[terry d]

Hi does aminopyralid effect asparagus thinking of starting an asparagus bed on land effected last year

[drmoonshine]

i dont think it would do anything to your asparagus as such BUT i would not grow anything near that stuff after using it not veg anyway. am i not right in thinking it was banned in the uk a few years ago? after concerns about it entering the food chain

[fatcat1955]

It was re-introduced in June.

[drmoonshine]

ahhhh ok cool i hope they changed something about it then. it must have been banned for a reason?

[Kristen]

Dow have, supposedly, made the usage-chain more accountable and the temporary ban has therefore been lifted.

The instructions on the can, that I saw a couple of years back, were crystal clear and explained the side effects in words of one syllable!.  Also that it was the duty of the user to inform the owner of the land it was being used on (e.g. if a contractor), and duty of the land owner to inform anyone taking away hay, silage, slurry and manure etc. etc. etc.

Trouble was this didn't happen in practice, and lots of manure wound up on allotments etc.

All the farmers around here that I spoke to at the time the story broke knew nothing about it (which doesn't say a lot for the farming press either IMHO)

So it was withdrawn pending Dow coming up with a better way of policing it, not because it was inherently any more / less bad then when it passed its trials.

Its a particularly useful weed kills for farmers in that it kills weeds in pasture that are very hard to get rid of by other means.

Whether the new procedures will work remains to be seen.

I think the plants that are immune are monocotyledons - like grass / corn - so I don't think Asparagus would be immune, although it may be unaffected. Its an expensive crop to plant, I personally would think twice.

If your land is infected are Dow obliged to help sort it out? (Dunno the answer to that one)