Kitchen Garden Forum

Pushing 50 I cannot remember from childhood my father using anything but soil-based John Innes compost, of his own manufacture, mixed on the concrete floor pf the potting shed fr9m dry soil, silver sand, Irish Moss Peat and a handful of JI "mix".
From my youth I recall very heavy soil-based compost bags.

When did it effectively vanish?

Why?

Was it just the cost logistics of weight?

Would the soil component balance out the peat-replacement products to produce a better compost?

Hi Peter,
I cannot swear to it but I thought I saw some J Arthur Bower's JI compost for sale last year.
JB.
PS Have done a google search and JAB still produce it.

Indeed you can still buy it, and in seedling, No1, No2, and No3 strengths.

I still use these for mixing with compost to make whatever strength compost i require.

Another thing people could do when potting on very large plants or bushes, is to use good conditioned topsoil, either bought in, or from there gardens or allotments.

JB & OH, I'm sure one can still get it, of one looks.

However, wander into an average DIY store or garden centre and try to find it.

My point is that general availability is open only to the modern, "fluffy" general purpose composts and I wondered why.

Morning Peter, i must just be lucky, i seem to be able to still get it at several places near to where i live.

I think it might be to do with weight, but more likely cost, as i'm always hearing that, "I can by 3 bags for a tenner," which is fine, but they have very little food in them and you have to start feeding a lot earlier.

Where lies some of the problems of peoples plants not doing well.

I buy lots of JI2 quite easily. What I haven't seen recently is JI Base to make my own or refresh stuff I'm reusing, tend to use BFB but I know it's not the same.

I remember my father making up all his own composts from various John Innes recipes he had written down in his gardening book.

They seemed to consist of a huge bale of peat and a lot of fine soil from mole hills, something from the compost heap, a few buckets of sharp sand from a nearby stream, and various additions from packets. I was the fetcher and carrier, so can't remember much else about it.

Dear All,
I think that the reasons that soil based composts have fallen from favour are probably due to their lack of consistency, the costs involved in their preparation and the fact that many plants do much better (on a commercial basis) using the peat based composts.
The preparation of peat based composts is a relatively straightforward process. The peat is mined and then broken up and sieved to remove dead bodies etc. Fertilizer and lime are added and it is then bagged on site and sold.
The preparation of soil based composts is a lot more complicated. Sand (lovely things gravel pits aren't they?), peat (all traditional soil based composts involve the use of peat in their mix) and soil are brought to a central site. So there are three extra lots of transport costs. The soil has to come from a field or building site where it is no longer wanted. Some companies use the washings from sugar beet and other vegatables. This can be a very indifferent quality of soil because it has been essentially flooded by the washing process. I have opened some disgusting bags of JI over the years. Anyway once the soil has arrived it will need to be sterilized to kill off the weed seeds and some of the other pathogens as well. This is done either by chemicals or more usually by heat which involves some skill to get the temperature high enough to kill off the nasties and not too high to kill the soil completely. Now to the mixing, this has to be done very thoroughly and also carefully to avoid damaging the structure of the soil crumbs. When soil based composts are bagged they have a more limited shelf life to peat based ones as they contain soil organisms which can go bad and make the composts sour.
I do use both kinds of compost in my professional capacity and I find that each has their place in my glasshouse. I will save and re use peat compost where I can to lessen the ammount that I have to buy, but for seeds and pricking out there is no substitute for peat based composts. I have to produce a product to a standard and for that I need to use peat, end of story.

To say which is the most enviromentally damaging sort of compost is hard to judge. I am sure that a decent, lucid and well balanced article in KG will prove useful. Especially if it includes recipes to make home grown composts that "don't cost the earth".
Regards Sally Wright.

I bought bags of John Innes soil-based compost, No1/seed and No 3, at my local horticultural society store, on Sunday. 25 litres for £3.30 - don't know if that's cheap, dear or about right!

All my local garden centres sell this in 1, 2 and 3 as well as B&Q.

It is much heavier than the peat I buy and as I have a slipped disc I have to get my sons to carry it into the greenhouse. I use it in pots and hanging baskets and again have to use my children to move them for me whereas I could manage a pot filled with compost.

Cheers

Richard

What will happen to JI composts when they are not allowed to use the 25% peat used in the 1, 2 and 3 "recipes"?

Alan, can you substitute with leafmould do you think?
Bought 3 x 25L JI2 for £7.43 yesterday in 10% off sale. Also got 200L Irish Moss Peat based compost which should get my seeds away.

Hi Alan,
I am not absolutely sure but I think I read somewhere that the JI institute were reformulating their potting mixtures to leave the peat out.
What was to be used I cannot recall.
JB.

I've just been downloading John Innes Composts Explained which gives all the recipes for the J.I. seed, cutting, and potting composts 1, 2, and 3.

I was reading through the very interesting info and noticed it was a cannabis growing forum!!!

Anyway all the info is there, and I suppose you could easily substitute well broken down leaf mould for the peat if you wanted.

Hope I'm not a marked woman now.

Have any of you got a successful recipe for home made composts?