pariah Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 I follow his monthly updates and highly recommend others do too! Especially from February 'til May when seed sowing occurs most often, his February update this year discussed the perils of using green waste based compost and how common it is for them to have aminopyralid present, he recommends sowing peas in a pot of green waste based compost (or any compost for that matter) and doing a 4 week trial, if after 4 weeks the plant is looking healthy and not stunted in any way the compost should be good to go! He also has picture comparison accompaniments which are fairly scientific, comparing different composts, home made, green waste and non green waste based general purpose compost, he also does experiments in sowing directly into well rotted manure and claims you don't need to worry too much about nutrient rich compost for seed starting. He asked West Riding where they get their materials from for making their compost, they said they source their green waste from a small firm who just compost tree waste, saying it eliminates the chances of aminopyralid being present but they test for it anyway! I don't know the rules about posting links, if it's OK I'll post some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddam Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 Your company by any chance? To the untrained eye, this kinda looks like an introduction to some Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pariah Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 Nah mate, I'm not Charles Dowding, if I was, I doubt I'd be posting on a weed community (although I guess I would say that! ) if it looks like a plug that's because it is, thought it would be useful information to this community, been following him for a long while. He does some great no dig trials too! Including some container based ones. Peace out. Charl……err, I mean Pariah 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
botanics Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 @pariah Sounds interesting this 'Aminopyralid' think I'll do some internet looking as, nice one buddy one thing, is vermicompost devoid of it ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pariah Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 @botanics I don't know what the half life of the stuff is, or what happens when green waste contaminated with this chemical is processed by the woms, I think you could ask chase organics or some other big commercial producer of worm casts if they test for it or if they know that it can still contain Aminopyralid residue after processing, it would be interesting to know that's for sure. I'll do some digging, there could be a study…if not, there should be! I had tainted compost last year and it really slowed down the growth of my tomatoes, I thought it was a deficiency at first but realised it was tainted compost. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer1 Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 Charles Dowding writes all sorts of interesting organic no dig gardening articles on his website he reminds me of Laurence D Hills, great info for fruit and veg growers, not sure if he would appreciate links to him from a cannabis site. The info on herbicide contamination of potting compost is of interest to all people who grow and used bought potting composts 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
botanics Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 Thanks for this info @pariah @oldtimer1 this is new to me see and there's nothing like learning something new so nice one ...my reasons are because I'm wanting to transition to organic and run vermiculture with my house waste etc and try to be more in balance with the earth like (skint at the moment so on hold at the mo), although I do have woodland behind me for some leaf mould too. Chhers lads 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pariah Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 (edited) @oldtimer1 I think you're right, no links it is! @botanics I'm pleased it's of use, learning the signs of this shit is useful to know, you could easily assume that over / underfeeding plants is to blame for damaged and distorted plants and not even connect it to the medium! I would love to know what aminopyralid stunted weed plant looks like as there's slight variation from plant to plant. Also it's probably more useful to those who use standard large compost suppliers as they're more likely to experience it than those who make their own compost or buy from smaller sources I imagine, the more places you have to source your raw material, the more chances for contamination I guess. I just did a quick search and came across something that said the more active the micro-organisms are in the compost, the shorter the half-life is of the aminopyralid / clopyralid is, so I would guess that worm casts have fewer chances of having a presence of this nasty shit in the end product as bacterial activity should be quite high in a wormery. and exposure to light is apparently good at reducing the half-life of these chemicals. Edited March 23, 2017 by pariah added about exposure to light. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moobman Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 I have used Charles dowdings methods on my allotment for a few years now with great success this guy knows his shit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer1 Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 @botanics I think I have written about this before, composting worms concentrate and add good micro heard bacteria and fungus to their castings, I run my own worm farm and extensively compost waste taking in all my neighbours on the understanding that no herbicides of any sort are used, you only get out what you put in, i.e. compositing and worm farms concentrate their input mix, so if you put contaminated waste it will be in the final product, the composting process does not denature any nasties you put in, while the bacterial/fungal breakdown that cause heating etc while they may partly breakdown some fungicides/insecticides/herbicides it does not get rid of them and I suspect worm composting will even less so.. That is why a lot of the green waste use as an alternate input to replace peat in potting composts is tending to be on the wane as the high temperatures generated by the fermentation process fail to fully break down some of the persistent chemicals used today. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pariah Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 @oldtimer1 So from what you're saying, rather than heat composting, like what most of them do, I imagine something like an anaerobic bio digester is probably the best way for these large compost makers to process green municipal waste to best remove the nasties? Even then I guess you risk having chemicals still present in the compost. I guess testing all compost is the way to go! purchasing compost early and doing grow tests on it using quick cropping veggies like peas at least four weeks before using is probably the best answer, no matter what the source (unless it's your own) and you get to eat peashoots at the end of it which is an added bonus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
botanics Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 @oldtimer1 Thanks for that info mate, really helpfull this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgee Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 In the past couple of years compost/multi-purpose is becoming the bane of my growing life. Its seems no matter which brand I buy or where from there's always some shit in there which fucks me over. Just before Christmas I had a mites infestation. So did the big clean down. And I mean BIG. All the usual, everything got cleaned using a strong bleach (peroxide solution) then I got the steamer out and gave everything a blast of superheated steam to rinse away bleach residues. Then all equipment was was piled into the 2 tents and a forte fog fumer set off in each and the room left sealed for several days. I fortefogged the room itself the landing/stairs area. Proper belt n braces style. Come the new year I bought fresh compost and started off fresh seeds. 6 weeks later I got the mother of all fungus gnat infections! Every pot is absolutely crawling and sticky traps and multiple treatments with gnat off ain't touching the sides. Its really really getting me down now and I'm close to packing in growing altogether for awhile. Sorry waffling now but the ONLY place those little fuckers could have come from was in the compost.. What you gotta do these days? Treat every bag with a multitude of pesticides before you even crack a seed? I don't really want to go that route but if I can't find a source of good clean compost soon it's gonna be pack in completely or dare I say it aloud... turn to the dark side... hydro! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pariah Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 @Dodgee Have you tried nematodes for fungus gnats? Or a layer of sharp sand on the surface? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgee Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 Thanx for the attempt to help @pariah And yes I'm familiar with both methods. I was more just making the point that it seems lately every bag of compost out there these days comes with added free nasties. Like it ain't bad enough dealing with the various bugs etc Now I'm hearing about these amino-whatchamcalls... Never thought I'd say it but seriously considering the switch to full hydro. Even coco seems risky. Thinking NFT or a homemade flood n drain... I dunno.. Just tired n seems like growing has gone from being a pleasure n a pass time to a pita and a chore these days. Got enough battles in life without a constant uphill battle in the groom too. Apologies for going off topic from the OP. The above is obviously just generalisation and personal experience ATM. Good topic and info. And thanx for the leads, I'll read up on what I can find. bests dodge 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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