Compost mix for tomatoes

[annie8]

Am looking forward to the point, quite soon I hope when I get some space in the gh. Then. I’m going to get my bigger tomatoes into their final pots. Was wondering what mix people use and whether people add perlite to their compost mix. Just picked up more of the peat free lidl compost and will put some polystyrene bits in the bottom for extra bulk/drainage.

[Babru]

I'll be interested to see if you find the Aldi peat free to be any good. I tried peat-free maybe ten years ago and it was awful. I've looked at the more upmarket brands recently and they are sooo expensive

I was planning to put tomato grow-bag contents into pots. I like the idea of peat-free, I want to be peat-free, but I really, really want my first greenhouse tomato crop to be great!

[annie8]

I’ve been using the Lidl mpc for the last few weeks including for my tomatoes and have been pleased with it £2 for 40l. Was keen to get peat free though and the lidl peat free stuff is the same price as their mpc. Got 4 bags today £1 each for 20l.

[toomanytommytoes]

I'll be interested to see if you find the Aldi peat free to be any good. I tried peat-free maybe ten years ago and it was awful. I've looked at the more upmarket brands recently and they are sooo expensive

The Aldi stuff we have from this year isn't too bad. A few bits of plastic so it's obviously made from green waste, but the texture is quite good.

[fishpond]

Dunno, I have just planted up 3 Tom's in a bag of neat manure.
Why? Cause I remember seeing loads of Tom's growing on a sewage farm many years ago.
It might work and the Tom's taste like s , or it might not.

[mysteryduck]

B&Qs peat free is great. I used it last year and this year, and no complaints. 125l for £6.50 ain’t too bad either.

[ameno]

Lidl's peat free got pretty poor scores in this year's Which compost tests. I wouldn't trust it.

[annie8]

Lidl's peat free got pretty poor scores in this year's Which compost tests. I wouldn't trust it.

That’s a shame since I just bought some ! Well will need a fair bit as I’m growing 12 tomatoes on the gh in large pots. Have a local b & q but they often don’t seem to have all the composts available online.

[nickdub]

Just to say it is also possible to stretch commercial compost out a bit so you don't need so much of it, by adding other materials in to make your own mixture. For things like tomatoes I add in topsoil which I can get from the ditch alongside the lane where I live as it is washed down from further up the road and leaf-mould which I keep in 1 ton builder's bags - proportions about 70% commercial compost and half/half the rest.

BTW I don't do this s for seed sowing, as its difficult to sterilize your own additional material on a small scale.

[greenishfing]

Mine will be planted out into the greenhouse border which is a mixture of my garden soil (heavy clay), some well rotted manure from last year, and some of my homemade compost. They have been grown from seed however in peat as, although I have tried peat free a couple of times I have never been happy with the results. There is nothing more discouraging than spending money on seed, putting on lots of time and effort and getting poor results. I will keep trying peat free, generally the ones that people recommend, but I despair of the quality of much of it. I have tried both Aldi and Lidl a couple of times and not been impressed.