Growing Medium

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eeedowls

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Growing Medium
« on: September 29, 2010, 12:54 »
Hi

just thought I would get some opinions...

I would like to re-use some compost for growing crops in pots next year if possible.

Would it be worth combining it it fresh compost say, in a 50% old, 50% new mix or should I just use new stuff.

I really don't want to throw the stuff out... or just place it on beds as a mulch if I can use it some other way.

Would using a nutrient feed with part spent compost make any diffence, or would feeding compost only (no plants) through the winter (in containers) cause it to build up nutrients for next season - unlikely i would have thought but...

I have also tried tipping spent compost into my bin and mixing with "fresh" waste to see if that would help - not sure it did though  :unsure:

any thoughts would be welcome!

thanks



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Springlands

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Re: Growing Medium
« Reply #1 on: September 29, 2010, 13:02 »
BY re-using compost you risk spreading any disease that is in the compost to your next set of crops - think that your best bet (even though you have said you do not want to to that) is to use the old compost to mulch non veggie plants. This is what I normally do.

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Yorkie

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Re: Growing Medium
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2010, 17:57 »
I tend to be a bit mix-and-match with compost from old pots.  I will often use it as a mulch / in the compost bin, but in larger pots I may reuse the bottom half of the compost, putting fresh compost in the top.

As Springlands says, pest and disease will be carried over to the next year.  If there was any suggestion of these, do not reuse.  Also, though, I tend not to replant the same type of crop in the same pot the following year.

There's no point in adding fertilisers through the winter - they will leach out.  You could add more fertilisers in the second year, but I would advise against using completely old compost in most cases.

Salad leaves and other low-nutrient plants are perhaps the only crops I'd suggest in old compost.
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days all attack me at once...

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solway cropper

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Re: Growing Medium
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2010, 23:14 »
Are you talking about shop-bought MPC or home-made stuff?

Spent MPC or grow-bag compost will be almost totally devoid of nutrients but you could mix it with home-made compost for the next year. As Yorkie says, you might get away with a salad crop or something that needs very little nutrient.

I grow a lot of stuff in containers (70+ assorted tubs this year) and use a mix of grow-bag stuff, soil, leaf-mould and home grown compost. I normally get 2 crops from a lot of the containers then it goes as a mulch or into the Daleks.

The pic shows celery growing in a barrow which previously gave me a nice crop of Dunluce potatoes. All I did was add some BFB to the original compost and bunged in the celery which has now been harvested. I was tempted to try for a third crop of winter lettuce but that might have been pushing things......perhaps next year.
celery2.jpg

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eeedowls

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Re: Growing Medium
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2010, 08:32 »
Thanks for the replies...

I have shop bought stuff at the moment, and I too grow everything in containers as I do not have space for beds (managed half a hessian sack of spuds this year - still using them with plenty left atm, but i digress...).  A mix of 50% old and 50% new makes (financial) sense to me, as does the suggestion of the "mini crop rotation" (i.e. not growing spuds in the same container twice).

As I said earlier and Yorkie alluded to, I put old spent compost back in the dalek a couple of years ago and mixed with the usual food waste, grass cuttings etc (also have runner bean foliage gettin ready to go in).  Would that contain enough nutirents (after it has all broken down together) to use for crops (spuds, chilli's, leeks, spinach - not that I am being specific!) for next year?  Or should I stick to salads with it as Yorkie has suggested?

btw - I do bin any compost that I think might contain nasties... :)

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Yorkie

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Re: Growing Medium
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2010, 18:30 »
As I said earlier and Yorkie alluded to, I put old spent compost back in the dalek a couple of years ago and mixed with the usual food waste, grass cuttings etc (also have runner bean foliage gettin ready to go in).  Would that contain enough nutirents (after it has all broken down together) to use for crops (spuds, chilli's, leeks, spinach - not that I am being specific!) for next year?  Or should I stick to salads with it as Yorkie has suggested?

I consider it highly unlikely that the compost from the dalek will contain enough nutrients without additional fertiliser.  Compost is first and foremost a soil conditioner.  Multi-purpose contains only enough fertiliser for 6 weeks' growth on average.  Adding home-made compost won't make a huge difference to this.

Add a slow-release fertiliser such as growmore or fish blood bone to increase nutrients, and then a tomato fertiliser for things like chillis.  I'd also suggest something like chicken poo pellets for spuds.  You may get away with the spinach in old compost which hasn't got much added to it, as it's a leaf crop.

But you really do get back from the 'soil' what you put into it.  Too much stinginess and your plants will reflect that  :D

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eeedowls

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Re: Growing Medium
« Reply #6 on: October 01, 2010, 11:16 »
So would the same hold true with bags of top soil - you could use it, but would be best with either an added fertiliser, or by mixing with compost to bulk up...  i take it that topsoil is of little nutritional benefit to crops...

sorry if I keep going on about this - just looking for the best way of doing thinigs next year...

cheers

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mumofstig

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Re: Growing Medium
« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2010, 12:22 »
IMO if you don't  grow the same thing in each pot, then you would get years from using soil instead of compost.

The trouble with compost is that it tends to degrade and slump away after a while, leaving you with little in the pots that were full at the start of the season!

If you use soil, this doesn't seem to happen, and you would just need to top up with fertiliser eg Blood fish and bone to replace used nutrients, and maybe a little multipurpose as soil conditioner from time to time.

Why dont you mix a bit of your old compost with soil and some BF&B for next year and see how you get on.

Another thing that makes alot of difference as well are the size of your containers...bigger pots seem to perform better than smaller ones........simply I suppose because of the amount of soil and nutrients that the plant can make use of.

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eeedowls

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Re: Growing Medium
« Reply #8 on: October 01, 2010, 13:21 »
That's very interesting - thanks MoS...

So, it might be worth using topsoil instead/as well as compost next time (with added fertiliser of course)

another question - I know you mentioned BF&B but I suppose any type would be ok?  (my wife is veggie and doesn't want me to use BF&B if there is something else available)

thnaks again


(btw - I really appreciate and value all the advice given by all you more knowledgeable people - I don't know anyone I can discuss this with)

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mumofstig

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Re: Growing Medium
« Reply #9 on: October 01, 2010, 13:25 »
I do not know of an organic alternative............ are chemicals like Growmore better in her opinion?
I know they are chemicals but may be less likely to upset her than the animal products :unsure: just a thought................

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solway cropper

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Re: Growing Medium
« Reply #10 on: October 02, 2010, 21:54 »
eeedowls, I don't know how close you are to the sea in south Wales but I've used a seaweed liquid feed with great results this year. It contains far more trace elements than land plants and is supposed to have growth promoting hormones in it. Like I said in my earlier post, I use a mix of materials in my containers which can be tailored to suit the crop. If you use topsoil in the mix you should get at least two crops from it

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eeedowls

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Re: Growing Medium
« Reply #11 on: October 04, 2010, 10:33 »
Hi - and again thanks for the replies... (I don't get on much on weekends)

MoS - I suppose the chemicals would be - if they do not (knowingly) contain animal by-products.

SC - typing this in work (sssh!), about twenty yards from a beach several miles long (though it doesn't have the cleanest water in the world)

Seaweed feed might be the way to go - and if I can keep some of this year's compost, add some topsoil and some fertiliser, it might be worth a go for next year...

just need to get me a water butt now perhaps...



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