Forum home The potting shed
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

What do you really think of peat free compost?

1235

Posts

  • SlumSlum Posts: 385
    Dobbin26 said:
    Really dissatisfied and disappointed with most brands of peat free compost over the last few years. Not sure if it's due to a lack of supply and an increase in demand etc but bags I've purchsed have had glass, plastic clothes pegs, car indicator lenses and poly bags in it so I'll be sticking to peat based for the next few years or until it improves. I'm mot going to pay for someone else's rubbish. 
    Which brands? Over the last 4 years I’ve used Homebase, Sylvagrow and New Horizon and not had that experience. Perhaps give one of them a go?
  • SlumSlum Posts: 385
    Sheps said:
    You can, my local GC sells it.


    I’m not sure about the use of the term ‘environmentally friendly’ and their use of the colour green on their packaging. Pictures from their own website tell a different story http://www.cloverpeat.co.uk/about/factory

  • WAMSWAMS Posts: 1,960
    I use Homebase Peat Free when I can... it is fine.
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    I haven’t bought any this year, am using just garden soil mixed with the existing old contents of my pots. But previously I’ve used New Horizon and it’s been fine. Wyevales own brand was dreadful the one year I tried it.

    If I could find a local supplier of the bag-free sylvagrow, I would use that. Must admit I haven’t looked for a year or two.
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Coir is the main problem.  Once it has dried out, it won't easily rewet.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • Jenny_AsterJenny_Aster Posts: 945
    edited April 2023
    bédé said:
    Coir is the main problem.  Once it has dried out, it won't easily rewet.
    I use a lot of coir and haven't found that. Though it maybe processed differently for adding to a bag of compost. I buy it compressed in a brick sized form. Adding quite a bit of water it swells to seven times it's volume, so basically I doubt it'll go back to it's dried form. Peat can also have a problem rewetting, though it's easily solved though by adding a couple drops of washing up liquid.
    Trying to be the person my dog thinks I am! 

    Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    bédé said:
    Coir is the main problem.  Once it has dried out, it won't easily rewet.
    Isn't that also the case for peat? 

    Sylvagrow contains a lot of composted bark and wood products from the UK, not just coir. I agree with some of the other commenters that coir has its own environmental issues.
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • @The Bird Lady Where might that stockist be, please?
    This is the link.  http://www.cloverpeat.co.uk/stockists/category/20/southern-england

  • Dirty HarryDirty Harry Posts: 1,048
    I'm looking to stick to New Horizon which I've had no issues with in the past. Local garden centre last year only had some Evergreen peat free stuff which was crap based on my dahlia display.
  • I have been using only peat-free compost for several years now.  I think that is it important to recognise that it does behave differently from peat-based compost, though, and does need a bit more care in feeding.  I know that Clover peat compost is brilliant but I am concerned about the environmental damage.  I also agree that some peat-free composts are just awful, and the lack of consistency is a real issue, especially if they contain green waste. Homebase peat-free is a Which? best buy but some of the reviews are very critical.  I find that the most consistent and pleasant to handle is Melcourt Sylvagrow, which has always produced really good results for me and does not contain any green waste.  I mix in a little slow-release fertiliser and perlite so that I do not need to feed the plants for a while, and take care with watering as it is easy both to overwater and underwater.  The compost often looks dry on the top when it is wet at the bottom of the pot, and until the roots have grown through capillary matting does not work very well with peat-free for some reason.  The RHS and National Trust use peat-free compost and their plants are usually well-grown and healthy.
Sign In or Register to comment.