Bought compost quality difference

[robbra]

I don't have enough waste matter for a compost heap. I usually buy grow bags to fill my pots but the price has gone from £1.25 to £2.50 this year.
I bought a big bag from B&Q in April, lots of wood and twigs in it but soldiered on and it was just ok. I needed some more last weekend and was at Wickes, 70lt £5.00 and thought it'd be similar.
Chalk and cheese, Wickes like cotton wool, better than grow bags and puts B&Q in no go territory in future. Very fine, little wood and easily fine enough for seeds so learnt that pay a bit more and get quality.
I've used Wickes for tools, taps, wood and my kitchen so they're now on my list for compost.
Rob

[Greenleaves]

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...com_83749.html



Have a read of this.....................

VC pokes her beak in and adds:-
Before anyone says anything - the images are missing!

[nickdub]

I've generally found the B&Q stuff to be OK - some bags are better than others but its all been usable. Cheapest is generally grow-bags etc at the end of the year which some stores sell off at a big reduction rather than keeping them in to Winter.

[Thelma Sanders]

The Wickes has a nice texture but runs out of nutrients very quickly (4 weeks with mine) - just so you know to start feeding before the plants get checked.

[Greenleaves]

I am a Jack's Magic man find it very good. I buy about 10 120ltrs from BnQ but just to top up the beds

[veggiechicken]

I don't like the fluffy stuff not even for seed sowing. Prefer to sieve some MPC with a bit of body.
I buy mine cheap at the end of the season and store it in the garage.

[mrsbusy]

has it got peat in it ?

[burnie]

I have to say the quality of MPC is not what it used to be, I never used to sieve it, not even for the bigger seeds sown straight in a pot, now it seems to be around 50% rubbish.

[keat63]

Plus one on the Jack Magic.

2 x 70ltr bags for £10 from our local garden centre.
This usally changes to 3 for £12 once the season settles down a little.

[Penellype]

I find that compost can vary hugely between lots, even from the same manufacturer. I'm struggling this year having found my local garden centre has sold out of the tomato grow bags, which I find the most consistent for growing hungry crops like tomatoes and peppers. The ordinary grow bags don't contain the same feed and are quite different, and what Westland have done to the latest batch of compost I got I have no idea - it seems to be made up of about 90% unidentifiable grey shredded something that could even be plastic. Its impossible to sieve. Earlier in the year I tried B&Q verve and had a large number of seed failures, which may or may not have been due to the compost - peas, beans, courgettes of several varieties, cucumbers, spring onions, some varieties of lettuce, basil, beetroot, cabbage and wild strawberry were all either very poor or zero germination. Some of the seeds were old, but some were not, and all germinated fine last year.

[Cadalot]

I sieve all the MPC and what does not make the grade for starting my seedlings off goes into a container to be added to my own Daleks as browns for further composting. I really must sieve and try some of my own compost for starting off and potting up next year.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Yet another vote for Westland Jack's Magic, I first used it a few years back and have continued ever since as it is always consistently good.

The rest B&Q, Wickes etc seem to vary from year to year and even from batch to batch.

[goosander]

I nowadays always purchase the professional compost which is a lot dearer than the stuff in most garden centres. It also contains emptor which kills off a lot of the bugs. The potatoes last year [grown in pots] were 3-4 times better than when grown with the garden centre stuff. I also now grow several thousand bedding plants for friends and the local hospice and I want them to be as good as any nursery.
Using seed compost no2 and the bedding compost the results are far better than any garden centre stuff.
Growing is a hobby so why not buy the best. You do not go to a pub to drink tap water.
Bob.

[Scoot]

I always buy B & Q's 125ltrs for £6.93.

Always does the trick for me.

[Earthgirl Jen]

This year I took advantage of the B&M 's bank holiday offer. 120lit bags of Westland for £5 and I stocked up... Good stuff and yes it does contain some peat. I added coir to it (left over 40lit coir blocks from the old nursery) and some of last years 'crap' compost and added extra 'stuff' to it.

Everything this year is loving it and I also love the fact that I will be able to recycle the compost back into the same pots next year...