Commecial compost

[mrgrower]

Has commecial compost deteriated since councils introduced recycling?

[veggiechicken]

You may also have to consider whether any change in quality has anything to do with the reduction of peat in compost.

[mrgrower]

True however the qustion and poll are more around commercial composts SINCE councils introduced recycling of garden / food waste.

I personally feel it has and the decline started around that time. However I may be confussing my timelines here so just want to get a feel for others views on the introduction of Household recycling and this decline in quality if in fact other feel their is.


MG

[veggiechicken]

My point is that there are other factors that affect the quality of compost - not just council waste recycling.
Do you know when councils started to sell their waste to commercial companies for compost?

[mrgrower]

No but I found that befor councils introduced recycling that compost on the whole was quite good even the value type however now all I see is fiberous rubbish and bits of plastic bags as though its been chucked through a shreder and bagged even getting seeds to germinate and flourish has become a pain with many seeds setting off week plants.

I'm not suggesting that I have done any expert research into this and would not suggest that what I state is indeed fact.

I am just trying to get a more ballanced picture of whats happening. Is it council recycling if so has the product decreased or improved suppose I should add that option to the poll if I can.

I accept that there may be other factors at work here and it also may be a geographical factor as well and maybe poor or good practices with individual councils

[mrgrower]

I can't see how to add ( Has it improved ) Into the poll. If you can do that that would be good.

MG

[veggiechicken]

I've added the extra option to your poll MG. Took me ages to work out how

[scarey55]

Click on the pencil to the right of the title and you will be able to change it

Beat me too it VC

[mrgrower]

Thanks! I hope the poll reveals some interesting statistics but a poll is only good if everyone contributes a vote.

So come on guys and gals vote vote vote!!!!

[Potstubsdustbins]

Since the peat reduction program, combined with the council trying to recycle garden waste (note the word 'trying'). commercial compost is fast turning to carp.

Full of lumps of timber, plastic and others detritus. Thing is it won't really change anything it just makes the gardeners life harder.

Potty

[Alison]

I don't buy that much of it but haven't noticed any deterioration or improvement. However I have noticed that there are a lot more cheapo varieties which are often dodgy but then again, you can't compare them as they didn't exist in the past.

[Olorin2001]

Commercial general purpose compost got so unreliable that I have stopped using it, now I make my own, but I can't seem to make Ericaceous compost as I can't get a low pH without using peat, or chemicals. But going to buy that I have to take a meter with me to ensure the acidity is correct, having been caught a couple of times.

[WilliamD]

It's not just the £5 bags of MPC from the garden centres that have (IMHO) been deteriorating; it's so called special veg compost too. Back in the spring I bought a load from a previously good supplier but it turned iut to be very poor - way too much sand, with all sorts of lumps of wood and very little loam. If I hadn't nearly killed myself lugging 40 bags of it round the back of the house into the raised beds I'd have sent it back!



But after the best part of a year, having taken in plenty of organic matter and a recent layer of green manure, it's now more like the compost I was hoping for.

[andy_j]

Im sure there was some sort of legislation passed a few years ago where the compost firms had to reduce the amount of natural peat in the composts by something like 10%. They did this by adding all sorts of things such as wood shavings.

Im not sure about the arguement on recycling....i presume you're talking of food and green waste recycling where the waste food goes to large sites to rot down and produce "soil improver". This stuff can't be sold as compost as it doesn't have the scientific nutritional balance that proper potting composts have. It would cost a fortune and take years to get it marketed as compost.

One thing about potting composts, next time you get a 60 litre bag of compost for example, see how many 10 litre pots it will fill. It certainly won't be 6 !!!!!!

[Two_Sheds]

commercial composts SINCE councils introduced recycling of garden / food waste.

It shouldn't have. After all, we gardeners make our own compost out of the same raw materials (weeds, kitchen scraps etc).

I think some of it should be relabelled though, as "soil improver" otherwise people are expecting to get potting-quality compost, which it isn't.