B & Q Organic Living Tomato Food withdrawn from sale.

[realfood]

According to "Which", who noted distorted leaves and flowers on tomato plants when they were using the B & Q Organic Living Tomato Food product, laboratory testing showed the product was contaminated with the herbicide "clopyralid". This is a powerful herbicide licensed to be sprayed on grass including lawns.
A possible route for contamination could be that the manufacturer of the "organic" fertilizer, bought in grass clippings that had been sprayed with "clopyralid", and used them in the manufacturing process.

This highlights the danger of using "clopyralid" on home garden lawns. Any grass clippings used as mulch or compost will cause the same damage to sensitive edible plants. Make sure that you read the label very, very carefully before you apply any chemicals to your lawn!

[realfood]

[ceres]

Clopyralid has also been implicated in weedkiller contamination of council compost.  Hardly surprising when Joe Public merrily sticks their lawn feed and weed clippings in the green bin.

Good information, thanks realfood.

[Ninnyscrops.]

That's it, that's it I've had enough.  >:( 

I'm going to get a few comfrey plants, let an area go wild for nettles, carry on composting only my own stuff and not buy any bagged compost, (I'll dig up garden soil if I run short!).

I don't use weedkiller or lawn feed at home so grass cuttings will go up to the plot too. I'm now worried about spent hops......but surely there can't be anything wrong with those can there?

Never thought it'd come to the day of people poisoning "organic" products, I suppose it had to come in the "greed" option some time  ::), all to do with short cuts and lack of proper trials IMHO.

Rant over, but I don't feel better - another worry!

Linda

[sunloving]

organic my arse !
Hope this makes it to the papers.

[Eristic]

Yep. And the Oracle has predicted that before many more seasons pass, good reliable compost will be £12-£15 a bag.

Oh deery deary me.

[Ninnyscrops.]

Remember that Eristic - seems the Oracle is braying true!

I'm going to ask the local council tomorrow about what happens to all those wheely bins that go out of commission. I can't take up veg scraps from the kitchen to the plot as the rats are still around (had my Bounty Sweetcorn, boy was I lucky with my Ambrosia) but have overflow with the bins at home.  If I do just veg scraps in a wheely (no "dry" additions)  and fit a tap at the bottom, perhaps another option for plant food?

Linda

[Sholls]

If I do just veg scraps in a wheely (no "dry" additions)  and fit a tap at the bottom, perhaps another option for plant food?

Do your council not offer subsidised wormeries, food digesters & green cones?

I know the link I provided is to a Scottish scheme, but the food digester/Green Johanna is offered in many English council regions... In fact, I have friends who live in certain London boroughs, that have been bribed incentivised to take one. 

[Ninnyscrops.]

Hi sholls, yes I've got a green cone but use that for cooked waste and bones.

I've seen posts on wormeries but they seem to be hit and miss.

I used to put all my veg waste into my old kitchen bin that I keep in the garden to take up to the plot, but when the time came to load it into the car there was so much liquid in the bottom it seems silly just to put it in a composter when I could tap it off. My old kitchen bin is not rat proof (the lid had a large bit missing). Just thought an old wheely would be better size wise and being off the floor the rats can't scale them.

Linda

[7oaks plot]

I made an easy decision ages ago......NO COUNCIL COMPOST as its just GOT to be contaminated with all that weed and feed grass clippings. Its a no-brainer.

Now things are so much easier....

1) I save all my own food scraps/paper etc and put them in the dalek then dig it all in in the autumn.

2) I cut down a load of nettles, put them in a hessian sack and then put them in a water butt, wait 2 weeks and hey presto free and TOTALLY ORGANIC and SAFE fertilizer. (very smelly but hey!!!)

I use the nettle juice for either watering around the base of every vegetable/beans/peas etc etc on my plot and spray over all the rest of the plants at forghnightly intervals and ive got wonderful and very healthy crops.

Also it has the added benefit in as much as when you spray it on the runner beans it keeps all the green/blackfly off as they hate it.

As the Meerkats would say "Simples"

[Sholls]

Hmm, my freebie 15 litre 'compost caddy' has a tap (well, I could screw one in if I wished); I understand your desire to extract the liquid before composting the dry matter... I have a friend who stuffs an old pair of tights with green waste before submerging them in a water butt (not unlike the folk who make nettle & comfrey tea), but my little tub with a tap occupies less space & is less messy.

Your wheelie bin idea has potential, but you could probably scale the container size back a bit.  

[Pesky Wabbit]

Clopyralid has also been implicated in weedkiller contamination of council compost.  Hardly surprising when Joe Public merrily sticks their lawn feed and weed clippings in the green bin.

I made an easy decision ages ago......NO COUNCIL COMPOST as its just GOT to be contaminated with all that weed and feed grass clippings. Its a no-brainer.

Being a member of Joe Public I always shove my lawn feed and weed clippings in the green bin.
I tried to get the Bindweed taken away with the household waste but the man refused to take it, 'e said it was green waste.

Not allowed to have bonfires - so what else can one do with the stuff ?

[saddad]

so what else can one do with the stuff ?

Drown it in a large bucket... once it's it composts...  :-\

[ceres]

Not allowed to have bonfires - so what else can one do with the stuff ?

Here's what the Composting Association says:

"To date in the UK, a few herbicide products that contain clopyralid have been approved for amateur use.  One example is ‘Verdone Extra’ that contains the active ingredients fluoroxypyr, clopyralid and MCPA.  Importantly, its label warns that:

'All grass clippings may be left in place on the lawn. The first mowing after application must not be used as a mulch, either fresh or after composting, since it may damage desired plants. Dispose of via normal household waste. Do not dispose of via council composting schemes. The next three mowings should be used as a mulch only after composting well, for at least 9 months.'"

http://www.organics-recycling.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=182:be-alert-to-herbicide-active-ingredients-aminopyralid-and-clopyralid&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18

The label instructions are part of the approval process for the product and is the only advice that should be followed.

[saddad]

Sorry for the confusion... I was referring to the bindweed...  :-X

[telboy]

saddad,
Leave in exposed to the sun(after digging it out)
It will die!
Now where we???