Topic: Duff compost

[Ed^Chigliak]

I used some peat free woody compost this year for sowing which has set me back weeks with slow growth and red tinged leaves. The difference with the lettuce is remarkable. The early batch of lettuce is small and dark red and the other just a hint of red and twice the size. Even my corriander took on a red tinge. Some rocket bolted after a while but that was scorched on a sunny day under glass and my basil has not grown beyond the first true leaves. It's quite sad really but all was not lost when I switched to new compost and mixed it 50/50.

I don't know if I should trust just one brand or mix a couple next year to minimise the risk. What brands of compost do you use and trust. Do they have good and bad batches? It seems a shame to work so hard sowing everything and then miss out on the next stage.... feeding the slugs.

[Mrs Ava]

I use whatever is cheapest when I need compost.  I find the biggest problem is the courseness of it.  Sometimes it can be like a bag of bark chippings!  Never had a problem with germination, but then I get through so much of the darned stuff, I don't know if I would notice!  :-\

[tim]

Don't rush to blame one compost. I'm blaming an organic one this year, but I'm prepared to believe that it's the year, not the material.

[northener]

I had poor germination with a lot of my Toms put it down to cheap compost from kwik save. Now use John Innes potting compost, it is a bit expensive but you can feel the the difference its not half as coarse plus i can see the difference with the seedlings.

[redimp]

I only use peat free because I refuse to use peat.  Some of this can be quite course but it can be sieved and it is also usually finer once you get to the bottom half of the bag.  Have no problems with germination but growth can be a bit sluggish - however, I am not prepared to compromise my principles or where would it stop - would I be blasting bugs with pesticides and weeds with weedkillers and spraying/scattering fertiliser all over the place with no regard for soil health?

[tim]

If you can afford it - try Moorland Gold & its compost derivatives - the un-mined peat. It has the best texture I've ever known.

[redimp]

Thanks for the tip Tim - I will when I can afford it  :D

[terrace max]

I used the same compost this year as last. Last year great results. This year has varied from patchy to rubbish. I think it's the weather. (Before today, that is...)

[Kerry]

i use westland multi purpose, it's the best i've tried. in the which? tests it comes out tops, with b+q's own brand too.

have used others in the past, some have been awful, impossible to wet, or re-wet when dry.

[beejay]

Gardening Which regularly do tests on compost to find the best for different uses. I might try & look out the results of the last one if I feel strong!

[tim]

Trouble with 'Which' - who I love - is that they are bound to be 6 months behind the times?
I do have their last big report.

[Derekthefox]

Like EJ, economics becomes involved. I have ended up using growbags, because I can use them for tomatoes etc, then get reused as compost the following year, with a bit of BFB added if necessary.

[Ed^Chigliak]

I found some positive feedback with regard to the westland multi purpose and I can buy it locally in the 80L size of which I'll probably need 3-4 bags. I'll give it a try rather than take any chances.

I've mixed perlite & vurmiculite in the past but tbh I don't think they are really necessary. Nothing bad seems to happen when I don't use it.

Any recommendations for sowing aloe vera seed. What kind of sand or grit should I mix into the compost to improve the drainage.

[Icyberjunkie]

If you ask me its all a lot of money for compost and i always run out when want it most.  These days soil out the garden mixed with last years sand from the kids play pit does me fine!  Worked for the flowers and seems to work for veg to.  {GG}

[weedin project]

To me the whole gardening/veggie thing is one huge experiment, and this year I have had pretty poor results with a range of peat-free stuff I've been using.  By way of a change for next year I am going to give a home-made mixture a go. 

I have a small-ish plastic compost bin that I have filled with fresh horse muck and which is easy to aerate; this is going to be my urinal :o for the summer, and then in September I'm going to put its tight-fitting lid on and let it dry out until new year.  Then I'm going to mix it 50/50 with coir from the garden centre.  I keep my seed/potting compost dry in an old glassfibre water tank in the potting shed, and sieve it from there.

In theory it should be a powerfully efficient and organic way of getting my plants moving next spring.  We'll see.......

[Svea]

i just got the B&Q brand seed and potting on compost - which i recommend. it does go dry quicker - which is fine by me as i tend to overwater the plants. the last batch of stuff i did was in a different compost - coarser and more soil like - which holds water so well i regularly drown my seeds in it :-\ but the compost is bone dry at the top, so how would i know?
back to B&Q stuff next year, for sure!

[Roy Bham UK]

My 10p a10ltr bag (sale price) of seed compost from Asda served me well throughout this season, as a beginner, I'm well chuffed, I can't think of anything that failed to germinate and what a bargain ;D

[Moggle]

I've been using B&Q organic/peat-free seed compost for sowing this year - been mixing with vermiculite most times.

When potting on have used this as well, but also, when available, J arthur Bowers New Horizon grow-bag compost. Things seem to be doing well so far.

[Ed^Chigliak]

I also tend to overwater when the top of the compost dries out very quickly which seems to be the case with the woody compost. I've clearly stessed some of the plants with over watering with leaves turning yellow. Germination has been fine but with sluggish growth after that. It's difficult to say sometimes when I am growing such a wide variety of plants in such small quantities. B&Q compost sounds like a good option too and should be cheaper. I'll take the cost into consideration when I make my final decision. I'm going to poke a hole in the bag and have a look at the stuff before I buy it if somebody hasn't already provided a hole.

I'm all for experimentation and next year I'm going to record the weight of my seed trays with dry & saturated compost so I can check where on the watering scale I am. With clay pots they used to tap them and the dry ones would sound different. With plastic pots I'm constantly picking them up to see how heavy they are but it's just guesswork.

[Justy]

I bought Homebase 2 huge bags for a tenner but the germination rate wasn't great and the texture was a bit solid and coarse too.  The best cheap stuff I have found round here is Murphys.