Victims of Contaminated Manure

Several people have emailed me to say that they too have a problem which they suspect is caused by contaminated manure such as ours. 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. Also check out visitors comments area as I haven't repeated full messages here just summaries. Click here to email me if you want to be added to the list. Where it is considered appropriate I have added comments in green.

1. A site in the West Midlands reports that of 65 plots on their site, 13 are affected and all purchased their manure from the same farmer.
2. John from Guildford in Surrey is a keen vegetable grower and this year has had problems growing tomatoes, potatoes and beans. He thinks this problem isn't confined to manure as he has the same symptoms and feels that the source is a bag of compost sold as organic. He has contacted his supplier to ask questions. John has spoken to his supplier who was unaware of this problem and is putting strategies in place to prevent any recurrences.
3. I also received information that Sandwell and Birmingham city councils have banned the use of horse manure on all their allotment sites due to pastureland being treated by this herbicide.
4. Barry from Scunthorpe has posted on our visitors comments area. In an email he added that of the 5 allotments sites in Scunthorpe - 3 have been affected. All received manure from the same source. It has been suggested to him that he had used manure that was too fresh but he is certain that it wasn't! He has been told that he should have stored it a year after collection. Barry also commented to me that the manure that he bought didn't break down in the way manure usually does. This I found interesting as it rung bells with me. Our manure was claggy, in fact slimy would better decribe some of it. When applied to the ground it has made the ground almost impossible to dig. At the moment there are still hard dry lumps on top of the soil that even when better seem to want to bond together.
5. An allotments site in Hertfordshire has the same symptoms as ours on their potatoes. They have also had poor bean growth and young raspberry canes are mottled yellow. The RHS has confirmed herbicide damage. They had been using horse manure from a local stable and the supplier is now trying to gain information from his hay supplier.
6. Clive writes in the visitors' comments that he is chairman of Birmingham and District Allotments Council. He has similar manure problems. Source[s] identified, at least one willing to compensate. Waiting for report from DEfRA via NSALG. Some of manure had been spread last Autumn and stil caused problems. Major concern has to be the length of time it will remain as a problem.
7. Maisie (aka Simon) has written in the visitors' comments to say that on a small site of fewer than 20 plots in Banstead - Surrey 2 plots are affected by contaminated manure. Devastating for the plotholders. He says that mainly potatoes, but earlier crops of broad beans were also affected. The broad bean leaves were mildly distorted but developed full size pods however very few of the pods contained any beans. Later plantings of runner beans and also tomatoes are showing the typical fern frond like leaves which the potatoes exhibited. Also transplanted marrows/pumpkins are showing signs of distress. The two plot owners seem to have narrowed it down to a common supplier of manure. I am cultivating a neighbouring plot and, touch wood, have been OK (hoping that the weedkiller doesn't leach into the soil) also hoping for a surplus this year so at least my neighbours who are not so fortunate will be able get something to eat.
   

   (Simon - according to the RHS marrows and pumpkins often look as though.
   they are suffering after being transplanted and unless the spoon like leaf shape is present this is not due to herbicide damage. RHS advice is to water with dilute
   fertilizer solution such as Miraclegro.  This gets nutrients into the plant
   and gets them off to a flying start. I'm also not too sure about the broad beans - At first we thought that we had damage to broad beans, however looking at some beans growing on uncontaminated plots the tops of the beans had leaves that folded upwards. Our bean leaves weren't spoon shaped just folded. Also we have had a dry spell and often peas and beans don't swell due to lack of water. We do have runner beans on our plot though that are starting to go spoon-shaped.

8. John posted on our blog that they have problems in the West Midlands and are in touch with people in Cheltenham and Crewe who have similar problems. He says that the attitude of our Environmental Health offices varies widely. Some seem indifferent to the situation, others interested. John says that they are keen to go national on this with a campaign. The existing situation appals us.

9. Liz & Alan emailed to say that they  have a council allotment in Stockton on Tees where their potatoes are coming up the same as the pictures on our blog. They noticed the strange fernlike growths, more experienced people on site, said that they had never seen anything like it before and the nearest they could guess at was leaf roll virus. On the Allotment UK site someone on this site asked the same question and they found lots of others in the same boat. All their potatoes have this fernlike growth, a plot next but one to them has it on his runner beans another plot has it on tomatoes. At least three other plots have had their potatoes ruined in the same way. They used two year old stable manure this year but they don't know if the new stable manure that they have bought will be affected  and if so don't know what to do with it!

10. Sarah from Leicester emailed to say that she can confirm that it is present in and around the Leicester area and has been for at least two seasons. Sarah's manure came from a friend's stables in South Leics, the same source as she has used for many years. Sarah had similar problems last year and once again has potato plants that are curling up, the healthy runner bean plants (that were grown in pots to give them a good start) are starting to struggle. Several plants in the herbaceous beds are showing the same symptomatic leaf curl, particularly those from pea related families.  Other crops such as the lettuce, rocket and courgettes and one row of potatoes are looking fine. She also found that the manure appeared 'slimy' and has not broken down well. In fact on the flower beds there are still hard clumps on or just below the surface soil. 

11. Tiff is a plot holder on Chapel Allerton Allotments in Leeds. The problem is all over their site. Although they are very distressed at this news, at the same time  they are heartened to know they will not be fighting this alone. 

12. Eileen from Surrey emailed to say that she has had problems growing tomato plants in the past and so decided to carry our an experiment earlier this year. She put 6 plants that she had grown from seed into large pots. Three of them went into straight container compost purchased from local garden centre. Three of them were mixed in some composted stable manure purchased from the same garden centre. She wanted to monitor and see the difference that additions of manure would make. Then she read about problems with manure. When she checked the three plants grown with manure added were showing the classic symptoms. Ten other plants that have not come into contact with this particular product are healthy and laden with flowers and fruit. She compared with someone else that had the problem to find out they had used different brands of "100% Organic" manure but later found out that the same company had produced the manure under a different label. The company deny that their product is contaminated. Eileen is passing on her findings to her MP.

13. David from Surrey planted two rows of runner beans.  All have died off.   Stable manure in bags from local garden centre chain put in the soil prior to planting.   Delphinium plant also dead two weeks after planting in flower bed. This bed was mulched with the same manure. David is Eileen's (above) dad and he didn't even dream it was that problem. If he hadn't mentioned it to Eileen he would have been yet another victim completely oblivious to the problem and blaming his gardening skills. He has grown runner beans for as long has he had a garden every year without fail - that is about 50 years . 

14. Guy, location unknown as yet, posted in the visitors area that he has the aminopyralid problem and  he is sure the contaminated came from a well known brand of Organic Blend Farmyard Manure. He has two raised beds. He had enough local manure to treat one, and bought the branded product for the other. The bed treated with local manure is doing really well, but the ******bed had about half the plants die in the first week or two, and the survivors are small with cupped curled leaves. Even weeds aren't growing well in the Led. I've done nothing different between the two beds beside the local/***** manure and there are different crops, but the health difference is staggering. I've not read any other reports of bagged manure being a problem so I hope this highlights the problem. We've contacted *******who were unaware of the problem but asked to have the manure bag sent to them (which we still have).

15. Lloyd, in Bedfordshire, posted in the visitors' area put well rotted manure in his new greenhouse border and vegetable patch. His tomatoes have been hit badly, but courgettes and cucumber unaffected. His runner beans are showing some sign of leave curl, as are peas. His diagnosis is further complicated by the fact that he introduced a lot of top soil at the same time, and that the manure supplier (and her relatives) are successfully growing tomatoes in a high concentration of the muck.
    At Green Lane, Horbury, Wakefield people using manure from the same source have had varying amounts of contamination. It is possible that manure taken from different levels in the pile have different concentrations of the herbicide residue. I am told that manure nearer the bottom of a pile could be more badly affected also if as in our case silage was bought from different suppliers I guess some areas of the heap may be OK. On our site just two of the loads supplied as yet are not causing any problems.

16. Jujuba posted on the blog that several plots on Barrsbrook Farm Allotment in Chertsey Surrey, are showing signs of the same damage.  Jujuba has never used any manure on his/her plot but both neighbours' potato crops are showing ever-growing patches of disfigured leaf growth. But just because they haven't used manure it seems they might not have escaped it's effect. Over the weekend Jujuba noticed that a few of their brussels plants looked to have the same disfigurement. Earlier on in the year most of their allotment site went under water for a while during heavy rain and they think that there's every possibility that the herbicide has leached onto other plots. Incredibly the guy who delivered the suspect manure tried to deliver more onto the site, even though he knew it was contaminated. He said that he knew there was a problem with it last year when his daughter's potato crop failed after using the manure from his stables.

17. An anonymous comment from the USA was posted on our blog saying that they are having the same problems. In their case it appears to be associated with hay coming from New York State and Canada where a herbicide to control certain weeds is being applied. They have had to use "new ground" to plant a second garden.
    If you read this anonymous I'd love more information as this is our first contact from outside of the UK - any more out there?

18. Simon from a community allotment project in Brighton, says that they have "symptoms of this vile poison in our soil, from composted animal manures, as do a number of allotment holders on the same site". He goes on to say that they appear to have a variety of plant species showing signs of contamination other than the "susceptible" crops, and he will be monitoring them for the tell-tale leaf-cupping. Some self-seeded amaranth plants seem to be displaying symptoms, so Simon suggests that maybe these could be  be sown as a green manure on contaminated soil as "indicator" plants. Simon is thinking of putting affected areas down to fast-growing green manure crops, digging in and green manuring again over winter. Simon is puzzled by the lack of information in the gardening press.
    Must admit I am not at all sure how the indicator plant idea will work as if the herbicide residue is only released when the plant material breaks down then the residue could be being released at anytime. I am told that after breaking down the residue takes 4 weeks to dissipate so I'll try and find out more about how this indicator idea will work. Also if the RHS are saying that it would be wise not to eat crops from contaminated soil even if they show no signs of damage what is the advantage of an indicator crop. I am told soya beans are susceptible too and would make a good indicator - guess it's back to the RHS - I'll let you know what they say! 

19. Kerry from West London gave this information via the Allotments UK forum.
    It would seem, so far this year they are free from these distorted leaves but last year they had problems with a tomato and potato crops. The Maris Piper potatoes were hit showing curled leaves which they seemed to grow out of. All eventually were consumed as Kerry thought it was a problem of over manuring. Very worrying. Fingers crossed this year all seems to be fine.
    At least this seems to prove that next year our soil should be OK then - maybe. I wonder how many others have eaten affected crops without knowing? It's difficult to make that decision against advice though isn't it? Especially as it seems to change. Anyone know what happened to commercial crops of affected potatoes last year? 

20. Redclanger from Lincoln says that his Maris Peer have been affected but he thinks that his other potatoes have escaped. He placed a thick layer of grass on top of the manure and wonders if this has helped.  Others on his site have been more affected than him. 

21. Ron is an allotment holder at the Serpentine Two Allotments on Blackpool Road in Preston, Lancashire. Plot holders there are affected with contaminated manure. Ron threw all his tomatoes away now potatoes and beans both French and runner are a disaster all of them are curled up and look like ferns. (Further info since Ron last wrote, his beans seem to be making a recovery but he is worried about eating them - not just for himself but he gives quite a lot of produce to his 81 year old mother and her friend and feels really concerned about letting them have any incase of any of this chemical is dangerous to them). He and several others have been affected with the fern like growth on potatoes, tomatoes, runner and broad beans. He says, "Strangely though it hasn't affected every plant, potatoes especially the odd plant looks healthy while others around them are curled up, second earlies have all gone and the main crop is hit and miss". The plot holders had been talking about this for a few weeks now and were wondering if it was the manure or the recent increase in the flights from Blackpool airport as the take off flight path is over the allotments. As others all over the country have had plants affected in this way so they feel that they have been sold dodgy manure.
    The suspect manure was delivered last year and when turned yesterday wasn't breaking down as much as expected. There were clumps that were black & slimy and still smelt as fresh manure. . All sufferers get manure from the same farmer. The farmer refuses to accept that the manure is to blame and says that the problems are down to cultivation. Some of Ron's fellow plotters are unconvinced too.
    At Green Lane we have the same Ron, potato plants growing alongside one another where one is affected and another not. 

22. Tel from North Oxfordshire's plots have been affected to a degree.
23. Anonymous has an allotment in Forest Town in Nottinghamshire, and his/her entire bed of potatoes is affected. There has been barely any growth and what growth there has been, looks just like ferns starting to uncurl. Looking at the tubers last week (they were planted late March) and there is virtually nothing there. There are others on the site who have this problem, but Anon's is by far the worst case. Their manure comes from someone on the site who keeps horses, and says he doesn't use pesticides, so it must be in the bedding.
24. Jacci from Frimley Green, Surrey created raised beds this year and incorporated 16 bags of ***** Composted Stable Manure 70L  purchased from a local garden centre and says many of the plants grown appear to be affected, although they were all in great condition (raised in peat pots under cover) when planted out after hardening of outside for couple of weeks. She could not figure out what was happening to her runner beans (one of the few veg. she has previously grown), which had been perfectly fine until planted out in the beds! Stunted, thickened, crinkled leather looking little leaves, only just starting to climb with few flowers, no real growth occurring. Broad beans also have elongated cupped leaves, little or no flowers. Early potatoes looked fine to Jacci though as I a novice gardener she can’t be sure (however they tasted great), but she is now worried about the ‘cupping’ of the leaves appearing on those still growing. She is very worried as they have been eating them regularly for past few weeks, along with other crops. Jacci is taking samples of affected plants to RHS Wisley and really hopes that it is something like virus or nutrient deficiency, but our photos of affected plants demonstrate many of the features she has noticed. She did not prepare the soil last year and the manure was only dug in or added as mulch since April so may only just be starting to affect plants, they do seem to be getting worse.
25. Karen from Crewe in Cheshire says another bunch of allotment holders hit by contaminated manure on their site. The usual supply was fine early in the year, but the trailer load they picked up in May has contaminated the potato & runner bean bed. Manure from this load was also used on beds where leeks, cabbage, pumpkins and fennel are growing well, but Karen is worried about the veg now being contaminated. Four plotholders affected on the site with manure from a dairy farm & a stables locally
26. David  has an allotment in the Royal Paddocks Allotments on the edge of Bushy Park, Teddington, Middlesex. A few dozen allotment holders are suffering from apparent herbicide poisoning, and there is little doubt it is from the manure.

27. Roger from Stoke Rivers, North Devon EX32  manured his organic veg garden and polytunnel in early spring 08 with good looking brought-in manure - full of worms.  First affected were all tomatoes and potatoes in polytunnel, then some not all broad beans and potatoes outside, and all sugar snaps in polytunnel. Then John noticed some nettles beside the manure patch had curled leaves and were pale. Samples of plants and photos were sent to Garden Organic who replied quickly reporting herbicide damage probably due to contaminated manure. They commented that even organic farmers are not required to provide bedding from organic sources.  Now we are uncertain whether to eat crops that seem OK grown on the manured land eg spinach, peppers, onions, broad beans and potatoes; and how best to get the land back to square one.  Some potatoes and broad beans not badly misshapen seem to have recovered and look healthy now.  Our manure supplier an organic farmer from whom we have had fine manure before had not imported any straw since 2006. 
    Roger - we have been given the same information re bedding supplied to organc farmers. As for the uncertainty join the club! So much for Gordon Browns lecture about not wasting food eh?

28. Martin from Coventry said, " Ditto all this. Nice in a way to finally find the problem, assumed it was the manure was too fresh!" He goes on to say, "Only problem is, we've been eating stuff since March (Rhubarb) and potatoes for a month, although they showed little signs if any of distortion. It is the later spuds and tomatoes, whose ground was not prepared until just before planting.

29. Charlotte from Stamford in Lincolnshire said  that she started a brand new, raised bed veg garden this spring and added bagged "100% organic" rotted horse manure bought from a local garden centre. Not having grown veg for years, she assumed that the leaf distortion on the spuds was viral but having talked to her father who has an allotment near York, she realised that her plants were suffering in the same way as plants on his neighbours' allotments and that the cause was contamination. Plants affected include potatoes, tomatoes, raspberry canes, strawberry plants and the blackcurrant does not look too well. She says, "It is interesting to see that the strawberry plants are small and yellowing in one part of the plot, and flourishing in another. I assume that I did not distribute the manure evenly. In fact, some plants were planted lazily by me, minus manure and they are fine. In the main garden, my delphiniums were distorted,bent back on themselves and two roses are now leafless".
    It is not uncommon for plants growing alongside one another to have one showing damage and the other perfect.
30. Wendy from Crane Moor - Sheffield thinks she  may have a problem with contaminated manure that was sourced from a local stables (S35 7AT). Her intention is to send some samples to the RHS who I believe can run a test. The symptoms are certainly not consistent across the area where the manure was spread and some plants are growing perfectly well – for example the broad beans which were planted out in the bed and not grown from scratch in the soil look fine. Wendy first noticed a problem with runner beans – which were directly sown into the ground – the seed was last year's and the first thought was that the seed was old and was therefore not geminating properly. Early leaves were distorted and rather crumpled – though plants in this area (some of which were added later now seem to be growing well.) The most damaged leaves are appearing on some Broccoli (grown by my neighbour) and the distorted appearance of these seems to echo foliage that was displayed this web site
    Chard is also looking slightly distorted and leaf damaged
31. Barrie from Basingstoke - Hampshire said earlier on in the year he noticed that both his potatoes and tomatoes were showing inwardly curving leaves and initially he put it down to the unseasonable cold weather. As time progressed some plants became more severely affected and had very stunted growth. Barrie then suspected leaf curl virus, but it just didn't fit well with the pictures that he found on the internet. Then climbing beans started to show the same severely distorted foliage so he took photos and plant material to the RHS advisory stand at the Hampton Court flower show. They confirmed that the cause was a plant hormone herbicide present in the manure that he had used. The manure was delivered fairly late autumn and was spread out as a weed suppressing mulch over most (but not all) of his plot. In early spring he began the process of rotavating in the manure. Most of his plot was again rotavated 3 times over to thoroughly incorporate the manure through the following months. All the affected plants - potatoes, tomatoes, beans - corresponded to areas where the manure was spread. He had planted squash and courgettes into mounds of manure and they appear as yet unaffected. Rhubarb and raspberries are the latest to show signs of distress. The beans are a total loss, Barrie very much doubts that they will form any viable pods. As the days go on the plants are becoming even more distorted. On lifting some of the worst affected potatoes there were very few potatoes. So far on Barrie's site around 6 plots are badly affected with my plot looking all using manure from the same farmer but at different times. One plot appears unaffected but received manure from the same farm as part of the same load as some other plotholders. The difference being that he trenched in the manure immediately and left it over winter/early spring before planting. Two other allotments have reported similar contamination and all can be traced back to the same farm. Barry asks "How long is my plot contaminated for? How much longer before I can replant and consume produce without suspicion or fear? I doubt if enough data has been gathered on such a new generation of herbicides." Barrie is  still waiting to hear from the local allotment officer on what to do with his remaining manure heap or where to put affected vegetation. He asks, "Will the cycle continue if it is put in the recycling bays which is composted by the council to sell as "soil improver?"
    Your experiences replicate sours almost exactly if a little later. We. also have people on our site affected in varying degrees. Apparently the squash family don't appear to be as sensitive to the herbicide residu as many other plants. Advice to date is that by next season your soil should hopefully be OK (no guaratees though and this may assume a normal summer!). Our allotments' officer tells us that the problem must be resolved between the plot holder and their supplier re: removing contaminated manure. Don't compost affected plant material - official advice is to dig it back in to the soil where the organisms in the soil will break down any residue.
32. Daylily from Chesterfield says that they have the problem too, on their site. Several gardens using the same manure source also had their crops affected. They contacted the farmer, whose contractor sprayer used aminopyralid containing products. Not all gardens using the same manure are equally affected and damage in worst ones is also patchy.
33. Karen from Stokesley, near Middlesbrough suspects her problems to be caused by  bagged peat free Country Natural compost. She says that she made the mistake of mixing it with gro-bag compost to use in containers for tomatoes. When the leaves started to curl, she thought the plants must have caught some kind of virus, but after extensive internet searches she came across this site, and the fern-like growth was explained.
34. Kathryn's dad has been a dahlia grower for 30 years in Thornton in Lancashire and this year has lost his entire stock of 50 plus varieties some of which he has been propagating for 15 years or more to the effects of this weedkiller in manure he got from the local stables. It was stuff that he had stacked over winter. As you can imagine he's gutted. The time and effort not to mention cost of replacing the lost varieties and of digging out the beds in which they used to grow is pretty immense.
35. Retropants said, at least one plot is reporting contamination at Bushy Park Allotments in Hampton, Middlesex. No other info at this stage. Hopefully will find out more soon.
36. Barrie says he and many others in Chapel Allerton, Leeds have been affected by manure contaminated by weedkiller.
37. Suzette in Church Crookham, Hampshire has had huge problems this year – tomatoes, potatoes, French and runner beans all have been affected and squashes were extremely slow to take off. She suspects bagged compost caused the problem. When she complained about 4-6 weeks ago the supplier sent £20 in garden vouchers (about half what she had spent on compost) as a goodwill gesture. At that time they did not seem to know anything about this (nor did Suzette) however she was insistent that the only thing that was common to her plants and those of my neighbour who was alo affected was the compost. She spoke with the supplier again and they are now saying they have been investigating into aminopyralid and claim to have received affidavits from 98% of their suppliers and outward that no-one has used aminopyralid or products affected by it – and that they have had their compost tested and it has come back negative.  But she says her crops look just like everyone else’s who have been affected.
38. Anonymous from Surrey - in the Weybridge area, tells us French beans, runner beans, sweet peas and sweet corn all seem to have been severely affected, although the beans now look like they're beginning to pull through and start behaving more normally. Anon used bagged compost from a supplier in Woking, which the have had good results with in previous three years but is not planning to use again for a while.
    Have you sent a picture of the sweet corn to the RHS - as according to our information sweet corn shouldn't be affected?
39. Liam from West Sussex says: "Following your article on Gardeners World tonight Friday 15th August, I can advise that on our allotment in Horsham, West Sussex (Littlehaven Lane Allotment Society) was delivered manure back in October 2007 and my potatoes (variety Pixie) showed exactly the same symptom's as your web site photos but not as bad. From the curled up leaves in mid June to late last week they have now recovered to full vigour. Other varieties including Rocket, King Edwards & Yukon Gold all showed similar symptoms along with my Sultana French beans which look more like a bush variety than the 6 foot size of last year & broad beans which are only now looking healthy. Other plots have also been effected with same results".
40. Hugh contacted us to say that they have the same problem on their allotment site at Jobs Close Allotments on Lodge Road, in Knowle, West Midlands. They spread manure from a local farmer in February. The first signs were potatoes and broad beans with cupped leaves and fern-like growth. Since then raspberries and runner beans have grown in a deformed/stunted way. Courgettes appear OK but they will not use them. They are going to remove all of the top layer of soil and manure, but cannot re-sow until next year. So no produce this year....

41. Rose from Stockton on Tees says that her tomatoes seem to have the same problem and are grown in a greenhouse only. They have not brought any manure into their garden. The tomatoes are planted in rings using "Gro-bag" compost. They have contacted the store where they bought the compost and have asked them if any manure could have been used in the make-up of the compost and some 3 weeks later are still waiting for a reply.
    The compost needn't have manure in its composition to be affected - if any green waste or grass/hay etc is used in the manufacture contamination could have occurred.

42. Chris from Forge Farm Allotments, Sutton Coldfield immediately north of Birmingham tells us that they have had a serious problem thought to be caused by contaminated manure obtained from a local donkey sanctuary. The sanctuary buy their hay in from a farmer who admits to having used an aminopyralid spray previously.

43. Julia from Hampton in Middlesex spread around eight bags of a commercial composted stable manure on her vegetable plot and flower 
    beds in spring.  She says many plants have been affected with runner beans the most obviously damaged showing distorted fern like growth and fragmented 
    leaves full of holes.  Tomatoes,  potatoes,  Swiss chard and radishes all show the same curly abnormality and many shrubs also show the typical lacy leaf effect.  Patio pots top dressed with this product  have also shown poor growth and several subjects have died  altogether. 

44. Richard from Ossett - West Yorkshire visited our allotment site with a rose that he had dug up from his garden. He told us that he mulched his roses every year with manure that he obtained from someone who 'came round' each year. This year all 30 of his roses were not growing properly and having read about our problems in the local newspaper wondered if he was suffering from the same thing. We sent a photo of his rose to the RHS who have reported that the damage shown is likely to be caused by hormonal herbicide contamination. He is now going to dig up all his roses and try and to replace the soil.

45. Lucy from Theberton in Suffolk says, "I have had so much ruined in the veg. garden and greenhouse by this dreadful poisoned manure that I go from tears to rage. Thank you so much Green Lane Allotments for keeping this very serious issue in the public eye. Why have we not seen the press picking up such a serious issue.

46. Margaret from Somerset, near Wells, reports that back in August she had the cause of the damage to some of her crops confirmed by the R.H.S. Damage occurred to tomatoes which Margaret grows in greenhouse beds. These beds were completely dug out this spring and then refilled with own ‘home grown’ well rotted compost (made throughout 2007), plus some sharp sand.  Margaret sats that she hasn’t felt able to eat the fruits from the most badly affected plants. 

    She hadn't bought any manure, but last year was given a few small bags of horse muck, which she added to compost heaps, so this would seem to be the most likely origin of the problem. Unfortunately, before she had any idea of what had caused the distortions on her tomato plants, she disposed of some of them on her compost heap, presumably re-contaminating it. She also had a very beautiful Cornus contraversa variegata tree (about 3m tall and wide).  In late July it suddenly started shedding its leaves and by mid August looked half dead and continued to decline rapidly.  Now Margaret believes it is dead.  As this happened very suddenly, and since it had been surrounded with a thick layer of mulch from the same compost heaps, Margaret is suspicious that this too may have been killed by the weed killer. She is currently trying to test the soil by growing a tomato seedling in some of it.  Margaret was surprised that it was suggested on ‘Gardener’s Question Time’ last Sunday that we dispose of the contaminated manure on herbaceous borders.

47. Heather from Brindle Road Allotments Association at Bamber Bridge, Preston in Lancashire reports that plot holders on her site have established to their satisfaction that the manure they receive on their allotment site is infected, with this stuff. Heather goes on to say, "One member actually grew potatoes in pure old manure. No soil at all. Nothing else added but rain. Not as an experiment. It was actually a new plot holder who was raising beds and decided to do this on a bit of land which had been dug up down to the clay to raise other beds. You have seen photos of the effect, and that was the  effect on those potatoes. It was after harvesting a poor crop we actually learned anything about this herbicide. The majority of plot holders are between 50 and 90 years young, so most of us have been in contact with DDT, asbestos dust, water from lead water pipes and heaven only knows what else. Our concern is not the health issues at all. We are just fed up not getting things to grow. All we want to know is how long do you have to keep the manure for the chemical to have died?" She further states, "The chap who is delighted to leave his stable sweepings to avoid waste costs, told me that there was nothing in the weed killer he uses to poison anyone because his 'show horses' have delicate stomachs and they would not dare use anything which might harm valuable animals. He sprays the field once a year, in Spring and leaves it six weeks before the animals are allowed into the field but one of our members is involved with farm supplies and has told me that the herbicide used in the field does contain aminopyralid. A few of us have found that the compost we bought from **** was causing plants to die too. Of course we knew that we could not prove anything BUT interestingly, I found out that ****buy their compost from the company, ****** Borough Council dump all their green waste on.
    It may not affect his valuable horses sensitive stomachs just as we are told it will not affect human health but it KILLS plants!

48. Helen from Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire  said "Thanks for the reminder about contaminated manure. I clicked on the links and after looking at some of the pictures of distorted veg plants, its only just occurred to me why my runner beans have, for the first time in years, been extremely poor with such a weird and unusual growth!! The young plants were greenhouse raised and very healthy when planted out. They certainly didn't progress as usual and in fact I lost about 7 plants and I put that down to wind. Of the remainder about 15 of them grew leathery, distorted and thin leaves exactly like the runner beans featured on this website. At the time I wondered whether it was some sort of virus but it probably now all points to the fact that some time prior to planting, I dug in several bags of composted stable manure purchased from a local garden centre. I'm certainly going to be vigilent and make sure what I'm getting. Thanks very much. You might just have saved my crops for next year!!

 

 

Back to our experiences

Map of affected areas

Information from the Pesticide Safety Directorate

Information from other sources including DOW Agrochemicals
So should we trust organic labeling?