Google clopyralid, it can last for years, and even in amazingly small concentrations can damage susceptible plants, especially tomatoes. That is just one broad leaf plant killer.
I try not to use any of the crap peat free composts that is on sale now.
If you see what my neighbour put in his council recycling bin which eventually goes into the so called wonderful peat free composts sold, you would not buy them at any price!
He has Greenfingers dosing his large lawns regularly with all sorts of industrial chemicals with the cuttings going straight into the bin.
I said to him once about it, his reply was, not my problem son!
Welshonion says:No peat sources are sustainable. Peat was laid down millions of years ago. They ain't making it any more! See original post
Not true - but then none of the anti-peat comments on this thread are actually true. There are more than 4,000,000 km2 of active deep peatlands around the world, covering an area of more than 400 million hectares producing more than 4 billion cubic metres of new peat annually. This does not include the increase on shallow peats less than 0.5m deep, which may be as much as twice the figure for deep peats.
Peat is laid down faster than any other soil mineral aggregate - sand, silt, clay, chalk all take millions of years to form and lay down a metre depth. Topsoil forms at the rate of 25mm over the course of a thousand years while sphagnum peat is laid down 40 times faster, at the rate of1mm a yeat - 1 metre depth of peat is formed in the time it takes to lay down an inch of topsoil.
There's a reasonable argument against the use of peat from some raised lowland bogs in the UK, where they support 4 species of threated invertebrate and another 4 species of rare moss on an area of just 5,000 hectares. This argument does not apply where peat wetlands stretch for thousands, tens of thousand, hundreds of thousands or millions of square kilometres.
When I first started gardening quite a few years ago I used Levington General Purpose compost for seed sowing and potting without any problems but after several years using it the quality declined and the results with it. Since then I have used products from a number of companies but find what was good one year is poor the next.
Last year (2016) I used Jack's Magic which was excellent. This year it appears to be the same but results are very poor. Seeds do not sprout or if the do fail to continue growing and 'stick'.
I have come to the conclusion that seed sowing and potting composts are unreliable. How one selects what to use has become a lottery.
I can remember using Levington GP compost back in the 1960's and I stuck with it until 5ish years ago when bits of plastic and glass started to appear in it and the results were not like they were in the good old days. I think the 'problem' is that since we're mostly re-cycling our garden waste via the local councils, the waste is processed and the compost companies buy it. I had to smile when I read on the bag of Levingtons a while back - Enriched with recycled materials - I wasn't expecting them to include plastic and glass. I don't buy it anymore. I've had very good results last year and this year with Grow Wise range of composts - no foreign objects, and I've used around 800L of the stuff in the last 2 seasons.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I have made a note and will try Grow Wise next year.
When I moved into my new house 12 years ago I needed to improve the soil so purchased a load of recycled compost.....I am still picking pieces of plastic from the soil!
I have seen what occurs at the recycling site. Plastic bags, plant pots, ties etc, etc all go over the wall into the garden waste which is then shredded before composting. No notices requesting people not to do it and nothing said but if you as much as try to throw a metal spoon into the general waste the operatives are on to you like a shot.
Need less to say I have not purchased any more recycled compost and warned others about it.
I purchased three bags of levingtons general purpose compost at the beginning of may this year and anything I potted on or potted up to grow on ie:- tomatoes have either stopped growing and stood still or died. Won't be buying that again.
Since suffering vine weevil in my pots (which is apparently due to re-using old compost and peat-based compost is a nice place for them), I've started to pot up using alternatives.
I've mixed a bit of proprietary compost with sieved soil (clay based), sand (rough), leaf mould (mine), sieved compost (mine) and a handful of blood, fish and bone.
Only just started the trial and it's only really for pots and because it's a bit experimental and unscientific (I've not measured the quantities) then I probably can't be a reliable source but p'raps I'll boast later if successful?
Posts
Google clopyralid, it can last for years, and even in amazingly small concentrations can damage susceptible plants, especially tomatoes. That is just one broad leaf plant killer.
I try not to use any of the crap peat free composts that is on sale now.
If you see what my neighbour put in his council recycling bin which eventually goes into the so called wonderful peat free composts sold, you would not buy them at any price!
He has Greenfingers dosing his large lawns regularly with all sorts of industrial chemicals with the cuttings going straight into the bin.
I said to him once about it, his reply was, not my problem son!
Not true - but then none of the anti-peat comments on this thread are actually true. There are more than 4,000,000 km2 of active deep peatlands around the world, covering an area of more than 400 million hectares producing more than 4 billion cubic metres of new peat annually. This does not include the increase on shallow peats less than 0.5m deep, which may be as much as twice the figure for deep peats.
Peat is laid down faster than any other soil mineral aggregate - sand, silt, clay, chalk all take millions of years to form and lay down a metre depth. Topsoil forms at the rate of 25mm over the course of a thousand years while sphagnum peat is laid down 40 times faster, at the rate of1mm a yeat - 1 metre depth of peat is formed in the time it takes to lay down an inch of topsoil.
There's a reasonable argument against the use of peat from some raised lowland bogs in the UK, where they support 4 species of threated invertebrate and another 4 species of rare moss on an area of just 5,000 hectares. This argument does not apply where peat wetlands stretch for thousands, tens of thousand, hundreds of thousands or millions of square kilometres.
Yup - completely agree.
In Ireland they use it to fuel power stations - can you imagine how much peat that uses.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
When I first started gardening quite a few years ago I used Levington General Purpose compost for seed sowing and potting without any problems but after several years using it the quality declined and the results with it. Since then I have used products from a number of companies but find what was good one year is poor the next.
Last year (2016) I used Jack's Magic which was excellent. This year it appears to be the same but results are very poor. Seeds do not sprout or if the do fail to continue growing and 'stick'.
I have come to the conclusion that seed sowing and potting composts are unreliable. How one selects what to use has become a lottery.
Last edited: 14 August 2017 17:31:51
I can remember using Levington GP compost back in the 1960's and I stuck with it until 5ish years ago when bits of plastic and glass started to appear in it and the results were not like they were in the good old days.
I think the 'problem' is that since we're mostly re-cycling our garden waste via the local councils, the waste is processed and the compost companies buy it.
I had to smile when I read on the bag of Levingtons a while back - Enriched with recycled materials - I wasn't expecting them to include plastic and glass. I don't buy it anymore.
I've had very good results last year and this year with Grow Wise range of composts - no foreign objects, and I've used around 800L of the stuff in the last 2 seasons.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Pete8
Thanks for your reply
I have made a note and will try Grow Wise next year.
When I moved into my new house 12 years ago I needed to improve the soil so purchased a load of recycled compost.....I am still picking pieces of plastic from the soil!
I have seen what occurs at the recycling site. Plastic bags, plant pots, ties etc, etc all go over the wall into the garden waste which is then shredded before composting. No notices requesting people not to do it and nothing said but if you as much as try to throw a metal spoon into the general waste the operatives are on to you like a shot.
Need less to say I have not purchased any more recycled compost and warned others about it.
II bought 3 bags of Levingtons a few weeks ago. ...no bits of foreign objects in it....
I purchased three bags of levingtons general purpose compost at the beginning of may this year and anything I potted on or potted up to grow on ie:- tomatoes have either stopped growing and stood still or died. Won't be buying that again.
Since suffering vine weevil in my pots (which is apparently due to re-using old compost and peat-based compost is a nice place for them), I've started to pot up using alternatives.
I've mixed a bit of proprietary compost with sieved soil (clay based), sand (rough), leaf mould (mine), sieved compost (mine) and a handful of blood, fish and bone.
Only just started the trial and it's only really for pots and because it's a bit experimental and unscientific (I've not measured the quantities) then I probably can't be a reliable source but p'raps I'll boast later if successful?