Help with Growbags please

[WURZEL]

Hi there, I was wondering if anyone can tell me how long the contents of growbags last. Hubby bought a job lot 2 years ago and we still have a few left. So I'm not sure whether they will be any good or not. Can they be used for potting up or should I just dig them into the flower beds??

[Flummery]

The nutrients are supposed to 'go off' if they are kept too long but it depends what you are going to do with them. In all honesty, you never know how long the garden centre has had them either. If you want to grow toms or some such, you would need to add some feed I think. However, I'd be tempted to use them to start off seeds because you don't need much nutrient in seed compost. I'd wait till they were totally knackered before I consigned them to the flower beds!

[shirlthegirl43]

I am not sure how long they keep but if you mix a little growmore or such into the soil then they should be okay to use.

[rustylady]

Give it a go, what were you planning to use them for? You need to feed after a few weeks anyway, so unless the compost looks or smells bad I would use them anyway. I sometimes buy a growbag just for the compost to fill my big tomato pots as it's cheaper than multipurpose compost. Still use additional feed, though, and after the crop's finished the used compost either goes on the heap or on the border as a top dressing.