I am reading the 1 star reviews for the orchid compost - for both brands I mentioned, the 1 star reviews are saying they are full of fungus flies, coming out and going all over the house and/or moldy soil that kills the plant. I'm new to all this, wonder if it's an amazon warehouse storage problem and it would be OK as long as I avoid amazon, I don't know.
Oh gosh I just checked the 1 star reviews for the houseplant repotting compost I was going to buy, and they are saying the same thing.
I do have a massive bag of general compost for the garden, the very dark stuff (big purple bag from B&Q). Would that be an acceptable compost to use, and is there anything I should mix into it? (I've got tiny stones, general plant food as granules, ...) or should I go to the garden centre and buy a houseplant repotting compost from them?
I use regular multipurpose compost for all my houseplants, but I don't have anthuriums (or orchids). I think @Fran IOM said she used ordinary compost for her anthurium, and it looks very healthy. If you have some perlite or fine grit you could mix some in, but the main thing is to be careful to only water when it needs it, which is probably less often in the winter months when it's just ticking over than in the spring/summer when it should be actively growing.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
@Pink678 I'm sure your plant will do well once it is repotted and dried out a little. Try to ignore it for a while and see how it goes. Once it's well established you will know what to do. One of my favourite house plants.
If the big purple bag of compost is B&Qs own brand, then I wouldn't use it on a houseplant. Don't overthink. Get a bag of houseplant compost from the garden centre and you can get the new inner plant pot there as well. If you do end up with small flies in the compost then yellow sticky traps will deal with those although I prefer hand to wing combat and kill them off manually (only available to those who have a bit of time on their hands).
Thank you all! OK, I am not going to risk it with the B&Q compost just in case. I'm going to make the trip to the garden centre and get houseplant compost from there, and a pot as well if they have a good one. Looking for around 18cm diameter.
The flies are gnats which are attracted to decomposing compost... they are normal but can be a sign that the compost is staying too wet (which is why I err on the side of caution and include orchid bark, grit, perlite etc with my houseplant compost. (Mixed with multipurpose compost such as Sylvagrow). A lot of these plants like to dry out quite a bit between waterings.
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour".
I just went to B&Q and they didn't have any repotting compost like on amazon. They just had their multi-purpose compost in smaller bags, the same one I have. Checked outdoors in their garden area and indoors in their houseplants area.
The big bag I have is the B&Q brand, it's 'Verve', multi-purpose compost. Just wondering @Ceres why is it that it wouldn't be good to use for a houseplant?
Wondering if maybe if i get some drying agent like perlite to mix into it, it would be OK?
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