That sucks. Did the manure have any straw bedding with it? If so, any chance your friend knows from whence the bedding (or the feed for that matter) came from and if the crop/pasture had been sprayed with any herbicide having clopyralid or picloram in it?

Lloyd

Hi tishtoshnm,
If it was me, I would just press on, add as much compost that you can find and plant a winter cover crop (clover,or whatever grows in your neighborhood......through the new compost....
Mainly realizing that none of us can do anything about what happened to our property before we got there or what "toxic crap" was introduced to our land by us unknowingly...

Check out Lloyds operation, his is a perfect example that anything can get introduced into our land, and we just have to overcome it with ....MORE,...more good stuff to off set the bad stuff...

Lloyd get 1000s of Bags of Leaves and ????? and he has absolutely no way of knowing what kind of toxic crap has now made it into his system... it sucks...but it is life...

But ...I digress, just add what you know to be good compost and sow whatever will grow.... before long, you will be doing fine.....

Lots of problems with contaminated manure & composted products, including commercially produced stuff, the past several year in the US, UK, and Australia. Symptoms mimic damage from 2,4-D.

Read this info from WSU
http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/soilmgmt/Clopyralid.htm
And note the part describing an easy bio-assay any gardener can do to verify or not.

Here is a link that might be useful: contaminated compost and/or manure

Thank you for all the information. There was bedding in the manure but it is unlikely that my friend has any indication of what may have been used in it. We have been in contact with our county extension agent who has recommended that we make sure we keep watering the bed to leach out the herbicide (we are hoping for a good monsoon season this year). This weekend will be spent searching for some reasonably priced back-up plants to put in other beds we are developing for ornamentals. I really hope to make some tomato sauce this year.

Thank you as well for the links. We have 2 other manure piles from a different neighbor where they used oat hay. We are trying to decide how to move forward with that. I can definitely say after this, I have increased my knowledge base beyond what it was last week!

One of the reasons I shy away from using manures in my composting endeavors. If the supplier knows the history of the feed/bedding I might consider it but it's easier just to not use it IMO.

Lloyd

Please post pictures of your affected plants

I dunno if its applicable where you are, but up here, right before the monsoons, we often get the winds coming in off the desert carrying the leaf hoppers and their lovely curly top virus. - the tomato leaves get deformed, curl upside down, and the plants usually wilt.

Anything like that?

tishtoshnm - If it is clopyralid you could use activated charcoal to neutralize it. I first read of this in The Ann Lovejoy Handbook of Northwest Gardening: Natural, Sustainable, Organic by Ann Lovejoy.

In the book she explains how to test your compost/soil by growing peas in 2 different containers with bagged potting soil in the other one.

Here is a link that might be useful: curtail clopyralid contamination

Thank you for all of the suggestions. Jean, I will try and take some pictures tomorrow. David, curly top is a possibility down here but the symptoms are not all that indicative. The leaves are severely deformed, the plants are stunted but there has been no wilt and no discoloration.

We were able to get 6 tomato plants for $1 a piece and some others for around $3 so I have 9 plants and hope for this year and more knowledge for next year. I will definitely be checking out the charcoal suggestion as well. Thank you.

Jean, I am sorry it took so long to get these up. But here are some pictures of the damage. In one pic you can see where a fruit is forming in a curlicue as well.

I have 2 of the large beds like picture 4 that have a lot of manure of them and two 4 x 10 (ish) beds as well that we will be remediating.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pics of herbicide damage

I thought that I would update this post for any who come across it in searches. The herbicide is still active in the soil. When there is a volunteer tomato plant growing, I have allowed it to grow as a test and it is still showing deformity, but it is taking longer before it shows the deformity so I think the contaminant is being pushed further down. I believe a huge factor in this has been the our drought. The snow we have gotten in the winter has had very little moisture in it and the summers have been quite dry. Hopefully we get a wet winter and a good monsoon season next year.

Another observation is that those families that are not bothered by the herbicide have done exceedingly well. Squash, kale, broccoli, onions, cauliflower, chard, melons, cukes, etc. have done better in these beds than anywhere else in the garden which is more than likely due to the large amount of manure we placed in them.

The plan for now is to continue growing what will grow, adding more compost and growing cover crops and hopefully within another 2 years they will be available for tomatoes.

tishtoshnm - when it comes to degrading persistent herbicides in soils, aeration is your best ally. As much as it goes against the grain for many, turning the soil as frequently as you can will aid in expediting the decomposition. Good luck!

tishtoshnm,you are to be comended for returning and updating. Something so often overlooked that is very helpful and apreciated by those who share experience as well as those seeking help. If you are still doing test plantings next year,you might include okra which is extremly susceptible to post emerge broad leaf herbisides.

Just amazing that it's still causing problems after 2 years!

If you've got that sand and decomposed granite 'kitty litter' NM soil, aeration shouldn't be a problem!

Good to know about the aeration. DH and I have noted some weight gain so digging those beds might help that as well. It could also be an excuse for digging down and putting wire underneath to thwart the gophers before I have a chance to trap them.

The beds are on a slope so the lower point seems to be where it is concentrating and that sounds like a point where I will be trying some okra next year as well. The benefit of using okra is if it is still affected I will be less disappointed than if I nurse a tomato plant along.

Tox, I am in the East Mountains so my soil is actually the limestone based clay and depending on where I dig, either 18-24 inches down there is a layer of caliche. This may be blocking the flushing of the clopyralid as well.

Hopefully next year I can report that the beds are free of contaminants and can be fitted into my rotation. If not, I think the garden will have to expand even more.

tishtosh - the report linked below is probably the broadest overview on the subject of clopyralid and aminopyralid persistence in soils and compost I know. The part you will probably be most interested in begins on page 13. A couple of important thigns to note:

- degradation is primarily aerobic decomposition; they won't much degrade at all under anaerobic conditions. Hence the aeration

- leaching potential is pretty good on soils with low organic matter; however it is impeded by organic matter.

Basically, you need to encourage as much as you can complete breakdown of the manure, etc. in the soil.

-moisture is key to anaerobic decomposition.

Here is a link that might be useful: WRAP Clopyralid & Aminopyralid Study

Thank you, TXEB. There is a cold snap predicted this weekend so I look forward to sitting down with the paper while I drink my coffee.

I agree. Commendable for returning. This is has been an excellent post.