[chili]

well found me a supply of rotted hrse manure today all free from a nice bloke in chartham near me.
now my lame question is :- what now do i spread it on? dig it in? or what. am new to this so i would like to get it right first time. i have nothing growing in this particular part, also its all weeded.
is there a prticular time to dig in/spread (not day or night) but month

thanks

[beansticks]

So long as it is well rotted,you can put it on top of the ground or dig it in.Personally i take the lazy option and leave it on top of the ground and let the worms do the job for me.At this time of the year,now would be a good time to do it.

[chili]

cheers buddy it seems to be well rotted, thats my morning sorted tomorrow

[Yorkie]

I would not put it where you intend to grow parsnips or carrots next year, as they do not grow happily on manured ground.

Also, a warning.  Did you check whether the manure could have the herbicide clopyralid or aminopyralid in it - either on the grass eaten or the bedding?  If so, this will kill certain veggies such as spuds and beans as they are susceptible to the chemicals.

[mumofstig]

Yorkie, if i buy some bags of farmyard manure, and put some bean seeds in to grow,  i'll know whether it's ok or not. So far so good (or not )
If it's not ok can i just dig it in somewhere that won't get spuds or peas/beans for the next couple of years? It would still be ok for sweetcorn and pumpkins i think? or does it take longer than this to clear? Got no where to just stack it, so this is not an option.
My soil desperately needs some help, it's like dust, and this aminopyralid problem is putting me off of buying manure

[peterjf]

spread it over your allotment,

leave it all winter then dig it in during the spring, check out which crops dont like manure and leave those areas bare ,

SIMPLES 

[Yorkie]

MoS that sounds OK as a plan, you've obviously been reading John's pages and the links to the manufacturer's website (think it's manurematters dot something).

Can't remember what else is affected but the manurematters website I think does list the more susceptible crops.

Not sure what the clear period would be, whether 2 years is enough or not, without looking at the pages though.

[chili]

I would not put it where you intend to grow parsnips or carrots next year, as they do not grow happily on manured ground.

Also, a warning.  Did you check whether the manure could have the herbicide clopyralid or aminopyralid in it - either on the grass eaten or the bedding?  If so, this will kill certain veggies such as spuds and beans as they are susceptible to the chemicals.

will check tomorrow
do these chemicals not die off then?

[Yorkie]

This particular chemical degrades over time, and more quickly by being dug into ground than being stacked (soil microbes or something like that acts on it) but I'm not sure off the top of my head what the particular timescale is.

Have a look here for a bit of info and some other posts.

And here for the info / guidance from the manufacturer

[bigshod]

This particular chemical degrades over time, and more quickly by being dug into ground than being stacked (soil microbes or something like that acts on it) but I'm not sure off the top of my head what the particular timescale is.

The timescale has not been established. Dow claim a half-life of 35 days, but on our site we have seen sensitive crops such as potatoes and beans still showing the effects after the stuff has been in cultivated ground for over a year. The United States Environmental Protection Agency in their tests on aminopyralid found a range of half lives in samples soils that they tested  which ranged from 31.5 days to 533.2 days http://www.epa.gov/opprd001/factsheets/aminopyralidEFEDRA.pdf page 14. Also, seepage through the top layers of soil from a heap of contaminated manure has ruined my own greenhouse tomatoes. The stuff is highly dangerous to some of the most basic and necessary crops we grow as allotment holders and is definitely more persistent than Dow claim.
Furthermore, if you grow brassicas using this manure, you will get a good clean crop (with less clubroot in our experience!) but don't put any of the leaves on your compost heap or indeed any waste from crops grown using it. They must be disposed of in some other way.
The petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/aminopyralidban/ has now reached 1500. Please sign, contact your MP, anything to keep this persistent and secret killer off the land.

[Aunt Sally]

bigshod

This is a very heavy post for your first one on these forums 

Why not pop up to the Welcome Forum and tell us a bit about yourself