[binner]

i have just read the dalik compost thread and just want to know, do you use this compost to sow seeds in and pot on seedlings? if not then how would you make what we buy as multi perpose compost?
i have two large heaps of what i call compost, all the fresh manure from our horse plus eveything else from the plot, but i just leave it to rot down and add to the beds

[mumofstig]

i have two large heaps of what i call compost, all the fresh manure from our horse plus eveything else from the plot, but i just leave it to rot down and add to the beds

That's the best thing to do with it, as it improves the soil wonderfully
here

are some 'recipes' for making different types of compost, which may help.

[binner]

it does do my heavy clay the world of good,

thanks for the link too

[bigben]

I grow a fair bit in large pots at home and find it becomes expensive to fill them with shop bought compost. Instead I tend to almost fill them with my own home made stuff  from the darlek and then put an inch of shop bought stuff on top to avoid any seeds that have survived in my compost from germinating. I also tend to find my own stuff is a bit twiggy.

[Yorkie]

I personally wouldn't use it for seed sowing; I prefer multi purpose compost for that.  It's great as a soil conditioner but has no nutrient value so if using it to grow things in pots, you will need to ensure you provide sufficient food - probably a decent long lasting fertiliser at the time of planting.

[peapod]

Ive heard the opposite! Homemade is usually far too rich (though of course it can differ dependant on what you put in there in the first place) and will 'burn' the seeds if used a the only potting medium.  Either way, it's can be too variable to trust unless you test it.

It can be used as part of a seed compost mix, but unless you are very careful what you compost you are running the risk of growing new weed seedlings as as well as your new babies

I would use it to pot on, but treat it as multi purp and add feed

[sunshineband]

Ive heard the opposite! Homemade is usually far too rich (though of course it can differ dependant on what you put in there in the first place) and will 'burn' the seeds if used a the only potting medium.  Either way, it's can be too variable to trust unless you test it.

It can be used as part of a seed compost mix, but unless you are very careful what you compost you are running the risk of growing new weed seedlings as as well as your new babies

I would use it to pot on, but treat it as multi purp and add feed

and that is how I carefully nurtured a whole trayful of fat hen some years ago 

[peapod]

In your defence, you knew you could eat that....didnt you    

[sunshineband]

I do these days, but I didn't then 

[peapod]

 

[binner]

plenty of it to break the clay up then, on another note, my plot naighbour went to the expence of buying a branded seed compost to start brassicius off in, i used b n q 3 for a teener, his were missreble weedy little things and mine are the best on our site lol