MY father has always been a keen gardener and when I was small, he would always carry around a plastic bag whenever we took the dog for a walk.
In those days, poop scoops and picking up after your dog was unheard of.
The reason he carried around a bag was to pick up dried cowpats so that he could take them home to use as fertiliser for his flower beds.
Along with most gardeners, he swore by the fertilising effects of manure and took every opportunity he could to get free supplies.
WeedkillerIn recent years, a problem has emerged with the usage of manure as a fertiliser, as it has been discovered that some batches have been contaminated with weedkiller.
This obviously has an unwelcome effect on horticultural crops or flower displays.
The symptoms are fern-like leaf curling, shoot tips becoming pale, narrow and distorted and prominent veining on the foliage.
It may seem somewhat surprising that weedkiller can contaminate manure, but the problem has been traced back to hormone type weedkillers used to treat broadleaf weeds in pastureland.
DigestionThese chemicals bind strongly to grass and hay used in animal bedding and feed and can survive the digestive tract of cattle, causing the contamination of the batch of manure.
Contamination is in very low concentrations, which has made it very difficult to detect.
However, once released from the manure, it continues to affect all broadleaf plants and not just the target weeds.
If contaminated manure has already been used and the effects are evident, the advice is not to eat any affected crops.
HarmlessThe residues may be evident on the plot for some time, but will eventually decay and be rendered harmless by microbial activity.
The weedkiller is not directly harmful to livestock, other animals or children, despite the effect it has on broadleaf plants.
Further advice can be found at
www.rhs.org.uk.
I am indebted to Barry Hillman, a local allotment holder, for the inspiration behind this week's Greenwatch column.
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