Author Topic: DIY potting compost  (Read 4316 times)

Gordonmull

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DIY potting compost
« on: May 01, 2022, 10:21:15 »
I realise I'm probably going to get as many answers as there are gardeners that reply, but I'm thinking about using the compost from my heap to make potting media for my tomatoes this year, because shop-bought stuff is getting pretty unreliable. I can't grow them in the ground as my GH is totally paved.

I've a big bag of peat lying around but any further water holding component would be coir. I believe sharp sand is a cheap and reliable way to add grit for structure but should I add soil as well? I'll likely use a John Innes nutrient mix to fertilise it - but I'm still caught in a whirlwind of confusion as to what to do for the best. 

So I guess my question is what do I mix with my compost and in what ratios to get a good potting mix for tomatoes?

Tee Gee

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2022, 10:40:13 »
I am making my own this year and this is the method I posted in March;https://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,83251.msg837368.html#msg837368

Paulh

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2022, 10:42:36 »
You'll be lucky if you get only as many answers as replies! Here are two for a start:

I used to grow tomatoes in large pots on the patio. I used a random mix of homemade compost, bought compost and soil, with added chicken manure fertiliser. I put a top layer of bought compost on to keep the weeds from the homemade compost down. It didn't seem to matter much exactly what I used.

Having redesigned the garden, the patio is no longer available. Instead I have an area by the fence. For three years I've used growbags here (three large ones for nine plants, costing £4 each). They have produced better plants, perhaps by having a better mix of nutrients but certainly because they do not dry out as readily as the pots. The next season the growbag contents go on my allotment beds and are definitely improving the soil and contributing some fertiliser still. It's a lot less hassle than mixing the compost, too!

Gordonmull

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2022, 11:35:33 »
I've always been a bit wary of growbags because there doesn't seem to be much compost in them but £12 total for the nine plants I'm also coincidentally growing this year does seem a bargain. What brand are you using?

Palustris

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2022, 11:45:43 »
The only problem with using ones own compost as a growing medium is that most home heaps do not get hot enough to kill all seed weeds and pathogens. For small quantities it is worth putting it in a microwave at full strength for 5 minutes.
We have grown our toms in big plant pots with home compost for many years though without too much trouble and just weed out the  things that grow.
Gardening is the great leveller.

Paulh

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2022, 13:41:38 »
Last year and this year it's been Bathgate Champions Blend growbags, 43 litres size, bought through the allotment association which makes it much cheaper, of course.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2022, 13:43:41 by Paulh »

Gordonmull

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2022, 18:07:47 »
Well, thanks for the input folks. After consultation with SWMBO we have decided to do a complete U-turn and give the growbags a whirl. Sounds like a lot less hassle and it's something new to try.

Best of luck for the season ahead.  :sunny:

Paulh

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #7 on: May 04, 2022, 09:17:59 »
I disclaim all responsibility!

Let us know how you get on.

pumkinlover

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #8 on: May 07, 2022, 08:22:00 »
I am on my third year of no bought compost.  The last time I bought any from the garden centre it was so rubbish that I decided I could do better.
When I was secretary I bought lovely compost for the shop but no-one else could be ****** to do the work.

Nora42

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #9 on: May 07, 2022, 11:15:19 »
i filled 6 45L pots with home made allotment compost, 3 contain potatoes which have sprouted. i planted parsnips and radish seeds in 2 and carrots in another. the weeds in the compost have geminated along with the carrots but because i know what a carrot seedling looks like i can weed out the weeds. the parsnips are beginning to geminate and are quite distinctive the radish is there but im not confident that im not weeding out radish see
dlings. Rooky error i should have topped off these 3 pots with shop bought compost. Why make life easy??
Nora
Norf London

Tiny Clanger

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #10 on: May 11, 2022, 11:49:58 »
I use a combination of well rotted horse manure, soil and whatever is in the composter ready to use. I use large pots as our GH is on concrete too. In the polytunnel at the allotment whercI can plant into soil. I prepare the planting area a bit like the bean patch. Dig Trench, add contents of the shredder,  then rotted horse manure, soil mixed with anything from the composter. I work in "layers" soil and composted is top planting layer.
I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.

Harry

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #11 on: March 25, 2023, 11:15:44 »
I know it's an old thread, but to wake it up...

Does anyone here scrape up molehills from the side of the road? They always look to be nice soft sandy loam and if we are going for looks alone, the dirt looks the part.

I'm no expert by a long stretch, but for first germination of seeds, are nutrients that important? (heresy? :)) I've sown seeds in coir compost that has no nutrients and tried hydroponics that was just water and a few drops of tomorite, and I've tried topsoil and I've tried proper bought compost. I had equal failure/success with most. What really didn't seem to work was gritty/lumpy stuff where the poor little seeds just couldn't break through.

I no longer buy growbags, because they just don't cost in.

Palustris

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #12 on: March 25, 2023, 20:22:00 »
It is actually illegal to take the soil from a mole hill if it is on land which does not belong to you.
Gardening is the great leveller.

pumkinlover

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #13 on: March 26, 2023, 08:12:48 »
I have not bought any compost for several years.
Yes I have taken the mole hill soil.

 
It is actually illegal to take the soil from a mole hill if it is on land which does not belong to you.
 

It was a few years ago now and hopefully I have escaped the long arm of the law so far, but thanks for the warning!

Harry

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #14 on: March 27, 2023, 10:19:29 »
It is actually illegal to take the soil from a mole hill if it is on land which does not belong to you.
True enough. Serious comment accepted with good humour.

Better make sure your car is roadworthy, MOT'd, Insured and not loaded with illegal stuff... and be sober. Even better, fit false number plates and take them in the dead of night while a look-out stands by with a shotgun :tongue3:

"The man, seen acting suspiciously with a torch, a trug and a shovel was later found to be armed with a multitool and carrying several wraps of unidentified seeds. His vehicle was seized and was later found to have a defective tail light. . . . When questioned, he had replied, "I heard there was some 'good 5hit' there for the taking. . . A police spokesman denied having a mole, deep within the criminal enterprise. . . Sentencing adjourned."

Palustris

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #15 on: March 27, 2023, 14:52:06 »
People have been banned from Social media after mentioning the "liitle gentleman in black" who kiilled a king.
Gardening is the great leveller.

Harry

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #16 on: March 27, 2023, 20:15:04 »
People have been banned from Social media after mentioning the "liitle gentleman in black" who kiilled a king.
I'm aware of the Mole-hill that killed Prince William.

https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/moles-culloden-are-celebrated-historians-1582831

But 'People banned from Social Media for mentioning it???

Palustris

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #17 on: March 27, 2023, 20:21:32 »
ME! Many many years ago, it was the old BBC website which got very upset about it!
Gardening is the great leveller.

pumkinlover

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #18 on: March 28, 2023, 07:08:42 »
ME! Many many years ago, it was the old BBC website which got very upset about it!


Considering what goes on on Social media it does seem a bit small fry.
But what a claim to fame!

Paulh

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Re: DIY potting compost
« Reply #19 on: March 28, 2023, 07:19:50 »
A few years ago a certain Global Moderator removed a post of mine from here: someone had grumbled that their rabbit kept eating the newly planted herbs in the garden, so I suggested they should regard it as flavouring ahead of the pot. Apparently it was in bad taste, but surely that depends on the herbs?

 

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