I agree with all the posts and this is a very serious issue. I've tried various local "peat free" composts from a variety of nurseries and garden centres and none of them have performed well. I experienced nearly all of the above problems; seedlings not growing, roots rotting, nasty green slime etc. forming after 2-3 days of sowing seeds/potting up, one batch of compost dried to the consistency of a concrete brick after just 2 days! And it had been well watered!!!
If you're growing fruit and vegetables this is also a health issue - although by the sounds of it no one has had much luck getting their plants to the stage where they can actually harvest the crops.
I reckon this needs to be investigated much further, and it'll take more than tipped out compost on the floors of the DIY sheds, although that's a good start!
Here's an article from the States, and I have this feeling that something similar is going on over here with our compost:
Hello Gardener's World, anybody listening to our cries for help here?
One very frustrated gardener.
I've just read your link, and I think it's interesting, although it covers the problems associated with clopyramid (sp) which has been a problem over here, but more associated with horse manure than with compost per se. I think the problem that horses were eating grass that had been treated, and, since it (the chemical) was not broken down by the horses' digestion, it remained active for some 12 months+. The problems with compost are more to do with the reduction of peat content and the inclusion of poorly-composted rubbish which is causing so many problems.
I have lost all my tomatoes, most of my beans (3 sickly looking things left), dahlias and sunflowers potted on into the stuff are turning yellow and look quite ill. There is definitely an issue here.
Anyone use Twitter at all ? Seems it's the only way for things to get noticed nowadays, and maybe a few phone calls to the newspapers too.
And regarding the peat/peat free issue. It is perfectly possible to make good, balanced and safe peat-free compost - the manufacturers are just being lazy, greedy and downright negligent when they supply the plant-killing rubbish we are faced with at the moment.
I bought 3 for £10 56ltr J Arthur Bowers compost from a garden centre recently and was very unimpressed - mouldy, smelly and too risky to use. Our local SPAR shop has 20ltr bags of Dunstons compost for £1.48 and it's really good stuff - even for seeds. If you find a SPAR that doesn't have it ask the manager to get some in for you and they're really helpful. I prefer the smaller bags too - far easier to handle.
Last year I had problems with Levingtons bought from B&Q. I won't bother to repeat the problems we had with it. Finally after complaining in the store a technical manager contacted us and offered a £10 voucher for all the losses I had had. Not really recompense for all the plants that failed, though.
Yet larger bags of Levington bought from our local farmers' Co-op was lovely stuff. Cheaper too.
Sadly, if we want to be 'green' we will have to learn to live with this awful stuff. Lumps of wood, pieces of glass and plastic.
Sadly, if we want to be 'green' we will have to learn to live with this awful stuff. Lumps of wood, pieces of glass and plastic
Sorry but this is abject nonsense. Sustainable or recycled or "green" compost does NOT mean wood, glass, plastic and consequent dead plants. Just the opposite.
This toxic rubbish that is being peddled is more a reflection of a massively ANTI green and ANTI sustainable industry and culture.
the Verve compost gets rave reviews-93% would recommend- completely the opposite of the comments on here-which either means all the negative reviews have been removed, people are not complaining or the results have not filtered through yet.
The trouble is would people blame the compost or themselves??-those without internet access would not be aware of the problems or discussions like these.
The trouble is would people blame the compost or themselves??-those without internet access would not be aware of the problems or discussions like these.
Yes, especially for first time or relative newbie gardeners, they may well be wrongly blaming themselves, or maybe the cold and wet weather. Those of us who've been gardening a while longer are more likely to realise, in all my years I have never had such a wipe-out of seedlings like this.
But, it is the general public that is putting extraneous rubbish in the green bags and waste food bins that gets turned into this rubbish. Our local tip (aka Civic Amenity site) takes green waste for composting. People throw in plastic plant pots, greenery in plastic bags, light wooden crates, gravel, noxious weeds, large branches, etc, etc.
I think there are two issues here-If I am buying a bag of recycled green waste compost as a soil improver then you can live with lumpy bits etc but as a growing or sowing medium for plants this is not fit for purpose surely
What people put in their recycling bins is irrelevant -why should that become the gardener's problem?
Posts
I've just read your link, and I think it's interesting, although it covers the problems associated with clopyramid (sp) which has been a problem over here, but more associated with horse manure than with compost per se. I think the problem that horses were eating grass that had been treated, and, since it (the chemical) was not broken down by the horses' digestion, it remained active for some 12 months+. The problems with compost are more to do with the reduction of peat content and the inclusion of poorly-composted rubbish which is causing so many problems.
Problems with B&Q Multi purpose compost ? YES.
I have lost all my tomatoes, most of my beans (3 sickly looking things left), dahlias and sunflowers potted on into the stuff are turning yellow and look quite ill. There is definitely an issue here.
Anyone use Twitter at all ? Seems it's the only way for things to get noticed nowadays, and maybe a few phone calls to the newspapers too.
And regarding the peat/peat free issue. It is perfectly possible to make good, balanced and safe peat-free compost - the manufacturers are just being lazy, greedy and downright negligent when they supply the plant-killing rubbish we are faced with at the moment.
I bought 3 for £10 56ltr J Arthur Bowers compost from a garden centre recently and was very unimpressed - mouldy, smelly and too risky to use. Our local SPAR shop has 20ltr bags of Dunstons compost for £1.48 and it's really good stuff - even for seeds. If you find a SPAR that doesn't have it ask the manager to get some in for you and they're really helpful. I prefer the smaller bags too - far easier to handle.
Last year I had problems with Levingtons bought from B&Q. I won't bother to repeat the problems we had with it. Finally after complaining in the store a technical manager contacted us and offered a £10 voucher for all the losses I had had. Not really recompense for all the plants that failed, though.
Yet larger bags of Levington bought from our local farmers' Co-op was lovely stuff. Cheaper too.
Sadly, if we want to be 'green' we will have to learn to live with this awful stuff. Lumps of wood, pieces of glass and plastic.
Sadly, if we want to be 'green' we will have to learn to live with this awful stuff. Lumps of wood, pieces of glass and plastic
Sorry but this is abject nonsense. Sustainable or recycled or "green" compost does NOT mean wood, glass, plastic and consequent dead plants. Just the opposite.
This toxic rubbish that is being peddled is more a reflection of a massively ANTI green and ANTI sustainable industry and culture.
Have just looked on the Band Q website-
http://www.diy.com/nav/garden/garden-care-watering/growing/composts___fertilisers/-specificproducttype-multi_purpose_compost/B-and-Q-Multipurpose-Compost-125L-10288015#ancBVReviewsContainer
the Verve compost gets rave reviews-93% would recommend- completely the opposite of the comments on here-which either means all the negative reviews have been removed, people are not complaining or the results have not filtered through yet.
The trouble is would people blame the compost or themselves??-those without internet access would not be aware of the problems or discussions like these.
The trouble is would people blame the compost or themselves??-those without internet access would not be aware of the problems or discussions like these.
Yes, especially for first time or relative newbie gardeners, they may well be wrongly blaming themselves, or maybe the cold and wet weather. Those of us who've been gardening a while longer are more likely to realise, in all my years I have never had such a wipe-out of seedlings like this.
But, it is the general public that is putting extraneous rubbish in the green bags and waste food bins that gets turned into this rubbish. Our local tip (aka Civic Amenity site) takes green waste for composting. People throw in plastic plant pots, greenery in plastic bags, light wooden crates, gravel, noxious weeds, large branches, etc, etc.
I think there are two issues here-If I am buying a bag of recycled green waste compost as a soil improver then you can live with lumpy bits etc but as a growing or sowing medium for plants this is not fit for purpose surely
What people put in their recycling bins is irrelevant -why should that become the gardener's problem?
Peat worked.