CompareTheCompost.com

[veggiechicken]

Peat free doesn't contain peat; peat based does

[SaraJH]

Peat free doesn't contain peat; peat based does

LOL! Environmental factors aside would plants grow okay in these 'new' peat free compounds?

Also is there an argument for too much peat e.g. 50, 75, 90, 100% for optimal performance, again environmental factors aside.

[Bigmallly]

Many of the "older" generation that I know still swear by growing in peat based compost.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Peat based or peat free it does seem that compost vary from good to bad every year.

[Penellype]

Peat itself contains almost no nutrients, but it does make a nice friable compost which absorbs water easily. If you were growing in 100% peat you would need to feed the plants regularly. The difficulty I find with peat free composts is their ability to retain water.

[lottie dolly]

looks like
B&Q verb 120lt is 6.93 per bag,06p per lt.

[Madasafish]

I bought some westland jacks magic compost yesterday, 2x60l for £10

Its not the cheapest at 8p a litre but the quality is fantastic, really fine and crumbly with no wood bits at all.

I tried some this year and compared it with Verve MPC.

Germination rates in Jacks appear far better. I have switched 100% to it.. (on offer of course)

[Penellype]

My local small friendly garden centre sells both Westland MPC and Jack's Magic. I asked the owner what the difference was, and why the higher price for JM. He said that he always used JM for potting up his seedlings and in his opinion the only difference was the amount of feed in the compost - JM has more, so it lasts longer. I have not tried JM myself, but this guy has been growing plants both as a market gardener and a garden centre owner for years so it is likely that he knows what he is talking about.

I did try the B&Q verve once and found it very fine and crumbly, which seemed great at first, until it dried out (which it seemed to do very quickly) and then it was difficult to wet again. They may have changed it since as that was a couple of years ago.

[jackarmy]

Bought a bag of the Lidl stuff yesterday, think Mal did an early write up at the begining of this thread.
Very nice, lot less carp in it this year and still around the same price.

[Kirk]

Decided that anything marked Westland is not worth considering.

Bought first one as seed sowing medium, it is more like mattress stuffing.
Replaced it with a bag of something "different" that had John Innes all over it, this turned out to be Westland also but with their name MUCH less prominent and that is poor also. Looks like it will set like sandstone given the chance.

At least every thing gets added to the raised bed, so not a 100% waste I suppose. Just annoying.

[Scoot]

I mentioned somewhere on here a couple of months ago that i got some of this...

[Scoot]

This is the outcome of it today as i pot on my tomatoes. It's got loads of twigs and stuff in it. I've put them in anyway as i don't have a sieve and really don't want to be sieving all 280 litres. I've got some spare tomato seedlings as well in case it all goes wrong.

Will they be ok is the question...

[goosander]

Went and bought the professional seed growing stuff. Dearer than the other stuff I use but the germination has been far better and a lot more even.
Bob

[Thelma Sanders]

Decided that anything marked Westland is not worth considering.

O NO! Have done all this week's sowings in a Westlands compost. I hope I won't have to do them all again *sigh*

[Jungle Jane]

Will they be ok is the question...

Yes they should be fine,just lift the pot occasionally to see if it's light & needs watering,some composts hold water better than others.