- Location
- Yorks
Isn't some of it now mixed with straw instead of sawdust?
What is the danger of importing viable blackgrass seed?
What is the danger of importing viable blackgrass seed?
Biosolids (human sludge)
- Thread starter j6891
- Start date
- Location
- Warwickshire
Greater likelihood of importing tomato seeds - or something stronger !
puntabrava
Member
- Location
- Wiltshire
TW is about £1 to £1.50, all spring/winter spreading was free until a year or so ago.I use 5500 tonnes of Wessex Water's digestate cake every year.
£4.75/t delivered & spread with a nitrogen & phosphate value of £10/t. 18 t/ha gives circa 260 kg/ha total P2O5 50% available in yr 1 and 27 kg N in year 1 with the rest locked in organic matter. That's the cost/benefit so I don't mind paying for a steady supply of free organic matter with cheap N & P.
I take it in all year round but have stopped spring spreading before spring barley as the mess of the spreader ruts is excessive (they only come here on wet days!). I'm not supposed to apply it before malting barley or milling wheat so it now goes on before osr or winter feed barley where is helps autumn development, tillers etc. A dose gives 3 crops' phosphate so we spread everything not on a SPZ1 area (borehole) every 3 years. My P indices are still rising so I will reduce some fields to 1 in 4 years to draw down. They won't spread over index 4.5. Low pH soils risk releasing the PTE heavy metals which is another reason they like high pH downland apart from being able to get access all year. Another benefit is a notable reduction in slugs - maybe it's all the curry powder consumed...
W Water have various big growers who take tonnage all year every year & a queue of others who only want some in the summer so it's not hard to see who gets priority. The price has gone up in the last 5 years but I'm assured that it won't go up any further - I know the users of over 50% of Poole & Bournemouth's output & we have all told WW that we won't pay any more. £4.75 only really covers the haulage & spreading but then again they make their money charging households for the seweage rates anyway.
The WW contractor uses Bunning spreaders which don't give an even spread pattern at 12m spacings. The drivers are students or agency workers so frequently bits get double dosed or missed plus they are trying to be keen by speeding up the bed chains instead of just going at a set speed to give a calibrated dose of what I regard as fertiliser. Other water boards use better spreaders with weigh cells, spinning discs & GPS steering driven by better paid operators but it depends on your area. I think Thames also charge a similar amount but have to go well out of their catchment to get rid of 10 million people's crap.
There are still a few sewage works generating lime stabilised sewage but most bigger ones now have AD plants. Digestate has much less smell & no pathogens which is why untreated sewage is so hard to get rid of. You'll need to adhere to the PAS protocols to apply your own to land which for small amounts is just not worth it. The sewgae companies have an EA exemption for sewage applications but there is a regular testing regime for the product & soils based on a mutually agreed code of practice. The only real time it smells is for 24 hours post tipping & for 24 hours after it has been spread.
Here's irony for you - you can spread any kind of unpasteurised muck containing God knows what pathogens & pollutants without any checks other than fiddling the NVZ paperwork yet heavily regulated sewage digestate is restricted!
- Location
- YO42
Used it for about 10 years used to be free but now pay for it. we apply it to stubbles prior to winter crops
It ideal for us as its high in phosphate and the bit of nitrogen gives crops kick start
It ideal for us as its high in phosphate and the bit of nitrogen gives crops kick start
Gothmog
Member
- Location
- South Yorkshire
Blackgrass seed in the straw its mixed with..??
I mentioned in a previous post I wasn't keen on chlorine content etc
Not used sludge fur a while but mostly because they want paying for it vs free ad waste and compost locally
Jolly
Member
- Location
- West Midlands
Used sludge a few years ago ,good product makes OSR grow well but got fed up paying for it when fields were destroyed by poor spreading delayed planting due to waiting for spreaders .Had some soil tests done phosphate levels were getting high ,also concerned about future problems if someone decided there was a problem with the product .Now we get compost ,muck and chop straw we don't miss the hassle .
Wessex don't mix it with straw. Why increase the bulk and incur more cost??
danjen
Member
- Location
- north england
Big estate in south northumberland was using lime stabilised sewage for a good few years from Northumbria Water.Dont know how much lime they put in,but it just looked and smelt like human sh!t.The smell was really bad,even for other hardened farmers nearby.Townies driving past in their cars were often throwing up in them.Think the estate has stopped using it last couple of years because the owner was getting death threats.Tyne grain(or whatever its called now)had told their members not to use it or they wouldnt buy their grain.Theres got to be some pathogens left in that,even if it is mixed with lime.I use 5500 tonnes of Wessex Water's digestate cake every year.
£4.75/t delivered & spread with a nitrogen & phosphate value of £10/t. 18 t/ha gives circa 260 kg/ha total P2O5 50% available in yr 1 and 27 kg N in year 1 with the rest locked in organic matter. That's the cost/benefit so I don't mind paying for a steady supply of free organic matter with cheap N & P.
I take it in all year round but have stopped spring spreading before spring barley as the mess of the spreader ruts is excessive (they only come here on wet days!). I'm not supposed to apply it before malting barley or milling wheat so it now goes on before osr or winter feed barley where is helps autumn development, tillers etc. A dose gives 3 crops' phosphate so we spread everything not on a SPZ1 area (borehole) every 3 years. My P indices are still rising so I will reduce some fields to 1 in 4 years to draw down. They won't spread over index 4.5. Low pH soils risk releasing the PTE heavy metals which is another reason they like high pH downland apart from being able to get access all year. Another benefit is a notable reduction in slugs - maybe it's all the curry powder consumed...
W Water have various big growers who take tonnage all year every year & a queue of others who only want some in the summer so it's not hard to see who gets priority. The price has gone up in the last 5 years but I'm assured that it won't go up any further - I know the users of over 50% of Poole & Bournemouth's output & we have all told WW that we won't pay any more. £4.75 only really covers the haulage & spreading but then again they make their money charging households for the seweage rates anyway.
The WW contractor uses Bunning spreaders which don't give an even spread pattern at 12m spacings. The drivers are students or agency workers so frequently bits get double dosed or missed plus they are trying to be keen by speeding up the bed chains instead of just going at a set speed to give a calibrated dose of what I regard as fertiliser. Other water boards use better spreaders with weigh cells, spinning discs & GPS steering driven by better paid operators but it depends on your area. I think Thames also charge a similar amount but have to go well out of their catchment to get rid of 10 million people's crap.
There are still a few sewage works generating lime stabilised sewage but most bigger ones now have AD plants. Digestate has much less smell & no pathogens which is why untreated sewage is so hard to get rid of. You'll need to adhere to the PAS protocols to apply your own to land which for small amounts is just not worth it. The sewgae companies have an EA exemption for sewage applications but there is a regular testing regime for the product & soils based on a mutually agreed code of practice. The only real time it smells is for 24 hours post tipping & for 24 hours after it has been spread.
Here's irony for you - you can spread any kind of unpasteurised muck containing God knows what pathogens & pollutants without any checks other than fiddling the NVZ paperwork yet heavily regulated sewage digestate is restricted!
Good for maize. We've had it on and off for years from utd utilities at shell green, which is a long way to transport it. We tend to have to take it in the winter months, when they have run out of land nearer to them. It's always been free, and spread for free, but I was told today that they would deliver it, but we would have to organise our own spreading from now on. They will soil sample the whole farm again though.
What for? Lime stabilised? I would be interested to see what that is because the process sounds unusual.
The digestate I get is very liquid & is dewatered to 23% DM to reduce the bulk. Nothing is added.
The Pill as in oestrogen?
- Location
- Bedfordshire
Anglian Water mix it with compost and sell for £9.00 + per tonne!!! spread. The only good thing is it has virtually no smell.
- Location
- the brecks norfolk
Blimey that's gone up I'm sure when I asked last year it was 7.50/ton which is far to much.
- Location
- Ardrossan Ayrshire
Sludge has been spread near us all summer. 1000s of tonnes of it. Tipped in 20t loads of stinking vile slurry, covering acres before it is scraped up with a 360 and spread with a rear discharge spreader. All this on a dairy farm, cattle on the same fields as it is tipped. Can be smelt 5 miles away, juice from the dumps is running to a ditch as we speak. First Milk farm. Great PR for farming and First Milk.............