Topic: Rant about the quality of potting compost.......

[Deb P]

I don't make enough for my plots and have enough over to sow seeds and pot on I'm afraid....and to be honest I couldn't be bothered with trying to sterilise it!

[Eristic]

OK, it is not sterile, but it is free and plants love it.

Judging from some of the other posts on this forum, shop bought compost is not sterile either.

[thifasmom]

Why are we not using our own compost?

I have one of those messy heaps that looks like rubbish (raspberry prunings, old cabbage stalks etc) until you lift the top layer and find crumbling black delicious soil beneath. Have just done that yet again, and am spreading it thickly everywhere.

OK, it is not sterile, but it is free and plants love it.

last year i generated my first lot of homemade compost but it wasn't enough to cover all my growing areas. this years lot i think will be sufficient started using it this week but my heap certainly doesn't get hot enough to effectively kill off all my weed seeds, so i use store bought for seed sowing and some potting up jobs. and last year i also made a concerted effort to not throw my flower seed heads into the heap, i added them to the bonfire heap instead, so maybe next years compost will be more weed free.

I don't make enough for my plots and have enough over to sow seeds and pot on I'm afraid....and to be honest I couldn't be bothered with trying to sterilise it!

me neither :)

[bazzysbarn]

Just started potting up with Bowers compost and also found some glass and plastic in it.   Rang the garden centre and they had never had anyone complain about  glass in it before . They told us to take it back for a refund.

[lewic]

get in touch with trading standards, I did about lidl's compost

Your efforts may have paid off here, as I bought some Lidl compost yesterday and it looks OK at first glance.

Not as good as the Levingtons though, this is really heavy and dark with no large lumps.

[Deb P]

Just started potting up with Bowers compost and also found some glass and plastic in it.   Rang the garden centre and they had never had anyone complain about  glass in it before . They told us to take it back for a refund.

Well this is looking more and more dire, it is not an isolated incident. I would ring the manufacturer (the phone number is on the bottom of the compost packet) and let them know straightaway. It will only be a matter of time before someone hurts themselves with the stuff!

I sent my sample of compost off to them, plus a bag with a collection of the various debris I found in it, I will let you know what they say when I have a reply...... :-\

[Eristic]

Quite frankly, you are all getting what you pay for. The proper job compost would retail at between £12 and £15 a bag and you are not prepared to pay that much so you are fobbed off with bags of rubbish.

[bazzysbarn]

     Have rang the owner of Bowers compost and spoke to their customer services. The lady was very helpful. We have to send them a sample of it along with the stuff we found in it when we get the envelopes they are sending us.
     Has anyone had any problems with Levingtons or Erins multipurpose?

[Deb P]

Quite frankly, you are all getting what you pay for. The proper job compost would retail at between £12 and £15 a bag and you are not prepared to pay that much so you are fobbed off with bags of rubbish.

I do not agree. I have had perfectly acceptable compost from the same manufacturer for less than I paid this time per bag before, it is the change in quality I am concerned about. Does anyone on here pay £15 per bag for their potting compost?!

[Ishard]

oohhh! hahahaha, hehehehehe, roflmao *takes a deep breath* hehehehehe, hahahaha, 15 quid!!!
hahaha hehehe *wipes tears of laughter from my eyes*  roflmao, hehehe saw him coming! hahaha.


Thats a 'No' Deb. 15 quid! NEVER NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!  ;D ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

Nobody would ever pay that much.

[hellohelenhere]

I use this 'Earth Matters' peat-free compost:
http://www.creativegardenideas.co.uk/3-bag-multibuy-westland-earth-matters-organic-peat-free-multipurpose-compost

It's rather open, loose and fibrous, so I mix it half and half with the general peat-free compost or gro-bags from Focus, just because they're the nearest large store to me. If you're used to top quality crumbly potting compost, you'd probably still find it a bit fibrous, but it seems to work fine. I'd increase the proportion of general compost for anything that really didn't want to ever dry out.

My only real objection to it is the preachy name. :D

[GodfreyRob]

I use this 'Earth Matters' peat-free compost:
http://www.creativegardenideas.co.uk/3-bag-multibuy-westland-earth-matters-organic-peat-free-multipurpose-compost

It's rather open, loose and fibrous, so I mix it half and half with the general peat-free compost or gro-bags from Focus, just because they're the nearest large store to me. If you're used to top quality crumbly potting compost, you'd probably still find it a bit fibrous, but it seems to work fine. I'd increase the proportion of general compost for anything that really didn't want to ever dry out.

My only real objection to it is the preachy name. :D

I have been using it for a couple of years and its been pretty consistent - its not perfect, but i have successfully germinated/grown a wide range of veg in it. You have to be a bit careful about excess humidity as it can get green mould on top - other than that I can't really fault it.

[caroline7758]

I've used this for the first time this year and got 4 bags for a tenner at Wyevale. Opened my last bag this morning and there was a live worm in it so that must be a good sign! It does need sieving if you're using it for seeds but I've had good results so far.

[Eristic]

oohhh! hahahaha, hehehehehe, roflmao *takes a deep breath* hehehehehe, hahahaha, 15 quid!!!
hahaha hehehe *wipes tears of laughter from my eyes*  roflmao, hehehe saw him coming! hahaha.


Thats a 'No' Deb. 15 quid! NEVER NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!

Go on. Laugh. I dare you! You silly girls are just emphasizing the point I'm trying to make. You are not prepared to pay the right price for quality so the naffia sell you bagged up Council waste. For the past 25 years the standard of a bag of compost has slowly been dropped to today's abysmal standard.

It is reported here that the makers cannot remove glass and plastic. They can if they want to, but not without adding considerably to the cost that you refuse to pay.

GodfreyRob  says he has successfully germinated lots of seeds in it. Well let me tell you I've successfully germinated lots of seeds in soggy wet carpet but I don't wish to brag about it. You're paying for soggy wet carpet and I'll bet real money that if enough of you checked the bags thouroughly you would find some soggy wet carpet.

OK. My standards are way higher than yours but to be honest I wouldn't pay £15 a bag either. That's why I make my own. Making it yourself is not an option open to all but you should spare a thought to just how much time you spend modifying and sieving bought in rubbish and factor in this hidden cost to the purchase price.

[BarriedaleNick]

Frankly I have no idea what Erisitc is on about.  £15 for a bag of potting compost is crazy talk.  I spend no more than £3 for 75 lt bag (Wicks or Homebase) and the worst thing I have found in it is a few bits of gravel.  The results are great for sowing or potting on - I am perfectly happy with it but of course my standards are probably way lower than someone who thinks £15 is what compost should cost ;)

[Eristic]

Please note that it is not me that is ranting about the state of the compost.

[Baccy Man]

It is reported here that the makers cannot remove glass and plastic. They can if they want to, but not without adding considerably to the cost that you refuse to pay.

Most soil sifters are almost as fast using a 5mm screen as they are using the standard 50mm compost screens most companies use.
A product free of glass, plastic, lumps of wood etc... would not add anything significant to production time or cost.
Irrespective of the quality of the compost there is no excuse for leaving a load of rubbish in it.

[Deb P]

Go on. Laugh. I dare you! You silly girls are just emphasizing the point I'm trying to make.

Silly girl? Made my day mate! Haven't been called a girl for many a moon! ;D

The point you appear to be trying to make is that if we pay 'low' prices, we must expect rubbish compost. Not so. The point I have been trying to make is that I have been very satisfied with the quality of composts purchased to date, all around the £3-4 per bag mark, and have had satisfactory results until this latest batch. The quality has markedly deteriorated in this last batch.

You are not prepared to pay the right price for quality so the naffia sell you bagged up Council waste. For the past 25 years the standard of a bag of compost has slowly been dropped to today's abysmal standard.

As I understand it, the use of recycled waste has been introduced to try and reduce the reliance and use of peat stocks, which is an initiative I fully support. However, whatever I pay for a compost, I  do expect it to be able to do the job I want it to do, which until now has not been a problem. Regretably it is not that I am 'not prepared to pay the right price'  for my composts, but I am certainly not in a position to be so minted that I can or want to pay top whack for something that I use a lot of over the growing season, or indeed with such high standards that I consider anyone not prepared to pay for the best (including yourself as you admit) as somehow lacking as a gardener which is what you insinuate.

It is reported here that the makers cannot remove glass and plastic. They can if they want to, but not without adding considerably to the cost that you refuse to pay.

I have no idea if this is correct or not, however I was quoting what the customer service woman said to me when I rang and complained.

GodfreyRob  says he has successfully germinated lots of seeds in it. Well let me tell you I've successfully germinated lots of seeds in soggy wet carpet but I don't wish to brag about it.

Unnecessarily rude methinks. The debate here is welcomed, but debasing others views is not.

OK. My standards are way higher than yours but to be honest I wouldn't pay £15 a bag either. That's why I make my own.

Good for you! But the impression you are giving is that anyone who doesn't have your standards or time to do the same is a Muppet. I beg to differ meself.

I started the rant, and I'm very glad I did. One of the many strengths of this forum is that we can share information, ideas and views and I think it has demonstrated that my findings in this batch of compost is not an isolated incident. I welcome others opinions on which compost they have had success with as it helps me identify where my pennies are best spent! I think thrift and value for money still apply very much to the whole allotment ethos and I for one would not like to see it turn into a competitive oneupmanship contest!

[Robert_Brenchley]

How do you go about rolling your own, Eristic? I used to do it on a small scale, but I get through a lot more these days. The way I'm thinking now, I may make some up to approximately the JI No. 2 mix in the autumn, using leafmould rather than peat, fill a dustbin with it, water it with Jeyes, and leave it over winter. By spring, the Jeyes would be long gone, and I could see how far it goes. The mix could easily be cut with sand to make a seed compost, extra leafmould for woodland plants, and so on.