helen Bostock replied with this advice:
"I imagine, as with other types of weedkiller damage, that the more established fruit bushes and trees will survive. Once the contaminated manure is in the soil, the breakdown of aminopyralid is much faster so affected trees and shrubs are likely to show signs of growing out of the problem by the following season. Raspberries do tend to be more sensitive to hormonal weedkillers than other fruit so they may show the worst symptoms. Perennial plants may too look badly hit but I think it is worth leaving them in the ground until the following year to see if they show signs of recovery".
Many of us grow our food on allotments to avoid chemical contamination. Gill refuses to let Charlie use weedkiller anywhere near her plot! We thought that by “growing our own”, we knew exactly what we are eating but do we really? We mistakenly thought manure was a wholesome organic material that could only do good on our land -
Can anyone enlighten me as to how the use of this manure would affect organic farmer status? Is there anything else out there that we should know about?
Information is now beginning to appear on a few websites so let's hope this raises public awareness.
We don't know how widespread the problem is but it certainly doesn't just affect us. Emails are now coming in to us from across the UK and today we even had an entry on our blog from the USA. If you have been affected please let us know by posting a comment on our blog click here or if you prefer use our email link click here so we can get some idea of how widespread the problem actually is.
I'll keep you posted as to how we get on – wish us luck and please tell as many of your gardening acquaintances as you can about the problem.
We are told that any residue in the spread manure will dissipate with 12 months -
Some plot holders still have potentially contaminated manure (from the same supplier) heaped ready for use. In fact soon after we became aware of the problem, I just managed to stop Ron from spreading his. RHS advice is not to use any manure that has been stacked but to either get the supplier to take it away or spread it on any grassland. Neither very easy options.
At this point we still don't know how much of our crops have been damaged as the treated plant material releases the chemical as it decays. It's a case of each day going to see what else has fallen by the wayside. Twenty plots on our site are affected some more seriously than others. Some plotters spread the manure over all their plot and used it to mulch fruit trees and roses.
Many of us grow our food on allotments to avoid chemical contamination -
Now information is beginning to appear on a few websites so let's hope this raises public awareness. All in all lots of questions still need an answer in the meantime I'll keep you posted as to how we get on and please tell as many of your gardening acquaintances as you can about the problem.
We now know that this problem is widespread and seems to be affecting all parts of the UK. If you have been affected please let us know by posting a comment on our blog click here or email us so we can get some idea of how widespread the problem actually is.
It does seem sensible at the moment to avoid manure for the time being.
Update -
7 July 2008 -
Just to confirm that on Friday I contacted the Food Standards Agency to determine if they had information or advice for allotment holders and gardeners, on the use of manure that may have been contaminated by Aminopyralid. I will get back to you as soon as I receive a response.
25 July 2008 Communication to Trading Standards from The Food Standards Agency
The Food Standards Agency is looking into this with respect to consumer safety and is in contact with the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD),which is the lead government agency on the regulation of pesticides. Currently, PSD suspect that the herbicide responsible for the stunted /poor plant growth following application of the manure is aminopyralid. PSD is investigating this matter further and has taken samples of allotment produce, soil and manure for analysis to test for the presence of this herbicide. The approval holder for aminopyralid products -
28 July 2008-
For your information is the response I have had from the Food Standards Agency. Not a great deal new!The idea is that there should be traceability throughout both the food and animal feed chain. In the event of a food/feed incident the source of the problem should be then be able to be identified at the point of origin. There is a large amount of legislation covering food/feed safety, in particular feed hygiene regulations EC183/2005 and matching law for food. In both regard has to be given not only for the use but storage and training of people on how to use pesticide/herbicides. In practise I feel this may not be described as an exact science, but confidence can I feel be increased if the farm business concerned is a member of one of the assurance schemes i.e. "red tractor"; I know membership of these bodies requires a level of compliance which is often above the minimum legal requirement. Also the companies that audit the farms for membership are very thorough.
Examples of others affected
Several people have emailed me to say that they too have a problem which they suspect is caused by contaminated manure such as ours. A rather disturbing feature is that some people are mentioning that they suspect that a bagged product has caused the problem and it also seems that organic farms can also be a source.
Some have given permission for me to mention them here. Please keep information coming in as many people are now visiting our website to read about the problem. As this information is increasing, I have decided to dedicate a page just to other people's experiences/observations.
Click here to read
Update -
Is it just the UK who are having problems?
Apparently not -
Back to top of page
Why not browse the rest of my site too? - |