home made compost for potted toms

[jessmorris]

Hello folks, I'm thinking about making my own compost for toms this year. Does anyone have any advice/opinions/experience of this? I have stacks of rotted horse manure and homemade compost - would I use that on its own? I really don't want to buy in fresh composts every year - too expensive and just seems plain 'wrong' somehow! I want fresh compost so I don't harbour disease, so the old stuff has to go on the garden each year. is this right?? Any advice gratefully received. Cheers.

[Kristen]

I think if you are growing in containers you do need to put some consideration into the "Mix" to get good drainage. The rotted manure should hold water without any problem, so drainage would be my only issue - and if you are buying in Grit or somesuch that may work out more expensive than potting compost / grow bags [contents].

I grow in borders in my greenhouse, and I replace the "soil" each autumn with 50:50 rotted manure and compost-heap (its rough, not well/carefully composted). My greenhouse crops grow well, and at the end of the year the stuff that comes OUT of the borders is beautiful fine compost, which I use for all sorts of other purposes.

[jessmorris]

Thanks Kirsten. I'm hoping grit is cheaper than growbags!

[andy_j]

I will be doing the same by re-generating old, spent multi-purpose and adding well rotted cow manure and maybe some chicken manure pellets.

To be honest, Tomatoes and cucumbers love rich, fertile, water retentive soils....Tomatoes especially hate drying out.

[Potstubsdustbins]

My mix is 50/50 old MPC & my garden compost with a hand full of dried farm yard manure thrown in for good measure for my pots.

This usually keeps them happy for 8 to 10 weeks after which I have to revert to supplementary feeding.

[Kristen]

I will be doing the same by re-generating old, spent multi-purpose and adding well rotted cow manure and maybe some chicken manure pellets.

To be honest, Tomatoes and cucumbers love rich, fertile, water retentive soils....Tomatoes especially hate drying out.

Might be too rich for Tomatoes? if too Nitrogen-rich it will encourage leafy growth, rather than fruiting.

Conventional advice is not to feed them until first truss has set, then feed with high Potash fertilizer. I think Chicken Manure may make it rather Nitrogen-rich? Although I haven't tried it and I put Chicken manure pellets in with all the things I plant out (ornamentals, as well as Brassicas etc) and I think that since I started doing that (couple of years ago now) everything gets away much better than it used to "before"