Personal peat vs peat-free experiment

[alan refail]

Hi Johnboy

There shouldn't be a lack of nutrients if Sinclair's data sheet is accurate.

http://www.william-sinclair.co.uk/files ... urpose.pdf

Should contain

" Composted bark, timber residues, green
waste, limestone and nutrients, including
hoof and horn, rock phosphate,
Vinasse and bonemeal. "

[Johnboy]

Hi Alan,
It would appear that most of the 'fertilizers' mentioned are slow actors and only Vinnase a fertilizer that gives off Methane!
I therefore come to the conclusion that New Horizon is not really suitable for seeding.
JB.

[alan refail]

New Horizon Seed and Cutting compost is similar:

"Composted timber residues, green compost,
Lime, Organic Nutrients including Bonemeal,
hoof and horn and Vinasse with Celcote."

http://www.william-sinclair.co.uk/files ... utting.pdf

[Cider Boys]

All in all its best to stick to peat, you know it makes sense.

Barney

[Johnboy]

Hi Alan,
Celcote is a water managament additive which will control water supply and can reduce watering by between 25 and 50% with no reduction in plant quality. ...
http://www.william-sinclair.co.uk Go to search Celcote and biovin.
Does it tell you about that on the container?
JB.

[alan refail]

The beans and courgettes are now planted out; the NH beans were still noticeable smaller than the Clover, but should catch up in the soil. The courgettes were eventually about the same size. The onions are ready for planting today; the NH ones are still very markedly weaker than the Clover ones, half the height and half the thickness and yellower looking, but I expect them to catch up eventually once in the tunnel border.

An observation: I have read many comments here and there from growers along the lines of' "I've had very good results with XYZ peat-free compost". If I had only been using New Horizon I might have commented similarly, since, with the exception of the lettuce failure, results were acceptable. Side-by-side comparison shows that peat produced better results.

[glallotments]

I guess one problem is that it seems different batches of the same brand compost are variable which doesn't help decide whether a compost is good to use. For some reason our basil hasn't thrived once germinated. Our basil has germinated but failed to thrive after growing.

[alan refail]

A couple of pictures of how things have grown on.

In the first, the beans on the left from Clover peat compost are stronger than the New Horizon, but they should even out.

In the second picture, the bunching onions at the back are from the Clover peat and are now three times the vigour of the straggly New Horizon ones in front of them. I don't see them catching up.

The few lettuce are from the Clover peat where I had 60% germination - the New Horizon had 0% germination.

IMG_0069.JPG (50.38 KiB) Viewed 5636 times

[alan refail]

Further to the last post - the onions sown in Clover peat are now ready for pulling; the ones sown in New Horizon are still very poor, despite over a month in the border

The Beans and courgette planted outside are neck and neck for both composts

[Primrose]

I've found this experiment a really useful read because in recent years I've become quite disillusioned with commercial compost and this year had very mixed success with New Horizon peat free, especially with beans but also vegetables which have very tiny seeds. I don't think I've seen Clover around in our local garden centres but will keep an eye out for it next spring because I find the non or low germination situation very frustrating. I realise that other events come into play here but it has been very useful to see a straighforward comparison between the two varieties.

[glallotments]

I agree with Primrose - readily available composts are really disappointing and outcome is enough to put off new gardeners who haven't maybe experienced a better level of success.

Did you get any variation between different batches of compost Alan or was all the compost from the same batch.

[alan refail]

Did you get any variation between different batches of compost Alan or was all the compost from the same batch.

It was all from the same bag. I shall not be buying any more. Now, the Vital Earth I used in the second trial was a different thing altogether. I got two bags and will probably buy more. I am presently using it mixed 50/50 with Clover peat.

[sarahscottdavies]

Hi Alan.
Am very interested to read about your experiment and was thinking of doing exactly the same thing for one of my university projects...perhaps you could help me? I have to be quite scientific if I am to do this experiment. Went to garden centre today to make a few plans. I have for years used 'miricle grow organic peat free compost' successfully. I was going to use this but then i realised the bags say 'enhanced with plant food' so i wonder does this give an unbalenced result? Does the New Horizon Peat Free compost come as enhanced with any plant food? Also when looking at peat compost, again I was in doubt because not all of them tell you exactly how much peat is in a bag and it seems it can vary widely (one said 40-70%), so does that mean even 2 bags of the same brand may vary? My garden centre sell bags of 100% peat. I wondered maybe i should use this..do growers use this for seedlings? (never used it so not sure). I was thinking I could plant dwarf sunflowers, beans or peas, carrots, beetroots to give the experiment some variety. And like yours, they would be subject to same conditions. I have a feeling I may have to plant in several varieties of peat and peat free compost to give my results a bit more 'claret'. Any help you can give me would be much appreciated.
Sarah.

[alan refail]

Morning Sarah

I assume you have looked at the other threads

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9797

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9835

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10072

Interested to hear you are adopting a more scientific approach than me. I tried to be as careful as possible as a pure amateur. As I said throughout, these were personal trials and I did learn a lot for future practice.

As far as I am aware, all multi-purpose composts will contain some added nutrients.

As regards peat composts, I don't know what commercial growers use. I would suggest you use one compost 100% peat and some other peat-based where the proportion of peat is stated. And you certainly should use a variety of peat-free. Last year I found the much vaunted New Horizon was terrible, while the Vital Earth performed well (I am still using it).

Hope this helps

Alan

[sarahscottdavies]

Yes thank you Alan. Its always good to get a second opinion. And you have helped to confirm that I would certainly need to use a variety of peat, part peat and peat free composts in the trial should I go ahead. Certainly hope you don't think i was being patronising by calling your experiment unscientific....i am a mere amateur myself....just have to some how convince my tutors i am being scientic enough to satisfy them!!