How to test compost

If you put grass cuttings in the normal household waste you tend to get a warning, or they wont empty the bin if they see it.

Surely there is one very big difference between council waste that will contain a very tiny proportion of any such chemicals, and manure which will possibly be totally contaminated, if the feed has come from one source.
The average dung heap is probably much smaller that than local council heaps and likely to contain more of any chemicals that have been used.

Most people where I live dont even want to cut their grass let alone buy and apply fertilizers/weedkillers.

 

"If you put grass cuttings in the normal household waste you tend to get a warning"

Indeed, seemed like strange advice to me, although it does seem to be indicating the severity of the chemical - in particular that it should not be included in Council Composting waste.

"The average dung heap is probably much smaller that than local council heaps and likely to contain more of any chemicals that have been used."

Yes, I did think that must be the case. The problem with this chemical is that it "remains" on organic matter and breaks down very slowly. IIRC the advice in clearing contaminated sites was to try to reduce the organic matter it came into contact with; frequent( or periodic?) rotavating to mix it with soil etc. Thus my thinking was that in a huge compost heap it would not actually break down - but it certainly won't multiply! and thus will indeed be diluted.

"otherwise we would surely have heard of big problems with council generated compost by now."

That has to be the answer. I dunno though, I just can't bring myself to use it in case I am the first person to hit a snag with all my carefully raised and nurtured plants. Perhaps I'm just being Old and Daft though ... I suppose that if the Council is putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak, and using it on all their Parks, Gardens and Roundabouts, then I should be happy to use it too.

 

Blimey, I had no idea all this had been going on. Thanks so much all. I will contact the site manager and see what he says. I had heard of Verdone but not Aminopyralid which I suppose is in other branded weedkillers? Don't think with that name the product would wizz off the shelves in the local garden centre!

I did know it is illegal to sell horse manure, so gone are the days of a sign at the end of people's drives saying "help youself", I didn't know why but now I do! I'm really surprised tho that the weedkiller remained in the manure in quantities enough to damage plants as horses have VERY delicate digestive systems...you certainly live and learn. I've just sown some cress on some of the compost which I brought home and will see how that goes.

 

Hi,
I had no idea manure could be bad. Will the cress test work on that too or would i need to mix it with soil/compost first?
I've been using stuff from friends stable, all she knows is it has been stood a few months.
Ooh eck!

D

 

My personal thoughts are if you can grow cress seedlings in it, it cant be contaminated, but thats just my own thoughts, I have no experience of buying or using the contaminated manure or compost.

I think it should be able to grow on the composed material, and I dont think you need to mix it with anything, as you say the manure has stood around for a few months and it should be good stuff.

 

Just to clarify a few points raised above:

Aminopyralid is the name of the active ingredient, its not an actual product name. In Verdone the active ingredient is called Clorpyralid - which is a chemical related to Aminopyralid and has similar persistence.

Aminopyralid is not harmful to Man or Animals (well, so far as is known!!), but is harmful to Aquatic creatures and, as discussed, it doesn't break down very easily. In agriculture it was developed as a spray for pasture - and to only kill the broad leaved weeds - thus manure etc. can be applied to Wheat / Barley etc. My understanding is that a) it is very effective at killing weeds that are hard to kill with other chemicals and b) the timing at which it can be applied is much less critical than other herbicides (I think that other herbicides have to be applied at something as specific as between 2 and 3 leaf stage [I don't know the correct numbers] which I am sure is taxing for a farmer to have the right weather, and get round the whole farm before the plants grow another leaf!).

Taking those two things together its an effective chemical for farmers to use. I'm on the side of farmers on this one, but I have zero tolerance that they did not follow the instructions about informing 3rd parties. (A straw poll of local farmers after the problem arose a couple of years ago left me perplexed that they knew nothing about the chemical, albeit that they were not using it, but it doesn't say a lot about the farming press IMHO ...)

Some crops are more susceptible than others, I don't know if cress is; I expect John will know what is most sensitive. I think that Beans (Broad Beans perhaps?) have been used for testing as they grow quickly, so it doesn't take long to see that the plants are effected.