Topic: Growbags

[caroline7758]

Anyone got any recommendations for good value/good quality growbags this year?

[manicscousers]

lidl, this thursday, 89p each  :)

[tim]

You cannot compare good 'value' with good quality.  This year's bags have not yet been tried.

If you go for the cheapest, it is unlikely that you will get the best. Some are twice the size of others.

But, in the end, so much depends upon the TLC that you give them.

[caroline7758]

Exactly, Tim- I was hoping someone else might have started doing the research for me! ;) No Lidl nearby & I'm working on Thursday,sadly.

[Tee Gee]

Never use them so I cant help.

I think they are a very expensive way of growing things.

I appreciate some people dont have the space and have to grow things in containers or postage stamp beds, but my suggestion would be buy potting compost instead!

[grawrc]

Well TeeGee I use them sometimes as a convenience in the greenhouse when I don't have time to remove the soil from the beds and replace with fresh.

Since my (small) greenhouse crops are tomatoes, peppers and chillies the soil would need changed at least every couple of years and I just don't have the time.

[tim]

Never thought of that, TG, but what would you pay for how much?

Typically, 75l for £2.99 (sorry about that b****y 99 but that's what it says) - so £1.50ish for a good sized growbag. About comparable? Typically 99p for a 25l one.

I'm all for change if I can identify the right thing.

[okra]

compared to the 75litre bags they are poor value

[Tee Gee]

I'm all for change if I can identify the right thing.

I find there is usually more body in potting compost!

Dare I say it they use different types of peat, I think growbags is sedge peat not sure of the one in potting compost ( bog peat ???.)

I think it is the type that can be burned on a crofters fire or in a power station and has a rougher (rooty) structure.

Grow bag mixes are a bit too fine for my liking and I find you have to be more careful with the watering so that you don't end up with a sodden sludge.

Potting is generally more open textured so the roots breathe better.

I also find it more useful when upgrading compost to Ji 2 or 3 quality.

Multipurpose can be a bit in between I find!



Well thats my opinion.

[Jeannine]

I have bought grow bags this year, first time for me, but I was going to sink my tom pots  in them. 2 filled 12 inch pots to a bag, then chuck it all on the garden after. I have noticed a very big difference in the quality of potting soils so I bought fairly expensive bags.. Maybe this was an error?

XX Jeannine

[Hyacinth]

I need to buy growbags. I can lift a growbag - I can't lift a bag of multi-purpose compost :-[

My biggest mistake was last year when I bought expensive 'organic' peat-free growbags.....they dried out in a flash and were nigh impossible to keep moist. When dry they were also nigh impossible to wet again >:(

So I'll be going to my little man on the corner again this year. His are only 99p still, quite large and good quality stuff.

Jeanine I cut my growbags in half, stand on end & use a ring on top - better depth of soil for the roots than laying them flat and the watering's more thorough.

[glow777]

Since we have had the allotment shop we have been able to bulk buy compost and growbags etc. We have been buying qualitiy compost and reselling at just a little bit over the price of supermarket stuff. The differance is amazing no bits, twigs and unidentifiable stuff floating around inside the bags which contain compost that is so fine it looks like its been pre-seived. I will never buy anymore cheap stuff.

BTW I didnt realise until ordering the bulk loads that growbags, compost etc have a limited shelf life. Wonder how old the supermarket stuff is.

[Barnowl]

Our local GC is still selling tomarite growbags at £3.99 - cheaper to buy multicompost & Tomarite liquid from the allotment shop.

[tim]

Thanks, TG.

2 x 35l Growbags poor value compared with a 75l bag, Okra? Not a lot in it?

[mikey]

have not bought growbags since they passed the 99p each mark, for good stuff like Levingston.

We now buy 75 Lit bags of Potting Compost, ERIN brand, at £10 for 4 bags.
This available in Lincolnshire at Brigg Garden Centre on Caistor Road Brigg and their 'sister' company Woodthorpe Hall Garden Centre, on the B1373 between Alford and Withern (S. East of Louth).
Understand also available at Whisby Garden Centre, West of Lincoln, (A4A Imps would know better than I)
Realise this is no help to A4A members who do not live in or near to God's County  ;D, but there must be other good deals elsewhere, good quality with fair price.

Have used the 75 Lit bags as 'giant' grow bags for greedy feeders like Courgettes, otherwise the contents are stuffed into Black Flower Pots, home made Planters (forklift boards), and direct into outdoor seed beds. Use on seed beds is handy because colour contrast shows clearly where the seeds were sown.

Cheers
Mikey

[emmy1978]

My biggest mistake was last year when I bought expensive 'organic' peat-free growbags.....they dried out in a flash and were nigh impossible to keep moist. When dry they were also nigh impossible to wet again >:(

Jeanine I cut my growbags in half, stand on end & use a ring on top - better depth of soil for the roots than laying them flat and the watering's more thorough.

Lish, couldn't agree more with the first comment. Did this last year and all but killed everything with the dry-sodden-parched-flooded style watering.  >:(
Love the suggestion of cutting them in half. Another genius solution. I'm thinking of starting a little book by the pc for suggestions like this (correctly attributed of course!)

[flossie]

Thanks Mikey - very helpful  for this "imp" :)

[Tee Gee]

BTW I didnt realise until ordering the bulk loads that growbags, compost etc have a limited shelf life. Wonder how old the supermarket stuff is.

I took a similar point up with a national gardening magazine a few years ago!

I pointed out that all fertilisers have to indicate the NPK and trace element contents but growbags/compost don't

The return message was;

1) they didn't have to so don't

2) It would be difficult to assess because they can not guarantee that by the time you purchase them the contents will be the same as were when they left the works.

I agreed but asked them; if you can you state that there will be x litres in the bag when it leaves the works why not NPK?

Still awaiting a reply!

The other thing was compost quality/price do you get value for money?

Why are some composts much dearer than others? apparently the quality of the bags come into the reckoning and the pick of the mix, i.e. when the compost is made up it is graded basically into good, rough and dust.

The good is the dearest (understandably) the rough is full of roots etc and the dust is a 'b****r to re-wet if it dries out.

Now you know as much as I know on the subject!

[caroline7758]

Just got a bargain today- 4 x 70L bags of New Horizon peat-free for 8 quid! Last year's stock so might need a bit of feeding, but even so. Bad news is, it means they are not stocking it any more (Hayes Garen world in Leeds) as they are only stocking Westland composts.  >:(

[isbister]

I read somewhere (Gardening Which? maybe) that the nPK in bags of compost dissipates over time. Old stock therefore not good. So why no sell by date?