Shelf life of compost?

[kypfer]

Suggest that you take it back and ask for a refund.

The thought crossed my mind, inevitably, but by the time I realised what was going on, I was dealing with about 25 litres of soggy wet stuff ... not the easiest thing to re-pack and take back to the shop  ???

For the costs involved, the effort just didn't seem worth while, what with parking charges etc., but that retail outlet certainly gets a lot less visits from me now than it would have done otherwise  >:(

[kypfer]

[lincsyokel2]

It doesn't mention that the advertised volume

Suggest that you take it back and ask for a refund.  I would not expect to have to add saind to compost to get the stated volume, in fact I would not expect to have to add it at all.

i agree.

I can get what are called 'raspberry blocks' which are a cube shaped plastic bag with a slab of compressed fine coir in, about 10 inches by 10 inches by 1.5 inches. You stand it in a bucket of water overnight, and next morning its expanded out to one cubic foot of fine grade coir.  The amount of expansion is incredible.

I often wondered what woudl happen if a ship carrying a container of these sank. The blocks would expand out and  the container would just burst. Ive seen a demo where they lift a small car up off its wheels by stacking coir blocks underneath and then hosing them down.

[earlypea]

If you're avoiding peat based composts for ecological reasons then isn't it true that buying coir instead involves importing a long distance so overall you have done no better.

I could be wrong, please tell me if I am.  sometimes these things are not so clear cut. 

It may be that there is no energy involved in producing coir whereas there may be some involved in refining peat for retail and then coir may be transported by low energy transport, boat or train whatever.

[lincsyokel2]

If you're avoiding peat based composts for ecological reasons then isn't it true that buying coir instead involves importing a long distance so overall you have done no better.

I could be wrong, please tell me if I am.  sometimes these things are not so clear cut. 

It may be that there is no energy involved in producing coir whereas there may be some involved in refining peat for retail and then coir may be transported by low energy transport, boat or train whatever.

No thats exactly the problem. So far every single peat free solution has a big disadvantage somewhere. With coir its the fact you have to ship it 8000 miles on a boat.

[kypfer]

If you're avoiding peat based composts for ecological reasons then isn't it true that buying coir instead involves importing a long distance so overall you have done no better.

That's over-simplifying things a little ... both options have an enviromental impact, it's a case of which is less problematic, the permanent loss of the peat-bog habitat or the pollution from the fossil fuels used in the transportation of the coir (from Sri Lanka or wherever) ... bearing in mind the boat's coming here anyway and the coir is probably only using space that can't be filled with more profitable produce.

One could possibly argue that even the domestic compost heap releases quantities of methane (probably) and all bonfires release CO2, so even basic allotment pass-times could be deemed to be having an impact. Maybe we should all go over to hydroponics, growing only those crops that can be totally consumed so there's no waste to manage ... seaweed puree with watercress, anyone ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

Even if you're only growing stuff like that, you still generate methane and sewage from your backside; the organic matter in the soil is still oxidised to CO2. For that matter, you still absord O2 and exhale CO2. You can't win.

[Digindep]

Facinating read, very informative...special thanks to Lincsyokel...today was not wasted... ;).....can't go down the plot at the moment...throat infection..mouth full of ulcers...ect ect....No I'm not after a AHH!....just gotta rest up for a while..
Thanks again for a realy good read... ;)