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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Testing for pesticde residues

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  • From: "Kieran &/or Donna" <holycow@frontiernet.net>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Testing for pesticde residues
  • Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:52:19 -0500

I've cut and pasted various people's comments here, all from Britain I think.  Donna

 

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.

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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........

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.

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In February I bought 4 bags of B+Q’s ‘Farmyard Manure Soil Improver’ for some raised beds I am making, before finding out about aminopyralid. Luckily, I hadn’t used it soI did the tests - growing broad beans in pots, and the ones in manure are deformed.
I went back to B+Q and found that the ‘Farmyard Manure Soil Improver’ had been withdrawn. I asked why, and they did not know so I gave them some information about aminopyralid I had printed out.
They refunded my money without question, but why haven’t they announced a product recall? I wonder how many thousands of gardeners have poisoned their garden plants with this ’soil improver’?

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Sun, 10th May 2009

Jon @ 10:16 pm

We recently spent a couple of weekends with our kids s**t shovelling from the local stables. It went onto every bed and in the compost bins. Just to make sure, we bedded our potato trenches with the stuff.
We’ve got the contaminated stuff.
All the spuds are like your photos. We are based in Brighton. The stables are shocked that they have been given dodgy hay and a little put out to say the least as they have just got rid of a massive amount of manure to other allotment holders and gardeners. If anyone out there is looking to take this further - to Dow - please email me

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Wed, 20th May 2009

Susanna @ 7:50 pm

I was given some horse manure from a local stables and yes, I’ve got contaminated and deformed peas, beans and potatoes. I cannot blame him, and he’s assured me he doesn’t spray his grazing, but does buy in winter hay and fodder.

I am so FURIOUS that all that money and very hard work is wasted and the knowledge that I’ll have to buy everything from the supermarket this year — 10 miles away! Every raised bed I’ve constructed is now poisoned with this stuff.

I have lots of plants waiting to be planted out and wondered whether it might be worth digging in my homemade compost in a layer for growing them in, out of contact with this evil stuff. Dow Chemicals should be class action sued and I’m more than willing to contribute to a legal fund.

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Thu, 4th June 2009

mark @ 11:00 am

Kerry, please can you get in touch ‘off website’. I should very much welcome a chat as you seem to be at the forefront of this (no pun intended!).

I bought hay for my horses from a farmer who used Forefront and put the manure on a large garden by the trailer load! I now have damage to beans, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, but also to other things and a lot of contaminated ground. The signs are classic for Aminopyralid damage, but I am awaiting results of a lab test.
I am late on the scene, and want to catch up before launching myself into action! I have experience of handling major litigat

Sat, 6th June 2009

julia @ 7:26 am

i work an allotment in SE London and was aware last year of aminopyralid damage to neighbouring holders’ plots from manure delivered by local horse owners. This year, noticing that broad-leaved weeds were growing on the pile I thought the herbicide had broken down or was very localised in the pile. I risked applying the manure to my allotment. I fear that cucumbers and butternut squash seedlings have been affected as they are showing abnormal growth. The prospect of ruined soil is terrible. Does anyone know of any advance on the class action front as this seems the only answer?

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Thu, 2nd July 2009

Tim Wainwright @ 6:18 pm

I am a newcomer to this problem of Aminopyralid. As an organic gardener for the previous 25 years, I have always collected horse stable manure from a local stables and either composted it or spread the well-rotted manure around my veg and fruit plot. I did not have any problems last year with potatoes or tomatoes, other than blight, which seemed to affect many gardeners.

This year, my potatoes and tomatoes had curled leaves and stunted growth, something I’ve never witnessed before. I thought a late frost had nipped them, and left them to carry on growing, but most did not recover. On researching my problem on the internet I’ve found the problem to be widespread from 2008 onwards, with many gardeners reporting the same problem as me.

I hadn’t dug the manure in this year, but spread it across the plots as a three inch thick mulch and planted through this. I now intend to rake it all up and dispose of it and any residue I can’t rake up will get dug in.

Sprouts, calabrese, sweetcorn and courgettes seem to be unaffected and are growing well in the mulch, but I will rake this up too.

My raspberries are stunted, only a few large berries and they haven’t ripened properly.

I am devastated that my organic plot is now contaminated and the food I’ve grown is very suspect and I’m not sure whether to eat it or not. If anyone does start a legal fund against Dow Chemicals, I would willingly contribute with cash.

As an aside, how do we know if food labelled “organic” from major supermarkets is not contaminated with Aminopryalid? I assume many growers will have used stable manure for their crops just the same as us amateur growers.




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