That rotten potting mix last year and how to avoid it

[Labradors]

Does anyone have any info about the rotten potting mix that many people bought last year?

I bought some potting mix down south. Puported to be really good stuff by a reputable nursery, it was organic and contained manure. I had a heck of a job keeping the moisture right and my plants would have died had I not transplanted them into another mix.

A friend in Ontario planted all her seedlings in a different brand of potting mix and they didn't grow. She gave me a seedling, and it just sat there and did nothing so I eventually tossed it. She had to buy more seedlings.

I heard that a lot of people had problems last season and hope to avoid any this year.

Linda

[Rockporter]

What brand, do you remember? I bought Hapi Gro Pink bag and I had an awful season, drought and high heat didn't help but I have things that just sat there and did nothing.

[Labradors]

The one I used in NC was Daddy Pete's Potting Mix, made from aged cow manure. My friend here had problems with Miracle Grow (no surprise there!)

Linda

[Cole_Robbie]

A friend was excited last year about getting local mushroom compost to use as a potting mix. He asked me to look at his tomato plants later in the season, because they didn't look right. I could tell from first glance that his mix had herbicide contamination.

[Rockporter]

A friend was excited last year about getting local mushroom compost to use as a potting mix. He asked me to look at his tomato plants later in the season, because they didn't look right. I could tell from first glance that his mix had herbicide contamination.

That is what I think is/was part of the problem last year for me I still have two earthboxes that I have not redone the mix in. I had planted onions in them, carrots in another, etc I got nothing out of them. The carrots never grew, and the onions just sat there stunted. As a test I left the onions in the two earthboxes to see what they would do this year, they are still smaller than the ones I planted back in November in new material mix.

[patihum]

Just a thought...a lot of ranchers have had to buy hay because of the drought in many areas. Unless they've grown it themselves they have no idea what the hay fields were sprayed with. It's quite possible that the hay was sprayed with something like Grazon (aminopyralid + 2,4-D) (picloram + 2,4-D)....which goes into the cow and comes out in the manure. Depending on what study you look at it can take anywhere from 3 months to years for it to decay so "aged" manure isn't a safe bet either.

[Rockporter]

Just a thought...a lot of ranchers have had to buy hay because of the drought in many areas. Unless they've grown it themselves they have no idea what the hay fields were sprayed with. It's quite possible that the hay was sprayed with something like Grazon (aminopyralid + 2,4-D) (picloram + 2,4-D)....which goes into the cow and comes out in the manure. Depending on what study you look at it can take anywhere from 3 months to years for it to decay so "aged" manure isn't a safe bet either.

Right, that is what I have been reading about all summer last year, many organic growers had issues with Grazon.

[karstopography]

I already avoid putting anything with any percentage of cow manure as an ingredient into the garden. Is there anyway to know that those cows didn’t graze or eat contaminated feed or hay? Sounds like mushroom compost can also be contaminated with herbicides. What other ways can these persistent herbicides get imported into the soil zone of gardens?

Is composted chicken manure safe from herbicide contamination? I have reasoned chicken manure would be almost certainly safe from contamination based on what I believe chickens are fed, but now I wonder.

[Rockporter]

I already avoid putting anything with any percentage of cow manure as an ingredient into the garden. Is there anyway to know that those cows didn’t graze or eat contaminated feed or hay? Sounds like mushroom compost can also be contaminated with herbicides. What other ways can these persistent herbicides get imported into the soil zone of gardens?

Is composted chicken manure safe from herbicide contamination? I have reasoned chicken manure would be almost certainly safe from contamination based on what I believe chickens are fed, but now I wonder.

I have a huge bag of chicken manure that I have never opened. It stinks, whew! But I just don't know how much to add to my containers to benefit the mix instead of damaging it. So, it sits, how much do you add say to a 3 cubic foot of mix?

[karstopography]

Maybe a quart per cubic foot.

[DriftlessRoots]

I already avoid putting anything with any percentage of cow manure as an ingredient into the garden. Is there anyway to know that those cows didn’t graze or eat contaminated feed or hay? Sounds like mushroom compost can also be contaminated with herbicides. What other ways can these persistent herbicides get imported into the soil zone of gardens?

Is composted chicken manure safe from herbicide contamination? I have reasoned chicken manure would be almost certainly safe from contamination based on what I believe chickens are fed, but now I wonder.

I read somewhere...possibly on this very forum...that when one buys a potting mix containing manure it can be tested before using by sowing some particularly herbicide-sensitive seeds or plants in it and watch what they do. I don't know what those plants would be and I just don't buy anything with manure in it. I even avoid the free horse manure offered at the community garden. You can never be sure what $#!7 it's got in it.

'

[MissS]

I already avoid putting anything with any percentage of cow manure as an ingredient into the garden. Is there anyway to know that those cows didn’t graze or eat contaminated feed or hay? Sounds like mushroom compost can also be contaminated with herbicides. What other ways can these persistent herbicides get imported into the soil zone of gardens?

Is composted chicken manure safe from herbicide contamination? I have reasoned chicken manure would be almost certainly safe from contamination based on what I believe chickens are fed, but now I wonder.

I read somewhere...possibly on this very forum...that when one buys a potting mix containing manure it can be tested before using by sowing some particularly herbicide-sensitive seeds or plants in it and watch what they do. I don't know what those plants would be and I just don't buy anything with manure in it. I even avoid the free horse manure offered at the community garden. You can never be sure what $#!7 it's got in it.

'

To test your soil for herbicides, start some bean seeds and see if they sprout normally or not. If not, then the soil is most likely contaminated.

Corn is the main ingredient in chicken feed. Many corn crops are known to be treated with glyphosate (Round up).

[karstopography]

I already avoid putting anything with any percentage of cow manure as an ingredient into the garden. Is there anyway to know that those cows didn’t graze or eat contaminated feed or hay? Sounds like mushroom compost can also be contaminated with herbicides. What other ways can these persistent herbicides get imported into the soil zone of gardens?

Is composted chicken manure safe from herbicide contamination? I have reasoned chicken manure would be almost certainly safe from contamination based on what I believe chickens are fed, but now I wonder.

I read somewhere...possibly on this very forum...that when one buys a potting mix containing manure it can be tested before using by sowing some particularly herbicide-sensitive seeds or plants in it and watch what they do. I don't know what those plants would be and I just don't buy anything with manure in it. I even avoid the free horse manure offered at the community garden. You can never be sure what $#!7 it's got in it.

'

To test your soil for herbicides, start some bean seeds and see if they sprout normally or not. If not, then the soil is most likely contaminated.

Corn is the main ingredient in chicken feed. Many corn crops are known to be treated with glyphosate (Round up).

Well, glyphosate or roundup isn’t a persistent herbicide like grazon. Glyphosate isn’t the issue, it’s picloram, that’s the active ingredient that doesn’t break down in digestive tracts or hot compost piles. Not that glyphosate doesn’t cause its own damage and issues from drifting in the wind to non-target area or crops.