old ericaceous compost

[Eden]

hi there,
I have a half used bag of ericaceous that is probably about 6 months to a year old, will it be alright to use for a couple of new blueberry plants or is it too old?
many thanks

[Snadger]

I can't see why not? If its ericaceous it will probably be peat based and peat survives in the ground for thousands of years, so should be ok in the bag for six months!

[rustylady]

Should be fine. I'm not a great believer in sell-by-dates, if something has been properly stored then whatever it is it will usually keep a lot longer than suggested. Going completely in another direction, but still with sellbys, it really annoys me when I get home from work to find my daughters have thrown half of my food out "because it's past it's sell-by date" Scuse me, if cheese has green mould all over it then it needs to be thrown out!!!!!!

[Snadger]

................................... Scuse me, if cheese has green mould all over it then it needs to be thrown out!!!!!!

Nope, you cut the mould off, give it to the dog as it's penicillin ration, then eat the cheese!

[Flummery]

If you'd potted your blueberry into it 6 months ago, you'd be quite happy for it to stay there wouldn't you? Sell by dates are a relatively new thing and we oldies didn't die off before they were invented!

[Alison]

If you've left it outside with it being rained on then there is a risk that some of the nutrients may have leached out but you can solve that easily by feeding sooner than normally. As far as it going "off", it'll be fine, would cost you a fortune if you replaced every few months!