Hi all,
Whilst im sieving my Westlands hanging basket and container compost i notice a few things i remove,
the twigs and stones speak for themself ......
but there are some other things i remove that i dont have a clue about

1-Hard lumps that i can break in half and look like charcoal in the centre
2-Whitish pieces of fibrish material that tears and rips
3-Hard lumps that break open to reveal a grey clay substance
4-Hard lumps that break open to reveal white inside (they have a crumbly consistency like the dog shit that has been found outdoors for many years - mainly when i was a youngster - me and my brothers call this type of dog shit 'Old English Crumbly'

Anyone have any ideas as to what these things are?
I remove them all by the way Is this correct?

Thanks in advance people
Peace
Redgrotto

Hi white dog poo you don't seem to see that any more do ya.just bought some of that westlands plus today firt time i will use it i would leave the shit in as westlands reckon its the best they have made to date.we will see.

Cheers for the reply dooby,
dont klnow what to do now
I have always been told to remove all lumps and clumps and make the compost as fine as possible
Anyone else got ant thoughts?

Redgrotto

Just bumped this thread to see if anyone knows if im doing the right thing by removing all lumps that cant be mashed up through a garden sieve?
I also take out the white fibrish material as well this is not the john innes is it?? i havent got a clue, i just try to get my compost as fine and fluffy as possible.
Am i doing the right thing people?
I wanna be sure
cheers
redgrotto

I always put compost through a riddle, cos ot does it


ot reckons the white bits are delignified wood. Not sure whether this makes it good for compost, but it has to be better than uncomposted wood. I leave in everything that goes through the riddle.

John Innes is just a loam-based compost, not a single ingredient John Innes Composts

Cheers hairyface,
appreciate your help,
ive heard any bits of wood should be taken out though, as when they are decomposing they battle with the plant cos they need nitrogen?? is this right??
do you take any stones, hard bits out what cannot be crushed up?
or do you just sieve it and put it all back in
sorry if i seem like a soil geek but i want to learn what is the proper thing to do so i get into the right habits and continue them for the rest of my growing life
cheers mate
redgrotto

PS/ just read the john innes link you gave, and it mentions clay, does that mean i should be crushing up those large (sometimes half golf ball sized)grey lumps of clay and leaving them in , rather than taking them out?

I use the same stuff and find exactly th same in my bags BUT

i seive the compost so it fluffs up and then the stuff left i will break up with m hand an seive againbut i generally leave it all in and mix it into the fluffy compost i just sieved and i havent had any problems, infact i have alot LESS problems useig hanging basket and container compost with a little inocculant. So far no problems even leaveing all that stuff in . i just break it down as much as poss before mixig it into the seived compost

I don’t know if this helps, but I use a 12mm sieve/riddle, this is as small as is needed to regrade grade the compost. Mainly I use the sieve to fluff the compost up as its compressed to get it in the bag.

Everything goes through the sieve, only found one or two stones that have not gone through, everything else is rubbed through.

Never found any old dog poo looking lumps, it sounds like its poss lime that formed balls when the compost was mixed/made rather then mixed in. The white fibrous stuff I think is west +. The added JI is in fact not JI but loam, it may contain some clay/soil lumps, if so break it up through the sieve. You will also find plant stalk remains from the peat, it adds fibre, again I break it up. Its all good stuff.

Once the compost has been reconstituted to its original volume, the consistency should be just right for potting up or on.

Potting:- I fill the pot to the brim without any compression, remove some from the centre making a hole to pot on the rootball, add a little inoculant, draw the compost round the rootball, finally top up to he brim of the pot without any compression.

Watering:- Put the plant in a pot tray/saucer water slowly with a fine rose until there is half an inch/12mm of water in the tray, leave for half an hour, if the compost has sucked up the water from the tray, water through again until there is half an inch, repeat until none is drawn up. Chuck any excess from the tray, do not bang the pot around, as it will cause the wet compost to compress to much, you want it to settle naturally.

The compost is now fully saturated, do not water/feed again until the rootball is fairly dry, every time you water follow the same procedure, ie wetting the compost to its saturation level, this is called following a wet dry cycle.

Watering from the top is best for containerised plants, as is using a fine rose as it helps oxygenate the water, the steady flow of water percolating down through the compost drives out the bad gasses that built up in the rootball since the last water and draw in fresh air from the surface.

It is fine standing the pots on a capillary bed as this helps equalise the water content of all the rootballs on the bed, but it is not good to water from below by flooding the bed as capillary action is to slow to drive out bad gasses and if very great care is not taken encourage anaerobic conditions that root rot fungus love and thrive in.

Final note I have found that 5/6 litre rootball sized plants only need watering every 4 to 5 days using Westlands MP with added JI and Westlands Container and HB with added JI every 6 to 7 days is about right. Lower figures in the summer and the higher in the winter.

Fantastic
Cheers OT1 , your just the man i wanted regarding this question
Everything you said has been assimilated into my brain,and stored for future reference
I already follow your Wet/Dry cycle to the letter,and its giving me fantastic results,cheers
Also, thanks pro_libertate for your help as well, really appreciate it
thankyou again to this FANTASTIC forum for helping me with questions that would otherwise drive me mad
peace
redgrotto

NP redgrotto goodluck happy growing dude

Cheers Ot1 for the run down only thing i need to be exactly the same is to get a a fine rose watering can trip to the local garden centre will rectify that soon enough though

im not the soil master or nuthing so i dont want any death threats from u guys, BUT, would the company in question not seive out all the bits before sale if it was necessary?

They probably use a slightly larger riddle size for the original ingredient screening. Some of the lumps may form during manufacture/mixing. The main reason for sieving is to fluff the compost up, as it has been compressed to use smaller packaging, it gets further compression being stacked on pallets. All compost needs fluffing up after being stored.