Gone peat free - nothing germinating arrg

[Shadylane]

When I started sowing stuff at the end of Jan I had a bit of regular, peat mpc left and used that first - no problems and everything (mainly toms and chillies and onions) growing well.) Well I'd decided I was going peat free this year and since trying B&Q's and finding it too bulky I got hold of some YHS peat free stuff after seeing it recommended on here. Lets just say it's been pretty disastrous. Hardly anything is germinating - I mean like 2 percent if I'm lucky and that's only on some.

I had to start germinating the rest of the toms and chillies on damp kitchen roll, inside a plastic tub because they just weren't coming up. Onions are a no show, calabrese are having none of it and the chard seeds seem to have disappeared. I'm careful about over watering but unless you water pretty much every day the stuff goes like concrete. I re-sowed some onions (the ones in peat I sowed in Jan are coming along fine) in a mix of homemade, the YHS compost and sand to see if that helped, still waiting results on that but it's still early.

I know a lot of you love New Horizon, but not only is it hard to get round here but the few places that sell it are a good drive away and it's close to 6 quid a bag. Are there any other YHS users out there who have had problems? Sorry to drag this peat saga up again but I'm starting to think that I'll either have to go pack to peat for seed sowing (which I'd rather not) or start pre-chitting my seeds first (a faff?). Arg. So frustrating. Thanks for reading.

[chris]

Are you sure the seeds are viable? I've used peat free to germiante stuff fine?

Can you do a side by side comparison to confirm? All my pumpkins, beans and peas were germinated in it - some direct outside, a couple in props.

[Shadylane]

Pretty sure yeah. Most of the stuff is repeat sowings, ie I sowed onions and tomatoes in January all from same packets in peat and had no problems. The calabrese germinated fine last year, I'm probably going to try pre-chitting now as last year it only took about three days to come through (I start most stuff inside then put outside as soon as it's showing if it's hardy). I think it's been over a week and I don't want to waste any more time. I've sown several pots of garlic chives and strangely one pot has come up but the others so far nothing - that's been at least a couple of weeks. Seeds were bought last year.

[greencharlie]

I sowed some toms and chillis in the Homebase peat free multipurpose a couple of weeks ago and things seem to be coming up fine. Have used the New Horizon in the past but it is a bit pricey. Wilkinsons are stocking it at the moment if that's any use. It's worth keeping an eye on the garden centres towards the end of the growing season, our local one sold off a lot of their compost etc including New horizon at knock down prices to make room for the Xmas trees! Not much good for this year I know buy hey!

[Two_Sheds]

sorry to be dense, what is YHS?

[Kristen]

Yorkshire Horticultural Supplies I presume?

They had a run in over using the John Innes "certification" on their composts 'coz YHS don't use Peat, and the J.I. people said it had to conform to the original recipe in order to call it "John Innes"

Ho!Hum! Sounds to me like some plant breeding institute needs to re-do the experiments and come up with a formulation along the lines of J.I. that is 100% renewable

(Do we still have any state-owned plant breeding instituted I wonder? Probably not. I remember gleaning a huge amount of useful info from then back-when-I-was-a-lad!)

[zazen999]

Yorkshire Horticultural Supplies I presume?

They had a run in over using the John Innes "certification" on their composts 'coz YHS don't use Peat, and the J.I. people said it had to conform to the original recipe in order to call it "John Innes"

Ho!Hum! Sounds to me like some plant breeding institute needs to re-do the experiments and come up with a formulation along the lines of J.I. that is 100% renewable

(Do we still have any state-owned plant breeding instituted I wonder? Probably not. I remember gleaning a huge amount of useful info from then back-when-I-was-a-lad!)

They have - JI from Vital Earth. Which Compost To Use For Indoor Vegetable Plants From Seed

We are still waiting to find out why Vital Earth haven't had the Soil Assn sign off - SBP emailed them last week. However, I absobloominglutley love this seed compost....the No 1 - it seriously kicks a$$ and if it had SA sign off it could be recommended officially so they seriously need to be looking to get it through.

Warwickshire Uni still have the HRI - although [as per usual] funding has been cut....

[Kristen]

They have - JI from Vital Earth.

Not heard of that before - dunno if I have been asleep, not paying attention, or they are hiding their light under a bushel?

[zazen999]

First saw it last week; already got seedlings up and growing well in it

[Kristen]

First saw it last week

Ah! I don't feel quite so bad now!

[Two_Sheds]

That link didn't work for me, so here's another: Vital Earth peat-free now the best buy - Garden Centre Update

[zazen999]

Their whole website seems to be down, it worked last night.....

[Davyburns]

Forgive me if I have this wrong, but I thought germination was caused by a combination of moisture and warmth (and sometimes light) hence the ability to germinate on a kitchen towel. This being the case, how can it make a difference if you use either type of compost?

[zazen999]

Davy - what do you mean 'either'

Peat/peat free
or
seed/multipurpose

[Shadylane]

Sorry, yes YHS- Yorkshire Horticultural supplies. Not seen Vital Earth anywhere round here, but our locals have finally started selling New Horizon. Got some yesterday as it was on 3 for two at 5.99 a bag. Don't mind paying 4 quid a bag but 6 is a bit steep. I have no idea why a certain type of compost should make a difference to germination but it seems to in my case. The tomatoes I germinated on kitchen roll came up no problem but they struggled with the YHS compost. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it sets like concrete on the surface if you don't keep it moist - but then underneath it's still wet so you inadvertently end up over watering and rotting the seed.

One of the calabrese seeds has finally shown it's head, the others still no show though. I think maybe adding sand and homemade is the way to go as the onions I sowed in that have already started to peek through whereas the others sown ages ago - nada.