Gardening Which container compost trials

[oldtimer1]

The latest container compost results from testing in the 2019 growing season.

[GreenVision]

Wilko's, quite impressive. 

 

Had fair to good results from Verve in the past. Using the Basic B&Q compost atm and it seems to be doing quite well.

 

But yh' well done Wilko.

[badbillybob]

surprised to see the clover multi purpose did so badly... a lot of folks on here recommending it, maybe it was a bad bag?

[skidmarx]

Thank you. I remembered you said in that other post there was hope we'd be peat free by 2020. All my local stockist had sold out of peat free soil even before this current situation.  Sainsburies doing 30L at that price & quality bodes well for the future.

Happy growing .smiley face.

[oldtimer1]

22 hours ago, badbillybob said:

maybe it was a bad bag?

When they test they buy compost from garden centres all over the country its done anonymously so the producer and garden centres don't know who they are,  it then gets sent to one or more of Whiches trial grounds  and each test is carried out by professional gardeners, they tell members if there are any inconsistencies like bad bags.

 

The thing about Clover is it is one off the few composts on the market that are 100% moss peat it has small additions of lime to balance ph and base chemical  fertiliser that last a few weeks,  all in all as long as fresh its pretty inert ie about as close as you can get to chemical growing. For sure its not a compost with large nutrient reserves or IMHO really suitable for container growing.

 

@skidmarx  B&Q have introduced a new compost for 2020 called GoodHome Multi-purpose its made of 100% coir, green compost & composted bark.

No idea what its fertiliser base is yet its just too new. But it should work well for inoculating supporting a wide micro heard and using organic based fertilisers as the base  is depleted.

[badbillybob]

 

9 minutes ago, oldtimer1 said:

When they test they buy compost from garden centres all over the country its done anonymously so the producer and garden centres don't know who they are,  it then gets sent to one or more of Whiches trial grounds  and each test is carried out by professional gardeners, they tell members if there are any inconsistencies like bad bags.

 

The thing about Clover is it is one off the few composts on the market that are 100% moss peat it has small additions of lime to balance ph and base chemical  fertiliser that last a few weeks,  all in all as long as fresh its pretty inert ie about as close as you can get to chemical growing. For sure its not a compost with large nutrient reserves or IMHO really suitable for container growing.

Thanks for clearing that up @oldtimer1, I appreciate it. 

 

ive just bought some jacks magic to try, but will add some perlite as it seems quite "thick", if that's even  a term. im sure you know what I mean...

I usually buy the verve multi purpose, and its been ok, but just thought I would try something different.

 

[ratdog]

1 hour ago, oldtimer1 said:

The thing about Clover is it is one off the few composts on the market that are 100% moss peat it has small additions of lime to balance ph and base chemical  fertiliser that last a few weeks,  all in all as long as fresh its pretty inert ie about as close as you can get to chemical growing.

 

 

that's interesting, i thought some peeps here used it because it was organic

[Amarillo slim]

5 hours ago, ratdog said:

 

 

that's interesting, i thought some peeps here used it because it was organic

 

The multipurpose from them is not organic. If you want strictly organic they also do standard peat that you can then adjust PH of yourself with Dolomite or calcitic lime, with other amendments for the NPK and micro nutes...  

Ofcourse this is a ball ache and personally I'd only bother for personal/medicinal/food applications... For low maintenance container growing then simply the MP with around 4-5g per litre osmocote pro 5-6 month (high N). 

Edited March 29, 2020 by Amarillo slim

[Amarillo slim]

@oldtimer1

 

Ive always been intrigued by the wool brand.. I remember seeing they've got a 'concentrate' version that I thought might be good for amending guerrilla beds...  The slow release N from wool and K (iirc) from the bracken was what got me on its trail, price put me off... But looks like might be worth a couple bags for the garden...  Thanks for posting.

Edited March 29, 2020 by Amarillo slim

[Michael Luchóg]

I would pay that chart no attention . They can't spell and therefore pronounce number four ! 

Peat is one of those commodities that is still cheap ,and probably won't be available everywhere in some years . People really should shake off their root balls, and re-use some or all of it again . 

Erin would be one of the better types .The bog it comes from is better than others but it's running out ,and sometimes the stuff in the supermarket may be a different mix to the pallets in the co-op .It's not always consistent ,compost . 

[blackpoolbouncer]

On 3/28/2020 at 5:28 PM, badbillybob said:

surprised to see the clover multi purpose did so badly... a lot of folks on here recommending it, maybe it was a bad bag?

It, like oldtimer eluded to, is not well suited to this test. 

They are expecting the compost to feed the plants in the pots through a whole season.

Clover is no good for that, it feeds a plant well but a week or two after its rooted and your gonna see deficiencies.

 

What it is excellent for is for growing fast growing plants that require regular potting in and once rooted are gonna get a liquid feed with every water, like we do with canna.

It really is a completely different type of gardening.

 

It's a bit like saying light mix is shit because it would fail this test. Yea it would because by the end of the year without a supplimental feed the plants will be hanging put of their arses.

 

If you want to put a summer bedding plant in a container and do nothing more with it other than water it once a while then clover is not for you.

 

If you want to grow healthy plants fast in the way we do, I still doubt you will find much better.

 

Got to be able to understand the test to be able to interpret the results.

We pot on every two weeks which is just about how long the nutrients last in clover between pot ups. Two weeks after going in finals you start feeding.

 

 

It's a bit like comparing a solar powered car to a Ferrari in a race to see who can go fastest across a year except they aren't allowed to put any more fuel in. 

In this test the solar car wins because it keeps going while the Ferrari ran  out of fuel.

 Add some fuel to the Ferrari and see it leave the solar car for dust

 

Clover is like the Ferrari.

 

 

You've got to understand the mediums and how to use them. Clover is still far better than most on that list for what we do, just don't try and grow plants all the way to harvest without feed like this test.

 

Why have they changed how they assess? Is it because it's aimed at lazy as fuck gardeners who are never gonna feed their plants?  As for potatoes. Who know how they decide which or how much slow release to give for the potato test. Some get fed, some don't.

 

 

E2a, results using clover, make of it what you will 

 

What it does in a 0.5l pot 

 

what it does in a 7.5l pot

 

Take this test with a pinch of salt 

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by blackpoolbouncer

[Jimmeh]

I use clover and was wondering along the same lines as ratdog - thanks @blackpoolbouncerfor the clear explanation. 

[oldtimer1]

@badbillybob

I believe Jacksmagic preformed quite well  but as it was reformulated after the trial as were several others so they were removed from the trial results.

 

@Amarillo slim

I was going to test a few bags of Dalefoot  compost but the local reseller to me have shut their nursery and stopped all deliveries for  the foreseeable future.  I like hundreds of other GW members trial new varieties of vegetable and flower seeds every year, its fun trying new varieties, the feedback we give  gives GW an idea of how the plants perform from Scotland to  Cornwall 

 

Members opinions often differ  greatly on flavour yield to the GW professional trial ground results! One of this years varieties is a blight resistant tomato suitable for container growing, I wanted to see if Dalefoot’s tomato compost would do the entire season without feeding. Looks like that has gone to the wall.

 

@Michael Luchóg

My antecedents dug the peats for warmth and cooking for many generations causing little environmental damage, stripping and destroying bogs  is a little different, but that’s only in my opinion, personally I would prefer for them to be preserved. I was given a bag of clover compost, this produce very fine  seedling plants.  One of the main reasons  moss peat became so popular was as dug it is pretty much inert ie sterile due to its acidity and contains none of the normal soil pathogens, easy to prepare into a medium for growing plants, mill and sieve once ph corrected add a mix of nutrients and surfactant it holds an almost ideal air/water mix, the old diseased compost problems that plagued  gardeners for many generations had vanished and a new industry was born. 

 

Fresh clover should perform pretty much the same bag  to bag, while bad bags are very unlikely unless it's very old stock or stored badly once ph corrected  the compost does become vulnerable to infiltration by soil pathogens.

 

@blackpoolbouncer

Thank you for explaining! GW deals with amateur gardeners, their answer to nutrient depletion is to dose with controlled release feeds, ie for containers/hanging baskets etc I did not think it was appropriate to copy their best buy results at uk420, 

 

I posted at overgrow then here a few years later that potting on was standard practice in commercial plant production nurseries and got slated because people were still planting seedlings in 10 or 20 gallon pots. I still use the potting on method for my garden plants, there are many methods that have developed since some of which  have developed from home cannabis growers. I have not tried many of them so can’t really comment for myself. I do like looking at some of the perpetual  growing diaries, I have doubts about if any of it is what  I  would call organic, again only my opinion

 

The reason I started putting GW compost trials on uk420 was because standard garden centre composts were for the most part better made than any canna industry produced composts at a lower price, for sure I would not trust one of the canna industry composts of being even being close to organic.

 

If members are unhappy with the GW trials I don’t think I  will bother again, it was meant to help.

[Michael Luchóg]

@oldtimer1,Yes there'll be problems with the peat if it goes stagnant . 

I'm not sure which bog clover comes from but some have darker peat .The batmix, plagron stuff is baled near enough to me ,and that's what I'm using ,trailer loads of it ,but the Erin is the lightest and lightest in colour . There wasn't willow herb throughout until the production/distribution of peat ! 

There won't be much peat production in another few years though . It's still easy to dig and riddle some ,but it's only the top layer that makes good compost ,as you go down ,and as is obvious with dug fens ,it's just for turf ,footing turf for the fire .The PH isn't always low with plain peat .It depends on where it comes from . 

Outdoors I have thrown out some soggy old peat ,and kept a little back to mix through a fresh ,dry bag 

[the reeferman]

more than happy with the posting of the GW trials! Many thanks @oldtimer1!