i posted this on another discussion on compost earlier
I bought some “new and improved” Jacks Magic last week I opened it today and it’s awful, it’s like a bag of recycled rubbish from the council, it’s full of sticks, lumps of bark, hard lumps of I don’t know what something like stones and bits of white shredded plastic. If this is what going peat free is then I’m not impressed!
I didn't think Jack's Magic was peat-free?
'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
@LG_ The posting by Astrantia was in the second ticket https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1063061/peat-free-compost#latest and I just wrote: Jacks Magic used to have 90% peat. They probably changed it
due to law changes, and try to be peat free. I could imagine that they
have to start from scratch. Others started years ago, and their results
were not good either, but improved over the years.
I don't buy Westland. The peat-free compost that we bought 3 years ago looks always dry and artificial. I make now my own compost. It's not perfect as I have to mix clay soil into it. But I reached my target not to buy soil bags this year. The only exception were 2 bags tomato soil bags for the tomato bed and chillies and pepper pots.
@Heartinthedirt - I read your thread with interest. I bought the same compost and had the same experience as you. It was disappointing and I wrote a thread about this before seeing your thread. I bought mine from Costco. Last year was good quality same brand I think? Same shop anyway. I can’t be bothered to bring it back so just going to have to dilute it with perlite and lots of air and water. I’ll see what the other bag looks like today. The smell was noticeable after the husband said it stank his car out when he bought it home.
@Heartinthedirt - I read your thread with interest. I bought the same compost and had the same experience as you. It was disappointing and I wrote a thread about this before seeing your thread. I bought mine from Costco. Last year was good quality same brand I think? Same shop anyway. I can’t be bothered to bring it back so just going to have to dilute it with perlite and lots of air and water. I’ll see what the other bag looks like today. The smell was noticeable after the husband said it stank his car out when he bought it home.
Definitely one to avoid I think. I'm having success with Miracle Grow now, so not throwing in the peat-free towel just yet. And yes, it did stink!
It's knowing what to do with things that counts - Robert Frost
I’ve we’ve tried so many different types - done like shredded car tyres, some like mud. Currently using Melcourt Sylvagrow which is looking very promising. - better than any other.
@Heartinthedirt - I read your thread with interest. I bought the same compost and had the same experience as you. It was disappointing and I wrote a thread about this before seeing your thread. I bought mine from Costco. Last year was good quality same brand I think? Same shop anyway. I can’t be bothered to bring it back so just going to have to dilute it with perlite and lots of air and water. I’ll see what the other bag looks like today. The smell was noticeable after the husband said it stank his car out when he bought it home.
Definitely one to avoid I think. I'm having success with Miracle Grow now, so not throwing in the peat-free towel just yet. And yes, it did stink!
It’s annoying because it wasn’t that cheap either and I mainly buy it to grow seeds in. So are you going to send them a bagged sample?
@CallyMatt Ive had no problems with Melcourt Sylvagrow peat free, either. Ive been using it for 18 months now for seed sowing indoors, potting on, garden containers. Everything has grown well and thrived. 😊
The problem for me has been inconsistency within a brand. It doesn't seem unequivocally possible to say such and such is good (unless perhaps it's one of the more expensive brands). It may be one time you buy it, but not the next. Many people have recommended Sylvagrow to me, but I'd have to buy it online and with the lowest price I have seen at £10ish for 50l (excluding dleivery) I just can't afford it in the quantities I seem to get through. (I grow a lot of veg and flowers in pots.) Surely it must be possible to produced affordable, realiable, contamination-free peat, free compost... I have recently had some issus with Wickes peat free. It could be me - not getting to grips with watering, or maybe it has the wrong nutrient balance for young seedlings, but healthy pea plants died when planted out with some of it, and I have had quite a lot of seedlings die after prickin out. (That could be just bad luck though. It happens.) I suspect herbicide contamination. But without sending a sample to a lab, who knows? So many things an go wrong in gardening. Meanwhile I have 6 bags of the stuff that I don't trust.
edit: is just noticed a local, but expensive garden centre has Sylvagrow. £8.99 for 50l non organic. Problem with local garden centres is that unless they deliver, given I don't drive, husband will potentially find out how much I am spending on an activity he regards as poitnless
@Heartinthedirt - I read your thread with interest. I bought the same compost and had the same experience as you. It was disappointing and I wrote a thread about this before seeing your thread. I bought mine from Costco. Last year was good quality same brand I think? Same shop anyway. I can’t be bothered to bring it back so just going to have to dilute it with perlite and lots of air and water. I’ll see what the other bag looks like today. The smell was noticeable after the husband said it stank his car out when he bought it home.
Definitely one to avoid I think. I'm having success with Miracle Grow now, so not throwing in the peat-free towel just yet. And yes, it did stink!
It’s annoying because it wasn’t that cheap either and I mainly buy it to grow seeds in. So are you going to send them a bagged sample?
No, I got annoyed by them persistently batting it back at me and suggesting it was probably something I'd done wrong. Perhaps it was, but there was just a disappointing lack of customer service and I had a tant and told them to stuff it! Nicely, of course
It's knowing what to do with things that counts - Robert Frost
Posts
Jacks Magic used to have 90% peat. They probably changed it due to law changes, and try to be peat free. I could imagine that they have to start from scratch. Others started years ago, and their results were not good either, but improved over the years.
I don't buy Westland. The peat-free compost that we bought 3 years ago looks always dry and artificial.
I make now my own compost. It's not perfect as I have to mix clay soil into it.
But I reached my target not to buy soil bags this year. The only exception were 2 bags tomato soil bags for the tomato bed and chillies and pepper pots.
I ♥ my garden.
now, so not throwing in the peat-free towel just yet. And yes, it did stink!
Many people have recommended Sylvagrow to me, but I'd have to buy it online and with the lowest price I have seen at £10ish for 50l (excluding dleivery) I just can't afford it in the quantities I seem to get through. (I grow a lot of veg and flowers in pots.) Surely it must be possible to produced affordable, realiable, contamination-free peat, free compost...
I have recently had some issus with Wickes peat free. It could be me - not getting to grips with watering, or maybe it has the wrong nutrient balance for young seedlings, but healthy pea plants died when planted out with some of it, and I have had quite a lot of seedlings die after prickin out. (That could be just bad luck though. It happens.) I suspect herbicide contamination. But without sending a sample to a lab, who knows? So many things an go wrong in gardening. Meanwhile I have 6 bags of the stuff that I don't trust.
edit: is just noticed a local, but expensive garden centre has Sylvagrow. £8.99 for 50l non organic. Problem with local garden centres is that unless they deliver, given I don't drive, husband will potentially find out how much I am spending on an activity he regards as poitnless