Any recommendations for compost delivery?

[ratdog]

1 hour ago, Bud Baker said:

You know the peat ban has been extended to 2030 

 

 

the sale to amateur gardeners is still 2024 according to the gov site, but if you are a professional, or know one you can still get it until 2030

[HazyDaze]

Whenever I've read about the ban it says the ban is in England, I can smuggle bags of compost across the bridge for you englanders...

for a 'chonging' fee, of course.

 

 

[blerie420]

@HazyDaze I for one can't wait to see those headlines

 

"Man caught smuggling 20 litres of peat across borders, street value 1.3 million" haha

[BilgePump]

I imagine hydro shops will go down the "we cater for professionals" road anyway so I suspect we've a few years of decent mud yet , expect it to get even more expensive though, 50p a litre I reckon post amateur gardening ban for allmix etc ...

 

[Bud Baker]

We’re all professionals here aren’t we 

[Bad Apple]

 

Make your own compost or find ways to smuggle peat from Wales to your garden without getting caught. The peat ban was why I started making my own compost in the first place. 

[brock1]

I just use my garden waste bin as a compost bin & mix it 50% with cheap coco bails. If its getting used indoors or a greenhouse i pasteurised it in a tub with lid by putting a few pans of boiling water in and let it cool down. Mix in a little dolomite lime/garden lime for a PH stabiliser. Kills all the nasty little thrips ect before use. I haven't bought any compost for years now & don't think I will be doing so any time soon.

Edited April 27, 2023 by brock1

[brock1]

I should probably add that i also mix it at 15% if I am growing coco. Its makes a similar product to canvas pro+ coco brand. 

[Rustybiff]

Hey @brock1 I've been doing exactly that recently, the plants are really happy but the only thing is they get hungry pretty fast... Do yours in this mix? I guess because it's seriously slow release nutrients in the homemade compost. I thought about mixing some kelp meal in and letting it sit for a few weeks so that I can use less bottled nutes with it

[brock1]

50 minutes ago, Rustybiff said:

Hey @brock1 I've been doing exactly that recently, the plants are really happy but the only thing is they get hungry pretty fast... Do yours in this mix? I guess because it's seriously slow release nutrients in the homemade compost. I thought about mixing some kelp meal in and letting it sit for a few weeks so that I can use less bottled nutes with it

You can always just mix a slow release into the top of the pot. Alternatively you can put it into your drip trays if you don't water to run off. I combine the 2 sometimes if I am greenhouse growing in a simple way. I put nettles in the run off tray when I start then put comfrey in the top of the pot during flower. Similar could be done indoor pretty easily. Most of my feeding is done with organic home made tea these days. As it means I don't need to flush also the longer you use this coco mix the better it gets at holding nutrients. If you mix in feed before planting your probably not going to need to feed at all until your flowering. 

Edited April 30, 2023 by brock1

[Rustybiff]

Nice man that's a good idea @brock1, so do you just use fresh comfrey leaves shredded atop the pot? I'm going to be buying some bigger buckets for home made teas this year and taking it a bit more seriously.. Why pay for maxicrop at £13 a bottle?! When you say you put nettles in the run off tray, how do you mean? Sorry I just can't visualise it, is that so the runoff mixes with them to create their own tea party and gets sucked back up into the pot?

[brock1]

2 hours ago, Rustybiff said:

Nice man that's a good idea @brock1, so do you just use fresh comfrey leaves shredded atop the pot? I'm going to be buying some bigger buckets for home made teas this year and taking it a bit more seriously.. Why pay for maxicrop at £13 a bottle?! When you say you put nettles in the run off tray, how do you mean? Sorry I just can't visualise it, is that so the runoff mixes with them to create their own tea party and gets sucked back up into the pot?

I literally pull them from the ground up getting hands full of leaves. (Use glove of course)  then drop them into my drip tray and put the plant on top of the leaf bed. It will slow release. Indoor your probably going to want to dry them in a oven or atleast some form of pasteurisation, bit of boiling water to steam in a sealed tub 24hr ect. I water from the bottom to start with. So straight into the nettles and the roots reach for it. Later I feed from the top and leach the comfrey down into the root. I finish with a banana tea & no flushing needed. My seedlings & cuts get a coating of mycorysal to help regulate the plants up take a bit better also. As long as it touché the root it good so its cost little to use.

Edited April 30, 2023 by brock1

[Rustybiff]

That's bloody brilliant, very intuitive way of growing. So far I haven't been pasturising anything that comes in from the garden but perhaps that's not great... I am growing no till though so in a way feel that whatever happens happens, I read that the more diversity the better in terms of microbial life so the only worry would be bringing pests in but to be honest I'll cross that bridge when I come to it...

2 hours ago, brock1 said:

I literally pull them from the ground up getting hands full of leaves. (Use glove of course) 

 

I panicked until I read the bit about using gloves, thought it was a sort of rite of passage  cheers man that's very interesting, even if I can't apply it indoors there's always all the veg in the greenhouse