[New shoot]

A thread to discuss and share experiences of different composts.

Link to last years thread:

https://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=137240.0

[rowlandwells]

in the February issue of Which gardening there is a article on the peat ban [page5] and it says the legislation needed to ban peat from sale wasn't included in the Kings speech in November 2023 there is speculation the ban will no longer be introduced but It goes on to say DEFRA intends to get the legislation through parliament through a private members bill and that there urging retailers to sell peat free and it goes on to say that  manufacturers have said there still committed to switching to peat free as they have heavily heavily in new machinery to make this happen and that Westland have have already invested £70m so far

well well watch this space if Defra  go for a private members bill it could take some time to get this through  parliament depending what happens in the next 6 months 

[AnneB]

I haven't bought any yet this year but I was at the RHS garden at Harlow Carr yesterday.
They have a multibuy offer on Sylvagrow peat free multipurpose 40l bags at 4 bags for the price of 3.   If you buy 4 it works out at £7 a bag.
Worth looking at if you have an RHS garden near to you.

[Odders]

Peat use by gardeners is a minuscule amount & really doesn't justify its banning.
A more sensible approach would have been to introduce a levy on each bag, with the funds going towards the restoration of peat bogs, most of which have been damaged by agriculture, NOT horticulture.

[R0b1et]

Peat use by gardeners is a minuscule amount & really doesn't justify its banning.

Unfortunately the main issue with the argument is that this statement is false
"Currently, nearly three million cubic metres of peat are sold for horticultural use every year in the UK, one third of which comes from UK peatlands. The main users are amateur gardeners (66%), followed by industry (34%) and a small percentage by local authorities (<1%) (Defra 2010)."
That peat bogs take millions of years to establish become pretty minor from there.

The peat ban is intended to move to agriculture, fairly quickly, just the home gardener is the first, as the easier to shift.

[Yorkie]

I noticed that the quote was from 2010, but the figures have remained pretty stable since then. For 2020 data, see here and here.

[Growster...]

Still have four Irish power stations using peat to create the juice!

Bert down at the allotment doesn't actually figure out why he has to pay far too much of his pension to appease the anti-peat brigade...

He has more important issues to face.

[rowlandwells]

could agree more Groster

[rowlandwells]

I'm still using peat compost  many of my gardening friends telling me I should be using peat free  I told them  I'm not giving up on my peat compost till I find a good peat free compost to match the peat compost I'm using anyway a fellow grower has said he used 50 %  compost to 50 % dried horse manure for potting  but he says it must be old horse manure but I have to say I'm  a bit sceptical  to try this but if push comes to shove I mute give it a try I'm going to have to buy a pair of good gardening gloves though

 

[vikingraider]

I bought some 'Erin' compost yesterday from the garden centre 3x50l bags for £15. It's the only one that didnt say peat free. Has anyone used that brand before?

[snowdrops]

I'm still using peat compost  many of my gardening friends telling me I should be using peat free  I told them  I'm not giving up on my peat compost till I find a good peat free compost to match the peat compost I'm using anyway a fellow grower has said he used 50 %  compost to 50 % dried horse manure for potting  but he says it must be old horse manure but I have to say I'm  a bit sceptical  to try this but if push comes to shove I mute give it a try I'm going to have to buy a pair of good gardening gloves though

How will you know it is good peat free compost RW without trying it?

[rowlandwells]

I seem to remember using Erin  it was ok for both potting on and seed sowing I think we bought a couple of  bags of Erin when it was on offer but we only used it once the Erin peat free we bought was dodo full of sciarid  flies and no good for growing

I was reading an article in Which Gardening that reads calls to safeguard Horticultural sector it goes on to say a new report by the House of lords Horticultural sector calls on the Government to give support to both amateur and professional growers to help them transition to environmentally friendly practices such as using peat free growing media this will include to provide the conditions for biodiversity

I think sometimes this countries  going absolutely loopy and that house of lords well I can't say what i would do with that institution its not printable if they want gardeners to use peat free instead of peat start producing something that as good if not better than the peat based its a no brainer and for the house of lords to call on Government to get involved in this well I think they have more important things on there mind at present

[rowlandwells]

to answer your question snowdrops we have  been doing some compost trials starting last year with both peat and peat free and as a result of using some brands of peat free V our peat compost the peat based turned out better results for our hanging baskets seeding and potting on but having said that we are going to continue this year with more peat free composts trials

 following  our guest speaker from Melcourt industries to our gardening club meeting we where given a free sample of Melcourt syvagrow M/P peat free compost  that we are at present using together with  peat based  so following on from that it will hopefully give us an idea what composts are  performing   the best results I hope that answers you question snowdrops   

[mumofstig]

The bag of peat-free I got to try was only useable if it had a good few handfuls of vermiculite mixed in, which helped with the water retention problem that peat-free has.
I think this will probably be the way forward, for going peat-free. It does make it all more expensive than we are used to, though 

[rowlandwells]

I take your point Mum but why would I want to keep adding something I haven't done with my peat based  I want to use either a peat free or peat based straight from the bag no additives to make it grow my seed or plants or make water retention