What is the best compost to buy for 2012?

[alan refail]

What is the best compost this year ? As a novice I'm now buying peat on the basis of my experience and the trials done by members of this forum. I will buy some New Horizon seed and cutting compost and do my own side-by-side trial with that material.

An excellent idea. Do keep us updated on the results. As I commented earlier, welcome though John Walker's trials are (including those in KG magazine) they lack a degree of credibility if not compared to performance in peat.

[Nature's Babe]

These all look pretty good John, I will give it a try if I run out of my own compost,- another big heap is decomposing at the moment, and a few blue taters are planted in the top ! Like you I would prefer to try that in preferance to destroying natural habitat!

[Ricard with an H]

Since I last posted on this subject I started to think about the more positive comments made about this new Horizon product rather than the glut of us naysayers.

First I realised that the drainage for my pots wasn't good, the pots were standing on wooden shelves that became saturated so I cut up some material and placed it under the pots,that allowed better drainage and I stood some pots on gravel.

The NH material still remained sodden, then I repotted into the few clay pots I have. eureka, a result.

The reason I avoid clay pots other than in the case of plants that are known to like dry ground is that peat dries out so quickly. The NH material in clay pots appears to be a better situation though i'm still scared to use the stuff. It's now well into the season and i've lost enough though I would like to lean-over towards the possibility that learning to use the NH compost might be the key rather than to dismiss it out of hand.

Seems doing a 'U' turn is fashionable these days.

Clay pots then ?

[Nature's Babe]

Wonderful to see you keep an open mind. and consider sustainability.
If too wet i might add some horticultural sand to help drainage, if too dry some water retaining gel granules.
1 litre plastic bottles, cut base off, fill with a quarter to one third of horticultural sand in neck end and sink into pot a little way, fill with water, this slows down the water absorbtion instead of it fooding then drying quickly. A little extra effort, but I feel it is worth it to preserve the peat habitat for wildlife, we leave so little for them already.

[Ricard with an H]

Oh-yes, and I added a photo since you posted. Whilst I couldn't get an effective shot of the compost you can see the difference in growth even though it isn't spectacular.

Sorry about the width of the photos, just cannot seem to get them to fit the forum page.

I'm aware of horticultural grit, but not sand. Builders grit sand is something I used when I lived in England but I can't find the same textured stuff hear in the far-west.

[alan refail]

Seems doing a 'U' turn is fashionable these days.

Hi Richard

As the old Welsh proverb says:

Doeth a newid ei farn, ffôl a’i ceidw’n gadarn
(The wise can change their opinions,
fools stick doggedly to theirs).

To avoid big photos, just resize to no
more than 640 pixels wide before submitting.

[Ricard with an H]

Thanks Alan.

As far as i'm aware I have just re-sized to the smallest my camera will take. Now I need to fiddle with iPhoto to edit the photo's down even further.

The shot of the bendy carrots came out ok, I might have to just do thumbnails so the forum page just gets the address.

And thanks for the old-Welsh-proverbs.

[Ricard with an H]

I only have a little NH peat-free left but i'm now going to buy more after the plastic-pot-V-clay pot test. I potted into newspaper pots and the NH is fine in those.

Clay pots are expensive and newspaper pots can be very fragile though I have a system. Ten newspaper pots snuggied up to each other tight in a high-ish sided tray all support each other and though they get sodden they quickly dry out.

I can feel a photo coming on.

[snooky]

I was lucky enough to buy four bags of Wickes old formula MPC and used this as a seed and potting compost.The beauty of this MCP is that I could add what I liked to it to suit the drainage needs of any plant or seedling which I put in it, i.e.grit, Perlite,Vermiculite or a combination.The old formula is mostly Irish peat moss with added nutrients and,along with many other people,I like it.

When I ran out of the old formula I bought four bags of their new formula,85%peat,15%pulverised wood.Not impressed.As OH pointed out in an an earlier thread it is not suitable for seed sowing.I tried sieving the wood out but this took ages.My bags must have been 85%wood,15%peat!!The wood is supposed to open up the compost,according to the blurb on the packaging,giving better drainage and aeration,not so.The compost seemed to compact and restrict root growth.

Complained to the Manager at my local Wickes and you could see on his face"Oh no,not another one!"and he said that Head Office know of the complaints and when the stock of the new formula was sold they would be going back to the original formula,the sooner the better.The new formula should be re-labelled as a soil conditioner.It will sell quicker.

[Johnboy]

Hi Snooky,
This is where the bitch comes in because they are labelled Multi Purpose Compost but there is nothing 'Multi' about them. If they can sell seeding componds then they can do better with their Multi Purpose Compost and make it truely 'Multi.'
JB.