Topic: Problem with potting compost

[lottie lou]

1pot of soil 1compost 1 course sand mix and get planting!Would sterilise the soil ,Will give this a try .

How are you going to sterilise your soil Claybasket?  In the microwave/Jeyes fluid?

[lincsyokel2]

1pot of soil 1compost 1 course sand mix and get planting!Would sterilise the soil ,Will give this a try .

dont forget to put in he fertilisers - you need the lime and the superphosphate at least.  Otherwise all you are making in seed compost.

[lincsyokel2]

1pot of soil 1compost 1 course sand mix and get planting!Would sterilise the soil ,Will give this a try .

How are you going to sterilise your soil Claybasket?  In the microwave/Jeyes fluid?

if your going to sterilise it, you can only do it by heating it , oven, infrared or microwave. if you use jeyes fluid you seriously affect the chemistry of the soil.

[Tee Gee]

With due respect to Lincs but there is a simpler method than  JI and you do not have to seek out loam.

2 x 2 gall buckets coarse sand(river)

6 x 2 gall buckets of peat
 
1x 795 gm packet of  Chempak potting base

Mix thoroughly together and that's it!

No worries about sterilising as the peat is inert and is usually quite sterile.

[lincsyokel2]

With due respect to Lincs but there is a simpler method than  JI and you do not have to seek out loam.

2 x 2 gall buckets coarse sand(river)

6 x 2 gall buckets of peat
 
1x 795 gm packet of  Chempak potting base

Mix thoroughly together and that's it!

No worries about sterilising as the peat is inert and is usually quite sterile.

I wouldn't sterilise peat, the discussion was about sterilising loam, but i wouldn't do that either.

Whats the analysis on the potting base? Most commercial composts use an 8-12-8 base fert, but you also need lime at about 4kg/cum

[claybasket]

A old lotie chap use to light a fire in a old oil drum put a shovel of soil on a metal sheet and I thought kind of cook it! he did this for his tomato plants,and the grew very well! Thought i could do this on the old cast iron barby ?i nothing to lose.think a bit of lime might help the compo mix.

[Georgie]

Interesting stuff but I'd be interested to know what people think about the level of compensation I received from Scotts. See my post of 13 August.

G x

[lincsyokel2]

A old lotie chap use to light a fire in a old oil drum put a shovel of soil on a metal sheet and I thought kind of cook it! he did this for his tomato plants,and the grew very well! Thought i could do this on the old cast iron barby ?i nothing to lose.think a bit of lime might help the compo mix.

Essentially what they do to  produce bags of sterilised soil - its passed under massive infrared heaters, but only heated  to about 65C. Thats enough toi break up the more nasty viruses but a percentage of the good bacteria survive.

[Tee Gee]

I wouldn't sterilise peat, the discussion was about sterilising loam, but i wouldn't do that either.

I agree on both counts

Whats the analysis on the potting base? Most commercial composts use an 8-12-8 base fert, but you also need lime at about 4kg/cum

I don't have a box at hand with the anaysis on but the sales blurb is as follows;

" These are designed to make mixing home composts as easy as possible.

The growing medium of peat is ideal for most plants but contains virtually no nutrients.

Chempak bases provide major nutrients, trace elements and when required lime!"

They do four base mixtures namely;

Seed Base, Potting Base, Multi-purpose base and Ericaceous base..

I  stopped using it a couple of years back when T&M took Chempak over and doubled the price of it!

Then I found it was costing me as much to mix my own as buy it ready mixed.

I found before this event I could mix my own for half the price of purchasing a bag of potting compost and I had full control of the quality. e.g. I riddled/seived the peat for seed base and removed any tufts or sticks from the peat for potting compost and this worked well.

This last couple of years which is well documented here on A4A I have had loads of problems with purchased potting compost so I will be reverting back to Chempak next year.

I usually deal with wholesalers but T&M have made this a bit of a 'closed shop' now so there are not so many wholesale suppliers around any more.

I am going to Harrogate show in a couple of weeks time so I will buy some there, at the spring show they were selling 12 boxes (a case) for £25 which is much cheaper than single  box purchase of around £3-50 to £4-00 a box.

Does that answer your query Lincs?

[SMP1704]

Georgia. In answer to your question, I think that amount is derisory. It is about the cost of one bag of miracle gro compost

[Robert_Brenchley]

You can substitute well rotted leafmould for the peat.

[grannyjanny]

An absolute disgrace. I would be tempted to send them back in an unstamped envelope with a not very polite reply ;).

I got £20 from Erin, paid £12 for the compost but they recognised the inconvenience for us.

[lottie lou]

The only reason I asked about sterilising soil is because I start/grow stuff indoors and I didn't want any yukky things in my house - well not more than normal for me.

[claybasket]

We sieved two wheel barrows of lovely compost ,hope to get the soil soon,at lest we got started,must look out for a large bit of tin!then drag out the Barby!