[Agatha]

I've used New Horizon compost for years, but the quality has gone steadily downhill - this year's stuff is hideous - huge chunks of woodchip & gritty white bits.  When it's wet it goes into a soggy mass and when it's dry it sets like concrete. 

What Peat Free composts are you trying this year that work?  I have limited space (and time/energy) so I am really keen to avoid having to prepare and mix my own.

[comfreykid]

I have used Melcourt Industries Sylvagrow peat free compost , the one with “ no green waste “ flashed on the bag, for the last two years and will do again this year .
To my mind , it is the best performing peat free, consistently good , no foreign objects or big bits in it.
I think it’s endorsed and used by the National Trust.
I have bought some of their peat free seed and cutting compost recently ,for the first time ,  l will report on its merits or otherwise in due course ! .

[rowlandwells]

I have to say I have been avoiding buying peat free compost's because I don't think it comes up to my standard of peat based although having said that if they get peat free compost to standard of peat based then I will definitely change to peat free

as I said in a previous topic we bought some peat based compost the other day a well known brand that was on offer and it was rubbish complete rubbish I'm glad we bought our compost a short time ago and yes peat based

 I avoid buying compost containing green waste my view is if the compost I buy works for me then Il keep buying it until I find a suitable alternative

[Yorkie]

We have Sylvagrow in the allotment association shop, and it's well-regarded by people

[comfreykid]

Rowlandwells , if you get the chance , give the Sylvagrow compost mentioned in my earlier post a try.
I felt exactly the same as you about peat free composts, but l am impressed with this one.
I also will not buy compost containing green waste , it can be so variable , and could possibly contain undesirable elements.

[rowlandwells]

Hi Comfreykid yes sylvagrow could be worth trying however there a couple of things I've seen that I've seen regarding sylvagrow

in this months Which Gardening they say they have carried out tests on several brands of compost and they rate Melcourt Sylvagrow organic compost at an overall score of 51% top score compost being 85% is this the same brand your speaking of? also the highest score for best buy is around 66p to 37p to 20p  25p and 12p per  litre

so Sylvagrow @20P per litre £9.99 per bag now I'm paying at present around 10p per litre or 3- 60litre bags for £15.00 and its good compost no green waste and very few lumps when sieved so as you see its a job to change compost's when the ones I'm using is of good quality

if you can get your hands on a copy of this months Which gardening you will see there comments on best and don't buys unless you already subscribe  to Which then you would have seen there findings

anyway as I said I will give Sylvagrow a go and let you know how it proves against my usual compost brand
thanks for that info RW

[comfreykid]

RW , the actual one l use is  peat free Sylvagrow , not the organic one ,
The organic one contains green waste . This  one is flashed on the bag “ no green waste “.  Price wise the peat free composts will  invariably work out more than peat based , it’s economies of scale .
One reason for using peat free for me is that it is a much better soil conditioner than peat , which in my experience doesn’t add much to the well being of my soil. 

[Agatha]

Thank you all - I'll give Sylvagrow a try.

Rowlandwells, I moved to mostly peat-free several years ago, partly out of concern for the environment, but also because it's obvious peat composts are going to be phased out fairly soon, and I wanted to be confident growing in peat-free while I still had the option of using peat as a backup.  Unfortunately, it doesn't help when the formulation changes!  New Horizon was brilliant for years but in the last couple of years, it's really gone downhill - I'm going to have to repot everything that went into the stuff I bought last time!

[rowlandwells]

Hi comfrekid I must say I haven't seen any difference in the soil from using peat over the years I've  been growing both veg and  flowers then again as I said I only use peat based  spent compost together with horse manure or my own peat mix

 as we bench grow nearly all of or veg prior to planting out with  peat based compost and my own peat mix and having spoken to other gardeners who still use peat based they haven't commented that using peat as either improved or not improved soil quality ?  I did have the soil lab  tested the other year and it came up with good soil quality with the exception only one thing they recommended me to increase the sulphur content and as I  said I will give your brand a try

[jezza]

Hello ivr seen some peat free compost made theres about 4000 tons on an airfield near Me this is the mixture  green waste sewage sludge wood chip and a bit of chopped straw,its layered up greenwaste first 3 feet high then 18 inches of dried sewage sludge 12 inch wood chip 6 wood chip,then a machine like a giant rotavator goes along the 100 foot row and mixes thr layers together the rows left 6 works then the machine goes again with vertical rotors and stirs the outside to the middle,then its stirred weekly outside to middle for 6 weeks  then left 6 weeks to ferment then riddled and bagged as new horizon compost and other brands   jezza

[rowlandwells]

thanks for that info Jez that will remind me not to buy new horizon compost and check what's the contents of any future compost we buy and by the sounds of it its going to be important to wear a pair of gloves when handling compost's

I just wonder what the next rubbish will be in this so called peat free compost its about time someone took on these compost manufactures to come clean just what there concocting to put in this so called peat free the mind boggles

[jezza]

Hello if I can get leaf mold I rub it through a fine sieve mix it with a fine perlite and use it as a seed sowing compost,seed only need some thing to  stimulate them and somewhere to put their roots    jezza

[Agatha]

Hello ivr seen some peat free compost made theres about 4000 tons on an airfield near Me this is the mixture  green waste sewage sludge wood chip and a bit of chopped straw,its layered up greenwaste first 3 feet high then 18 inches of dried sewage sludge 12 inch wood chip 6 wood chip,then a machine like a giant rotavator goes along the 100 foot row and mixes thr layers together the rows left 6 works then the machine goes again with vertical rotors and stirs the outside to the middle,then its stirred weekly outside to middle for 6 weeks  then left 6 weeks to ferment then riddled and bagged as new horizon compost and other brands   jezza

That doesn't surprise me at all - my last bag of New Horizon smelled like sewage and looked like wood chip mixed with sludge & grit!

Thanks to those who recommended the green-waste-free Sylvagrow.  I went on a compost trawl and picked up 4 different peat-free brands including Sylvagrow, and it is far & away the best.  Lovely quality, compares really well to conventional composts in texture, and so far, all my plants are thriving - too early to say how the seeds are doing, but at least I haven't got a crop of toadstools yet, which was all I grew when I tried the New Horizon for seeds!

I was pleasantly surprised on price too - £7 per bag, while comparable peat composts were £6 per bag or £5 with a multibuy.  Yes, it is going to add to my costs, but I think worth it, especially considering the good quality.

[Florablunder]

I bought a bag of the Sylvagrow multipurpose last week - I opened it and used it to pot on some cosmos seedlings and then spotted what looked like a slug/snail egg in one of the pots. So I checked inside the bag of compost (which I had only just opened) and it was riddled with these eggs (little white spheres that pop when you squeeze them). I ended up repotting the seedlings so I could pick the eggs out of the soil. Is this normal? Or are these actually some kind of fertilizer? Putting pots of tender seedlings with pest eggs in them into the greenhouse isn't really ideal! Though it might explain how the various slugs/snails keep getting into my greenhouse all the time. 

[Subversive_plot]

. . . Is this normal? Or are these actually some kind of fertilizer? . . . 

It's hard to tell without a photograph, but those could be 'prills' of slow-release fertilizer, added to the compost.