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Post by Cherry on May 17, 2013 9:40:06 GMT
I used J Arthur Bowers Multi-purpose with added John Innes and every pot had a toadstool or mushroom come up after warmth and watering, spoiling the begonias, seedlings, or anything I had planted in it. I am tempted to complain. What do you think?
I have used this for quite a few years with satisfactory results.
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Post by Rosie on May 17, 2013 10:16:54 GMT
There would be no harm in letting the company know Cherry. The more folks that let them know this is happening the more likely they would do something about it.
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Post by steve on May 17, 2013 11:32:54 GMT
Sounds like they might be getting some ingredients from a mushroom farm on the cheap?
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Post by Cherry on May 17, 2013 13:37:21 GMT
I will have a moan then and let you know what happens. It was the last straw when 3 big mushrooms came up in one basket of cascading begonias.
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Post by Lou78W on May 17, 2013 18:38:31 GMT
I wouldn't use JB MP compost if you paid me....its consistently full of rubbish  |
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Post by Cherry on May 17, 2013 21:10:24 GMT
It was a matter of availability and price, but I have learned a lesson.
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Post by Geranium on May 18, 2013 5:17:35 GMT
I don't know what's going on - I normally use Westland MP, and the last two bales have had a strange consistency - much more 'fibrous' than usual.
We bought B&Q bales to fill the bed under the apple tree, and that had foreign objects in it - like plastic. I thought that was the top performer in 'Which? ' magazine.
Is this the suppliers trying to cut down on peat content?
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Post by markb on May 18, 2013 7:42:47 GMT
Just about every brand available at garden centres/DIY outlets will be the same I suspect. By law all peat-based compost must have no more than 60% (I think) peat and the rest made up of green/composted waste. That's why I try not to use them any more or if I do I sieve every bag and mix with John Innes P1.
The best one I used last year was called Bio-Bizz, but at £14.95 for 50 litres I decided I did not love my plants that much!!!
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Post by scrumpy on May 18, 2013 8:06:49 GMT
There are plenty of all peat composts still available, and some are made by the makers of these miracle composts you see at garden centres. They are more expensive, usually mail order, but if you do as i do and get 2 or 3 people to make up a pallet load it doesn't work out too bad. Been using Vitax compost, Humax original, Sinclairs and Keith Singletons this year. All traditionally made. At the end of the day, you get what you pay for. www.interhort.com/categories/peat_based.phpwww.cumbriagardensandpetsdirect.co.uk/ |
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Post by steve on May 18, 2013 8:17:29 GMT
I've used Vitax Q4 for years now and it has always been good stuff, I'm sure they will get to it eventually though...one option is to buy a bale of peat and make your own
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Post by markb on May 18, 2013 11:26:37 GMT
The ones you list there are all good at the moment, scrumpy, probably because they are being classed as 'horticultural trade' products. The legislation on peat percentage hasn't come into force for the trade yet.
You are right though. If you can get a group together and order by the pallet they are worth getting hold of.
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Post by scrumpy on May 18, 2013 12:00:55 GMT
The ones you list there are all good at the moment, scrumpy, probably because they are being classed as 'horticultural trade' products. The legislation on peat percentage hasn't come into force for the trade yet. You are right though. If you can get a group together and order by the pallet they are worth getting hold of. Interestingly enough, a few years, ago the major producers decided to replace their traditional composts by adding these "extras" to produce reduced peat composts. At the end of the first season of trying them out, the major companies were devastated that the following year the wholesalers didn't put in any orders for the new stuff. Needless to say, they reverted back to the tried and tested pretty quick. I still don't understand the need to be "environmentally friendly" by reducing peat, because the % used in horticulture is miniscule compared to that used to provide energy, and to get to the peat they use in energy, you have to dig off the top layer, the bit used in horticulture, to get to it. |
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Post by sweetpea on May 18, 2013 12:23:46 GMT
I have used the compost in growbags for potting up plants. never a problem.
My usual choice is determined by cost and availability.
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Post by markb on May 18, 2013 15:06:51 GMT
I'm not sure that being environmentally friendly comes into it, scrimpy. More a case of a government needing to do something to mollify the green protestors and gardeners being seen as an easy target I suspect.
As another member has posted on another part of the forum (which I can't find) a 'reduced peat' option has been around for years - it's called John Innes. Perhaps we should all go back to using that and see what reaction the compost producers have?
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Post by dcdahlia on May 18, 2013 15:25:12 GMT
The last 3 years I have used durstons
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