hey, has anyone eles noticed loads of hay in the westland compost? i was just wondering what affect this might have on my plants? its abit anoying because at the holes in the pots its showering all this hay and its lookis like drownd rotten roots! i did pass it through my hands as a repotted to remove lots of little stones but it was impossable to remove all the hay as there was so much! this is my first time using westlands after much hessatation. btw my planst have been in there 6l pots for a week and are looking lush.

its good stuff mate, i suggest you leave in all bits of bark hay etc where they are as im sure it all plays a part in adding nutrients, airation etc to your medium.

im sure there is other threads in a similar vein to this one, search through this forum if you aint done so already and the more experienced gardeners out there explain the point of such material being in the compost.

im no grow expert mate but the compost your using won the what compost trials of 2008 and myself and a few friends have used it for our last few grows with great results.

ATB desmo

hi good to hear mate, ive heard some truly mixed reviews about westlands but like i said its doing my young plants nicely.

I have used westlands m/p with added ji for years and the recipe was always consistent, looked really black, gave good consistent results and looked like an equal peat and loam mix. But then half way through last season or the season before I went to my local g/c for supplies and when I got home and realised the recipe changed I went back to the g/c and asked one of the old horticulturists why the recipe had changed in westlands m/p and if new any thing about the straw in the compost, he said it had to change it to keep up with government guidelines, he said they had replaced some of the peat with the straw. He told me this is what he had herd but could not say for definite.

He said that he had reported to his own boss that the new recipe was no where near the standard of the original and the plants at the garden centre were showing him this after potting on plants with the new recipe, so he asked his boss if it was possible to have the old recipe back and his boss said they had changed suppliers for the west m/p and he would have to make do with what he got. He said to me he did not know if the recipe had straw in it every where but when compost recipes change, it's usually every where but with some variations depending where you live and who is supplying/making the compost.

So my personal view is that they changed the recipe to keep in with government guidelines by reducing the peat content by adding straw and by doing this they might get tax levies or some thing, but I cannot say for sure.

Peace,
GG