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HORTICULTURAL GRIT MIX
Oldcompost
Posts: 191
What percentage of grit do I add to my own ready compost for Tomato plants next Spring?
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Posts
that would depend upon the texture of your compost.
I've never added grit to tomato plants, only those plants which need sharp drainage.
Tomatoes do not need grit in the compost.
Hostafan: I've hand sifted 600 litres. At the moment it's a cross between sand and cooked mincemeat texture.
Berghill: As the texture is so fine surely it needs some aeration/drainage to stop it compacting?
If it's for use in pots, the perlite would open-up the texture and help with drainage
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Plant-T-100L-Perlite-Bag/dp/B0085UXVUI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1514665866&sr=8-1&keywords=perlite+100+litre
I bought this last autmun - the bag is HUGE!
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Pete8: Perlite is good but does it disintegrate in time (I'm thinking enviorementally?)
given that tomatoes seed everywhere in my sodden, clay soil, whenever I spread compost, I'd assume they're not overly fussy.
Personally, I'd not waste my money on grit ,or perlite for tomatoes.
Perlite (volcanic rock) and vermiculite (silica) are both natural products.
Vermiculite won't last more than a season, perlite should be ok for 2-3 seasons.
I always use perlite for pots (it's very good used alone for cuttings) - it weighs almost nothing and does a good job.
I only use grit in open ground
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
If the compost is as fine as you say then you would be better adding some larger particles of humus(not the word I am looking for, but my brain is still asleep) rather than grit or perlite or vermiculite. Sounds to me like you may have put it through too fine a riddle.
We grow our tomatoes in unsifted compost from the compost heap. They grow well.
I think it sounds as if Berghill is right and the compost has been riddled too fine. In that case I think I'd buy some peat-free multipurpose compost and mix it in with your fine garden compost at a ration of about half and half ... tomatoes should be happy with that.
Last edited: 31 December 2017 11:12:14
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.