Wickes compost

[Florence Fennel]

I think I told you that the compost I have been buying for years (Wickes own) looked strange this year, with bits of what looked like straw in it. It's absolutely rubbish and I told them so yesterday by e-mail. Someone rang me and said they had changed their supplier, but they do have some different compost now. Que? If I have proof of purchase (I haven't I threw the receipt away) I can go and get my money back. There wasn't even an apology. For £12.00 I'm not going to argue any further, I'll buy from somewhere else. I just wondered if anyone else had had the same problem?

[Aberdeenplotter]

Good for you Flo. Even if you have lost £12, well worth making noises otherwise they will just keep on providing rubbish.

It sometimes depends on who is dealing with customer complaints as to how they are dealt with. We recently bought a kettle Tesco, a tricity which is their own brand. Damned thing boiled water fine but couldn't pour worth a discharge of gas from the backside. In a moment of frustration, I emailed their "how did we do today" address and got two responses. One was a phone call the end result of which was I was offered a £20 gift card (and keep the kettle which cost £17). The other was an email which said take back to the store and they will refund if faulty. Turned out, two people were dealing and I did get the gift card.

I'd take the compost in the bag back to the store. It's amazing what a loud instore complaint can achieve

[Kleftiwallah]

The compost I bought (not Wickes) had so much wood chip in it, I emptied it all out looking for the assembly instructions! ! !

Cheers, Tony.

[Florence Fennel]

My SIL suggested that too AP. He's brought me some from B & Q that looks lovely stuff. I may go to Wickes with the bar codes from the bags - I've emptied one and a half into the bean trench and I'd already used one bag. My worry now is do I repot the Black Cherry tomatoes I've potted in it, or will I be ok to pot them on into buckets later using the new compost? They've only been done a week, but they're not showing any signs of growth. I could kick myself for using it, I should have known it was no good. I might use the other bag for earthing up potatoes.

[Aberdeenplotter]

I'm very happy using B&Q's gp. Best on the market at the price

[Florence Fennel]

It was cheap too, 3 bags for £10.00, bargain. Wickes have lost my custom and I'm sure I've been buying from them for the last 8 years at least.

[BigJim]

Thanks for your heads up Florence, I managed to switch to B&Q before wasting any money on the Wickes stuff which I had been buying in previous years.

Anyway, the Wickes explanation is:

Wickes Multipurpose Compost now has a new look and feel, with a new and improved formula. We are confident that when you use this product and see the results you can achieve, you will have a much more positive opinion of it, however, please note that this product is not suitable for planting seeds.

The shredded wood mentioned by some customers actually contains an exciting new wood fibre technology (and is not just for ‘bulking out’). This material is sterilised, pest and weed-free and is manufactured using a patented process. The fibres created using this process provide a lot of benefits, such as improved air spaces for root respiration and growth, easier wetting – so avoiding dry spots in pots, improved drainage – so no risk of water-logging, a drier surface to avoid growth of moss and liverworts, and also a lower density – making it easier to handle.

[areia]

im afraid im not a fan of the B & Q one, ive always used a multipurpose for pretty much every thing with a bit of vermiculite for finer seeds, but this year its really lumpy full of large bit which is fine for out side and bigger plants, plus i found a load of bits with mushrooms growing and fuzzing mould this weekend
Im giving new horizon seedling compost a go next week, ive got peeved as my larger seeds went mouldy, It may not all be because of the compost but the fact its gone mouldy has put me off useing it under shelter

[Florence Fennel]

Well now BigJim, thank you very much for that. It does describe the compost, but I can't see it having the benefits mentioned! When I spoke to Wickes, it sounded like I wasn't the first to complain as they said "We now have another product you could use". An apology would have been nice. I hope I'm wrong and it does perform, but I can't see it myself.

[rustylady]

Wickes explanation sounds like a cop out to me. If it has large bits of wood in it then it obviously hasn't been composted properly.

[Florence Fennel]

No big bits of wood RL, it looks like straw which they describe as shredded wood.

[The Large One]

Wickes mp is pants this year, found out after buying my first 8 bags o the year
Currently using horizon peat free as seemed only the most acceptable after digging my hands into very mp available at local GC
And you know what, plants seem to like it also

[Currysniffa]

I'm glad I didn't go for the Wickes MPC. I got most of mine from the allotment shop not the cheapest (60lt bags £4.30p) but good stuff, I did make the mistake of buying 2 bags of J Arthur Bowers MPC (£4 60lts) which I had to riddle before I could use it as it was full of big lumps and black plastic!

[Two_Sheds]

using horizon peat free

Me too, but I shall be complaining about the quality of it ~ the bags I bought this time are full of lumps of wood & quite a few stone chips too, some plastic and one piece of glass

[salome2001]

I've given the new horizon MP and seedling composts a go this year. The seedling compost isn't bad but I'm not overly impressed with the MP, I am getting lots of little mushrooms in my pots.

But it's vastly better than the Asda "Professional Formula", which was so rubbish I ended up dumping it on my beds as soil improver

Sadly, I think the best compost I've used was B&Q's their seed and cutting and MP... the sacrifice of trying to avoid peat...