I used this to pot up plants to bring indoors for the winter. It seemed to consist mainly of soot. For the last couple of months there have been literally millions of small black flies coming out of it into my curtains, in the top of the pots and all over the window sills. I clean them up every few days after spraying with Raid fly killer for large flies. Are these injurious to health - they are a nasty thing to have in the house but I will lose the pelargoniums if I put them outside. I already did this with two of the largest pots and lost the plants due to the very cold weather
lidil's compost was the same last year there was quite a few folk on the forum saying the same thing that it smelt of tar my advice would would be to stay clear of it , it is cheap , and by all accounts not very good . there are plenty of other good outlets where you can buy good compost you may have to pay a little bit extra for it but it will be worth while paying a little bit more as your seeds will germinate and the more seeds that germinate means the more plants you will have in the garden.
Morning all,here in Norfolk we have some large stores called ROYS one of those that sells loads of different stuff, they now advertise there own compost so iv tried it 4 bags £10 and its as good as the one iv been paying £4.50 a bag for so anyone thinking of trying it go ahead its very good and no chunks of rubbish in it ,I am very pleased to recommend it, Sunny erein Muns Norfolk
A fellow in my evening class did his dissertation on composting. He was out at the plants that process the councils' green waste taking samples. He said these places sometimes (frequently) have compost fires in the windrows due to the intense heat generated by the microbiota. (the owner of the local one has coils circulating heat to his home and it's toasty all the year round).
The coal tar smell may be the result of partially-burned wood from one of these fires. If it is sooty that is also further evidence to suspect a compost fire has occurred.
In instances where a significant fire has occurred an EPA / SEPA investigation takes place and involves the Environmental Health, Public health departments, NHS and will be a matter of public record.
Most green waste collections are fortnightly. Waste has often generated significant heat by the time it is collected (I just probed my and my neighbour's 13 day old green waste and it is 21°C, significantly higher than ambient). The more biomass that is there the smaller external surface (heat dissipation) area to volume ratio. Depositing heated biomass onto already heated biomass just compounds the heat problem.
Some of the processors have a grading system. There is BSI PAS100 material they can sell to agriculture and professional horticulture. The rest can't be sold as a compost in its raw state but can be sold as a soil (structural) conditioner or further processed to make it sellable as compost. They are usually paid by the local authority to process the green waste, so it's dirt cheap per tonne if one can collect.
Talking of this I need to organise a field trip to the local green waste processors for the horti association. It's quite hi-tech and an interesting although organic-smelling day out, according to the green waste chap at the council.
Posts
Thanks for the warning on this stuff- will be very sure to avoid it. Sounds nasty.
I tried the lidl seed and cuttings compost last year. No dodgy smell. Did a good enough job.
I used this to pot up plants to bring indoors for the winter. It seemed to consist mainly of soot. For the last couple of months there have been literally millions of small black flies coming out of it into my curtains, in the top of the pots and all over the window sills. I clean them up every few days after spraying with Raid fly killer for large flies. Are these injurious to health - they are a nasty thing to have in the house but I will lose the pelargoniums if I put them outside. I already did this with two of the largest pots and lost the plants due to the very cold weather
lidil's compost was the same last year there was quite a few folk on the forum saying the same thing that it smelt of tar my advice would would be to stay clear of it , it is cheap , and by all accounts not very good . there are plenty of other good outlets where you can buy good compost you may have to pay a little bit extra for it but it will be worth while paying a little bit more as your seeds will germinate and the more seeds that germinate means the more plants you will have in the garden.
I've used Levingtons for about 40yrs.
I tried Verve from B&Q a few yrs ago, that was just chopped garden waste with all sorts of crap (probably in both forms!) in it.
From what I've read on here elsewhere, the Which? best buy (Tichmarsh/Waitrose) isn't up to much.
So I'm sticking with Levingtons.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I use the B&Q Verve compost, but it has some limitations!
http://rachel-the-gardener.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/compost-contamination.html
I got some from Aldi a couple of years ago and ended up putting it on the garden as a mulch. I stick to well known brands now.
Morning all,here in Norfolk we have some large stores called ROYS one of those that sells loads of different stuff, they now advertise there own compost so iv tried it 4 bags £10 and its as good as the one iv been paying £4.50 a bag for so anyone thinking of trying it go ahead its very good and no chunks of rubbish in it ,I am very pleased to recommend it, Sunny erein Muns Norfolk
A fellow in my evening class did his dissertation on composting. He was out at the plants that process the councils' green waste taking samples. He said these places sometimes (frequently) have compost fires in the windrows due to the intense heat generated by the microbiota. (the owner of the local one has coils circulating heat to his home and it's toasty all the year round).
The coal tar smell may be the result of partially-burned wood from one of these fires. If it is sooty that is also further evidence to suspect a compost fire has occurred.
In instances where a significant fire has occurred an EPA / SEPA investigation takes place and involves the Environmental Health, Public health departments, NHS and will be a matter of public record.
Most green waste collections are fortnightly. Waste has often generated significant heat by the time it is collected (I just probed my and my neighbour's 13 day old green waste and it is 21°C, significantly higher than ambient). The more biomass that is there the smaller external surface (heat dissipation) area to volume ratio. Depositing heated biomass onto already heated biomass just compounds the heat problem.
Some of the processors have a grading system. There is BSI PAS100 material they can sell to agriculture and professional horticulture. The rest can't be sold as a compost in its raw state but can be sold as a soil (structural) conditioner or further processed to make it sellable as compost. They are usually paid by the local authority to process the green waste, so it's dirt cheap per tonne if one can collect.
Talking of this I need to organise a field trip to the local green waste processors for the horti association. It's quite hi-tech and an interesting although organic-smelling day out, according to the green waste chap at the council.