Forum home› Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Weeds in compost

KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
in Problem solving
Has anybody else had issues with the amount of weeds growing in compost this year.  I've never had a problem in the past, but almost every pot this year has required almost constant attention to stop them taking over completely.  All sorts of things, including grass had to be ripped out.

Posts

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    No,  the only ever occurring weed in ours is the little white one with the exploding seed heads, easily recognised and pulled out early.
    We don’t put  couch grass in there,  or nettle/dandelion and ground elder roots, just cut the leaves off and dump the root. 
    Maybe your boxes didn’t get so hot this time and kill them. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    Sorry, I should have made it clearer, I'm talking about commercially purchased potting compost.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Oops!  Sorry, thought you meant your own.
    That’s not good enough then.  There are so many threads on crappy compost. I don’t think many are happy with it.
    Have you room for a couple of wooden compost bins?
    We’ve been collecting mole hills.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Every bag of compost I've bought since we moved here nearly 6 years ago has grown weeds from chickweed to grass, fat hen to horseweed and, one year, red shank in abundance.


    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I've had a lot but I assumed it was because I mixed in some homemade compost. A lot of the "weeds" are forget-me-not seedlings and annual meadow grass (or something similar). Easy enough to pull out and if I didn't put grass clippings and forget-me-nots in my compost bin there'd be little else going in during late May into June.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I haven't noticed any. We've certainly had more weeds generally, but that's down to the very mild winter and spring, so they got going before many plants did.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    What made the source of the weeds so obvious was that they are only a major problem in pots planted up this year.  There are a few in established pots, as there always are, but nothing like those in the new ones.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Maybe that could be classed as a good thing,  showing the compost hasn’t been sterilised, bleached, disinfected whatever they use. 
    Discussion on another thread, I think we agreed that weedkillers in compost were killing tomato plants and that WK needs bacteria to make it inert.

    It could be something simple though,  like a windy day blowing seeds in from nearby and taking root in your pots. 
     
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    @Lyn If it was windblown seed it wouldn't just be affecting pots with new compost.  I generally find that potting compost these days is of truly awful quality, but I can't produce my own.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    If you lived near me we could take your garden waste and give it back to you done. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

Sign In or Register to comment.