Peat free compost

[inceywinceyspider]

I compost bracken for the garden,  collected green, the leaves make excellent fine particles and the stems take a bit of breaking down but make good stuff.

This is last years stuff, I'm turning it with a spade to cut through the stems, it should be good by autumn.

I collect and compost a lot of stuff, in the hope of making a good potting soil eventually.

[MindSoup]

@blackpoolbouncer Seems like a good use for wool since the wholesale price has dropped so much, I'm dead impressed with Dalefoot, its as good as any other potting mix I've ever used, peat based or otherwise. I'd rather wool and bracken than council grade garden waste filled with polyphosphate etc. 

[MindSoup]

@inceywinceyspider looks like its coming on quite nicely. 

[BilgePump]

@MindSoup I hear ya bro.

Council grade green waste is barely even compost.

My local council bake it in an oven , riddle it (kind of) and let it sit for a couple of months then bag it up and sell it as a soil improver (they've got some fuckin nerve , it's shite)

 

[Guest]

46 minutes ago, inceywinceyspider said:

I compost bracken for the garden,  collected green, the leaves make excellent fine particles and the stems take a bit of breaking down but make good stuff.

This is last years stuff, I'm turning it with a spade to cut through the stems, it should be good by autumn.

I collect and compost a lot of stuff, in the hope of making a good potting soil eventually.

Same here. Thats looking like the sludgy stage next stop dryd brown soil texture

[blackpoolbouncer]

15 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

@MindSoup I hear ya bro.

Council grade green waste is barely even compost.

My local council bake it in an oven , riddle it (kind of) and let it sit for a couple of months then bag it up and sell it as a soil improver (they've got some fuckin nerve , it's shite)

 

Not all council green waste compost is created equally. 

I'm friends with the guys that run our local composting facility.

 

It's properly composted in windrows and turned 5 times. Graded and riddled through trommels at each turn 

 

I use the 10mm screened finished stuff and while it's not as good as homemade compost. For ten quid a ton it is excellent for landscaping and large project that require tens of tons. Let it sit for a month to finish and it's actually pretty good. 

 

 

Granted most is shit 

Edited April 7, 2022 by blackpoolbouncer

[ratdog]

i would worry about herbicides/poisons in council waste

[BilgePump]

@blackpoolbouncer I'm aware it's not all created equally, I was lucky enough to see our local councils compost plant being built as I was doing my environmental conservation qualifications within waste management at the time (circa 05) and since then my local authority haven't readdressed the end product at all.

 

Locally to me there's a few community compost schemes that operate in the same way as a civic amenity site but are far more mindful about their processes , the compost they sell is top notch.

 

[blackpoolbouncer]

1 hour ago, ratdog said:

i would worry about herbicides/poisons in council waste

Tbf, the chemical analysis often comes back pretty good tbh. Or at least it does at my place. Ph is always high but other than that I'd be more worried about the concentrations in the tap water of cloprylid. 

 

It's clean enough to be certified for organic use by the soil association and on organic farms(quite how I'm not sure given removing all plastic is impossible)  Dowding uses it on his allotment. 

I won't use it on mine but since making huge quantities of my own I've not had to use any anywhere even for big projects.

Thats not to say I wouldn't use it again if I didn't have access to tens of tons of homemade.

 

 

E2a. For ten quid a ton for jobs like this.....spot on 

Edited April 7, 2022 by blackpoolbouncer

[Lux_Interior]

On 07/04/2022 at 11:18 AM, blackpoolbouncer said:

Why is it shamless to add wool and bracken. 

 

Yeah, my grammar was bad. I should have said 'proudly' not 'shamlessly'. I'm considering shelling out for some Dalefoot myself. I have found a local nursery that stocks it so no postage charge.

 

[Rustybiff]

I'd steer clear of New Horizon as every bag seems different. Got a few bags that were so sandy it was more like ballast. The stuff we bought last year killed everything we planted, but the same plants in Dalefoot took off amazingly. 

[RollidMong]

I've got some Homeblaze Peat free multi purpose as I saw it had won the Which? award for best peat free last year. I've only just potted on some peppers and tomatoes into it so will see how that goes. It seems nice and fluffy, reeks of manure too.

[murphyblue]

@BilgePump u wouldn't happen to have tried  melcourt peat free stuff.

[BilgePump]

@murphyblue yeah bro I have , melcourt sylvagrow peat free , I don't like it.

 

It ph's at over 8 and melcourt themselves have absolutely atrocious customer service.

 

[murphyblue]

Righto butt will avoid that then hows ur testing going any that stand out in the peat free stuff.

I been using humax 100% peat white bag and think its Q4 multi purpose yellow bag 50/50 mix plants love it but being a bit of a tree hugger would like to ditch the peat.