Re: Improving drainage - 'no till method'

A word of advice - if you use horse manure, be sure it comes from a stable that does not use "weed-free" hay (or straw), which is unfortunately very common.  Weed-free hay is produced by application of the herbicide Clopyralid.  It effectivley kills broadleafed weeds without affecting the grasses.  BUT it passes through the digestive system of the cows and horses without any degradation, and remains in the manure for a *very* long time.  Legumes and composites are particularly sensative to the chemical, and one part per billion has been shown to do substantial damage to some plants.  The chemical has only been used for a few years, but starting in 1999, there were problems in Washington state and New Zealand (Moira, have you heard of this?), with municipal produced compost (of lawn grass clippings) killing garden plants.  The state of Washington has sinced banned the chemical.  However it is widely used in agriculture elsewhere - on golf courses, and especially to produce we!
 ed free hay (which the US government requires be used for pack animals in some wild areas to prevent the spread of weeds). California only banned it from use on lawns.  Organic farmers have been devasted by using manure that may have come from barns where weed free straw was mixed in with the manure.  It still shows up in a lot of commercially produced compost. (In some voluntary testing done a couple years ago, it was present in 65% of the samples tested).  One can easily test for its presence in compost, by planting some peas.  If they grow without any effect, it will not be present.  These days, I always test any commercially bought compost.
see: http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Clopyralid.htm
.	http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/filelibrary/2030/3153.pdf	



*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
 marianoo@wanadoo.es wrote:

>Kay,
>Thanks for your reply.
>
>I can get horse manure and I will have tons of mulching material when we
>get around to doing our winter cutback.  I assume that one just shovels
>a thick layer directly on to the soil (suits me, I don't like digging)
>and wait and replace whenever required.
>
>Cheers,
>Maria in Costa Blanca
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Kay" <dreher@seti.org>
>To: <marianoo@wanadoo.es>
>Sent: 16 December 2003 22:45
>Subject: Re: Improving drainage - 'no till method'
>
>
>> I inadvertently used the "no-till" method on my semi-shaded clay soil
>> by putting down about 1-2 inches of medium coarse bark mulch just for
>> weeds and not taking the time to do any cultivating. When I got around
>> to digging, after a couple years, much to my surprise the soil was
>> light and fluffy under the mulch.  .
>>
>> Kay in Berkeley, California
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