Orange balls new compost

[eospete]

I bought my dad two bags of miracle-gro compost yesterday for his new vetrug. When we opened them there were tiny whistish orange balls about the size of a silver cake ball in it which could be squashed by the fingers. Both bags had them in. I would have returned them except the garden centre we bought them from was a long drive back. On reflection I wondered what these were and thought they might be slug eggs. Any ideas please?Thanks in advance. Peter

[Bren In Pots]

I think they will probably be slow release fertilizer unless someone else knows different.

[julesapple]

Hi Peter, what was in them when you squashed them? I'm wondering if they were slow-release composter or fertilizer. Or even for water retention.

[Kleftiwallah]

I've seen Multi purpose fertilizer "With four month plant nutritian added" or words to that effect. Could this be the fertilizer/compost you have bought? If so I'd say slow release balls. Cheers, Tony.

[eospete]

It was a watery liquid when they were crushed.
Fertiliser balls makes some sense. Thinking again, they were all separate rather than clustered which I understand slug eggs tend to be. I just checked with Dad and it was Miracle Gro Moisture Control compost for pots and baskets we bought. So many thanks for the replies. This forum is just the best!
P

[julesapple]

I think Moisture Control was the clue there!

[mothhawk]

Pulled this off Scotts website:

What are the ingredients in the Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix?
Our potting soils generally contain peat moss (the major component that is harvested from natural peat bogs), compost (the compost may contain animal manures, composted leaves, grass clippings, and/or composted bark), and perlite (white volcanic rocks used for drainage and soil texture). Some contain Osmocote fertilizer that look like small clear fluid-filled balls.
The Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix also contains composted hulls of coconuts to help absord more water than regular potting soil. This is the Aqua Coir (pronounced "core") component of the soil.

[snohare]

Yes, definitely slow release fertiliser. I used to have a job mixing up composts for potting up, we shovelled these things into the mix and got endless complaints about slug eggs !
Please note - always wash your hands after handling any modern compost. It usually includes some fungicides with a very nasty track record.