What compost?
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
Hi All. What is the best to use when planting veg in their final pot or container in the garden? For my garlic I have been using a mixed compost from Homebase which has John Innes No. 1 added to it. Yet when I asked in my local garden centre what is the best to use for my dwarf beans I was told to forget about using my mixed compost and just use John Innes No. 2. As a first time gardener this is all very confusing!
Hi Peet,
If you are planting Beans into containers I would use a good quality Multi Purpose Compost and contrary to some peoples way of thinking I would not rule out the use of a MPC that is Peat based.
Beans do not need much Nitrogen and if given too much they will give masses of foliage and not so many Beans. Growing in containers using natural compost is a bit hit and miss and generally home made composts have too much Nitrogen so I suggest that you would do well to use Chempak Formula 8 all the time and you will have plenty of beans.
Do not over feed and read the instructions in their literature and adhere strictly to it. With fertilizers it is the proportions of NPK that are essential for balanced growing. Chempak Formula 8 has 12.5 parts Nitrogen (N) for foliage development to 25 parts Phosphorus (P) for root development and 25 parts of Potassium (K) for the formation of flowers and fruits.
This can also be expressed as; 1:2:2 or 12.5:25:25 as the ratios between the elements.
You will see that the P and K are double that of the N giving you a low Nitrogen input which is what you are after will Beans.
Hope this is of assistance to you.
JB.
If you are planting Beans into containers I would use a good quality Multi Purpose Compost and contrary to some peoples way of thinking I would not rule out the use of a MPC that is Peat based.
Beans do not need much Nitrogen and if given too much they will give masses of foliage and not so many Beans. Growing in containers using natural compost is a bit hit and miss and generally home made composts have too much Nitrogen so I suggest that you would do well to use Chempak Formula 8 all the time and you will have plenty of beans.
Do not over feed and read the instructions in their literature and adhere strictly to it. With fertilizers it is the proportions of NPK that are essential for balanced growing. Chempak Formula 8 has 12.5 parts Nitrogen (N) for foliage development to 25 parts Phosphorus (P) for root development and 25 parts of Potassium (K) for the formation of flowers and fruits.
This can also be expressed as; 1:2:2 or 12.5:25:25 as the ratios between the elements.
You will see that the P and K are double that of the N giving you a low Nitrogen input which is what you are after will Beans.
Hope this is of assistance to you.
JB.