Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.


To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!


Saturday 28 June 2008

abnormal growth of vegetable crops caused by contamination of compost.

I am more and more concerned at the possible implications of this issue...

Community compost systems take in ANY greenstuff and compost it and then distribute it, council run sites take in stuff and compost it,
IF any of the green waste has been contaminated by this herbicide, what will happen ?

I also have had a muse about small scale composting of hay.....I don't have any stock eating hay but I DO have a Guinea Pig and he lives on hay from a local (not certified organic) farmer..so potentially this hay may be affected.... (although I have now just checked and the hay is supposed to be chemical free....)

AND many people get bales of hay for mulching allotments as well as putting under small animals or stock for bedding and food and then ...where does it all go? Why, on the compost heap!

All the bedding and poo from my Guinea pig goes in the compost bins...now I make SUCH a lot of compost that any ( possible) residues would be very well diluted...BUT suppose one only has a couple of bins and a small garden.. an input , possibly contaminated like that, even from a few domestic pets could be potentially a fair proportion of what goes in the bin...

and then if its used on the garden next year... one may get affected potatoes or tomatoes? EEK!!

I think this has the potential to be a real issue for those who grow in allotments or back gardens...even if they are not buying in manure

APART from the whole, other, BIG issue of commercial growing.......

I have also found that my Organic peat free compost is partly produced from composted green waste.... So... I am going to email the manufacturers and ask if they test for residues of this wretched herbicide......

I think this stuff should be banned ASAP..the implications are quite alarming......
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2 comments:

  1. Lily28 June 2008 at 16:31

    Very alarming! Makes me question a few community type composts around here! Thanks for the great post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Compostwoman28 June 2008 at 18:22

    Thanks Allium...it IS rather worrying, isn't it...

    Glad you found my post helpful, though...

    :-0

    Cw x

    ReplyDelete

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