Okay, well then, TRACE amounts of herbicides have been detected in some compost. Alert the Feds.

While I would be concerned if I were an organic gardener who relied on their products 100%, I do not rely on them, nor do I purchase their products.

Additionally, even if I had used their products, I would not be concerned by any trace amounts of anything in their compost. Chemicals are only of concern when they are applied to plants in the rates which are recommended on their label, and not in trace amounts.

Most, if not many herbicides are active on the plant leaf surfaces, and not in the soil to the roots of the plants.

Just out of curiosity, what kinds of concentrations are we talking about?

Wouldn't it be nice however, to have the tests completed BEFORE any product was sold. Great to live in capitalist america, the land of the free, and the home of the fuq'd. Disagree? Then ask this company why it sold organic mulch without testing it first.

Rule of Acquisition #16: A deal is a deal.

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I have to point out that the tests for these residues are extremely expensive. EPA approved chlorpyralid before lab tests existed to test for residues, and neither the companies nor the EPA have solid numbers on the persistence of these and several other "vanity" herbicides in compost and soil. I think the monkey belongs on the manufacturer's back. I hope Green Mountain sues the heck out of them.

Chris - sorry, I deleted the email. Personally, I wouldn't get worked up about it. But then, I don't buy compost. For those who stress about chemicals, I suspect they'd want to know.

My understanding is that Clopyralid remains active even after composting and even extremely small amounts can damage sensitive plants. I think it is quite right that the compost is being withdrawn and is not an over reaction as Chris_CL implies. There have recently been big problems with Copyralid residues in farmyard manure in the UK. This is manure from animals which have grazed grass that has had this herbicide applied ie some way down the line from the original application.

Here is a link that might be useful: Clopyralid

I have used clopyralid contaminated manure before and it was heart breaking what it did to my tomatoes. It is great they are recalling the compost. My only problem would be that if I had bought it, I would have likely used it and it would have been too late for that area. Clopyralid can persist in soil for years.

"Traces" are usually not a problem. But with clopyralid and picrolam damage to beans, tomatoes and peas occurs at the ppb (part per billion) level. That is very little herbicide. I'm dealing with contaminated manure too. It is not easy to test for these herbicides at that level and is impractical to test all compost.

might be some politics of business involved eg.,. trying to discredit the opposing product?

why they test this brand and maybe never any of the other myriad of brands one might well wonder, and testing is expensive and needs to be paid for by someone, so it comes back to who pays wins.

ok there are residues in product, i use sugar cane mulch it is easiest and cheapest to get, it will be full of residue, as growing cane is a high end user of chemicals,even if i could get spoilt lucerne hay, what residues might it have? if not direct fall out from a nearby agriculture application or coal fired power station??

me not going to get paranoid about it i won't have anything to use even the mushroom compost we use.

very doubtful if residues will be made soluble for the plants so the plants can't take it up, yes the gardener can end up with it on their hands and fingers remedy wash after using products or even gardening.

as for recalling it the maker has a huge bill now for no gain for gardeners. maybe the epa should do independent costly testing of residues in at least fresh fruit & vege's instead? now that does effect our health.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens straw bale garden

gardenlen - with Clopyralid this is not a possible problem it is a proven problem. It would be better business practice for Green Mountain to recall this product than to have users start finding that their crops are dying and then have to recompense them. It is not a question of residues on gardeners' fingers. Plants can and do take it up. This herbicide does not break down quickly as many others do and it continues to kill plants even in tiny quantities. If you use compost or manure containing even tiny traces of it you might as well apply herbicide directly to your crops. It is is a genuine proven problem to growers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Clopyralid

There's no need to discredit the product or have a conspiracy for it's problem.

The real discredit most likely belongs to the farmer(s) they sourced their compost from (most likely animal waste).

We're in a severe drought and as much as some want to believe all the farmers out there are "salt of the earth"...some are just salting the earth.

IMO, the most likely point of contamination is an animal farming operation that got some hay/straw that's been treated. It doesn't all filter out before it's pooped. I imagine either the farmer of the animals or the supplier of the hay/straw to the animal farmer is where the sketchy stuff happened.

We're in a drought now (pretty severe right now, and it wasn't good last year in many places) and securing animal feed is rather competitive.

It sure as heck wouldn't be the first time stuff like this has happened.