Not so impressed with B&Q multi purpose compost!

[Sanjo]

Years ago when I first started greenhouse gardening I always used and swore by J.Arthur Bowers and caused many an argument with the OH who wanted me peat free. I tried various other brands but nothing matched the "comfort" I got with the old J.B.
Eventually I was unable to source it locally as the various outlets produced their own (B & Q/local G.C. etc) so ended up with Westland which wasn't too bad.
This year I was delighted when my local garden centre not only had J.Arthur in stock, they were doing 3 bags for £12. Dead chuffed with myself because NOW my little seedlings would know a bit of quality.
Huh!! The first bag opened, I was so annoyed, large chunks of solid compost which took two hands (poor arthriticky hands at that!!) to break them up, and wood - well I couldn't believe it.
I was so incensed I packaged up some of the larger chunks and sent it with a politely worded letter to the manufacturer Wm Sinclair Horticulture in Lincoln and asked for an explanation.
No explanation, no comment at all, not even an acknowledgement of my complaint.
I have to sieve the ****** stuff to get anything useable out of it and that is so time consuming.
Ah well, what is it they say - never go back. I should have remembered!!!!

[Guttata]

I have managed to get a couple of pics of the B&Q stuff I have:


As you can see largish pieces of wood and twiggy bits. The little green thing you can see above it is a sloe sapling that is grown in multi-purpose I bought from else where look at the difference.

This is with my new gooseberry plant, don't know the variety but lucky me there were two plants in a pack that was meant to have one


More woody bits. The little yellow things, the clearest to be seen is just at the top above the fork, are gravel I thought they might have been egg cases until I tried to crush one. Some people may not try to crush them and worry. Bottom left corner you can see one of the stones that are present in this stuff as well as just to the left of the cut surface of the main stem there are more just zoom in and look and bottom right some of the plastic.

In the bag. Again you can see large bits of wood and twigs.



These are hosted on imageshack so just click on them for full size.

EDIT: Just got a reply to my contact with B&Q, said sorry I wasn't satisfied and that the local store will contact me about a sample. I won't hold my breath but I may also be pleasantly surprised. I shall have to wait and see.

[Guttata]

Well I have heard nothing more off B&Q. I am not surprised I just know from now on I will not be buying it. It's enough to put you off going peat free.

My friend bought the Asda stuff and it is better so it looks like I have found a new source for compost. Will have to buy a few bags and hope the B&Q stuff will mix with it and solve the problem of a few wasted bags of compost.

[johninblackpool]

Last year was my first year growing Fruit and Veg
Built a 1m x 3m raised bed on my drive and also built a raised bed for my GH to sit on
All in all i used 12 x 120 ltr bags of MPC from B & Q and have no complaints at all everything i put in grew better than i was expecting

Beetroot
Carrots
Onions
Lettuce
Potatoes
Sprouts
and 1 PSB

take a look at my photo album see what it looked like

This year because i could not rotate the veg i have rotated the compost
Compost out of the raised bed went in the GH and vice versa
I am using my home made compost for my spuds in the bags i had from last year
and next year i will get rid of the MPC out of the GH onto the garden and put the MPC out of the raised bed into GH and out of the spud bags into the raised bed and out of the Compost bin into the spud bags again
I now only use the MPC from B&Q sieved for my seeds and seedlings

[chris]

I've recently been trying the Vital Earth stuff, impressive.

I've just gone and bought a load of Vitax Q4 though - I've 20 bags of Westland in the garage and that's full of wood/straw. This Q4 stuff seems comparable to that Vital earth stuff, £3.99 a bag locally.

[Glutton4...]

I've just bought B&Q Grow(ing) Bags, four for a fiver. Lovely fine compost. I'll be using that for sowing, and the so-called 'Compost' I bough in Lidl, will be used as growbags.

[rachel24]

Maybe its just us in Manchester as mine was exactly the same, the woody bits reminded me of loft insulation! Load of rubbish.

My OH didnt know I wasnt that impressed and bought me some more yesterday but slightly smaller bags and that was really decent stuff. It all seems hit and miss to me as Ive had that sort of woody compost from other suppliers as well.

[Madasafish]

Just bought another 120litre bag from B&Q... excellent as was the last one....

[neil1280]

i used some grow bag soil in pots for my herbs, i ran out then used some mpc for the others and herbs with the mpc are very very slow to germinate and grow

[Guttata]

Maybe its just us in Manchester as mine was exactly the same, the woody bits reminded me of loft insulation! Load of rubbish.

My OH didnt know I wasnt that impressed and bought me some more yesterday but slightly smaller bags and that was really decent stuff. It all seems hit and miss to me as Ive had that sort of woody compost from other suppliers as well.

What colour where the bags?

The peat free stuff is the one I have had problems with this comes in the two shades of green bags. The standard stuff comes in a purpley coloured bag. The standard stuff seems fine from the split bags I have seen in the branch at the fort.

This makes me think it is the peat free stuff that is the only one of the compost types sald as B&Q that has the problem with it being so bad.

I know it is a late reply.

[Mick O]

I use countrywide own brand but am sure lots of own brand are packed by same company. Used this for couple of years now with no problems. It`s local and generally has offer on multibuy with other composts/bark.
Mick

[rachel24]

[QUOTE=Guttata;675641]What colour where the bags?



It was the peat free. But I cannot remember the colour of the batch of the bad one, just that it was the biggest one they do-is it 125ltr? Something like that. I know for definate the one that was good was the one with the sunflowers on, also peat free, it was a smaller bag, 70ltr I think. I could use that for seed sowing and general planting, but there is no way I could have used the first batch for anything other than using as a mulch, it was just a load of dusty old woody bits.

[hamsterhead]

I've used the B&Q stuff earlier this year and had no problems. Bought some Wickes own as it was on offer and what a load of tosh. Talk about water retention, half of the Busy Lizzies I've potted on have died. I'm going to repot the remainder this evening in the hope of saving them. Tried the Focus MPC, never again so it looks like its back to B&Q later today. Pocket money is gone again

[Sanjo]

Years ago when I first started greenhouse gardening I always used and swore by J.Arthur Bowers and caused many an argument with the OH who wanted me peat free. I tried various other brands but nothing matched the "comfort" I got with the old J.B.
Eventually I was unable to source it locally as the various outlets produced their own (B & Q/local G.C. etc) so ended up with Westland which wasn't too bad.
This year I was delighted when my local garden centre not only had J.Arthur in stock, they were doing 3 bags for £12. Dead chuffed with myself because NOW my little seedlings would know a bit of quality.
Huh!! The first bag opened, I was so annoyed, large chunks of solid compost which took two hands (poor arthriticky hands at that!!) to break them up, and wood - well I couldn't believe it.
I was so incensed I packaged up some of the larger chunks and sent it with a politely worded letter to the manufacturer Wm Sinclair Horticulture in Lincoln and asked for an explanation.
No explanation, no comment at all, not even an acknowledgement of my complaint.
I have to sieve the ****** stuff to get anything useable out of it and that is so time consuming.
Ah well, what is it they say - never go back. I should have remembered!!!!

Bumping this thread as at long last I have received a reply from the manufacturers (William-Sinclair) with a sincere apology because they have just found my letter stuck behind a sorting cabinet where it was lost!!
Not only were they truthful in the reason for the delay, they included vouchers to the value of £15.
The ironical thing is that yesterday I opened the last bag to use in containers and planting holes and it was excellent stuff, no hairy bits or twigs like it was for the previous two bags for seed sowing.
Anyway, thought it only fair that I redress the balance.

[Bigmallly]

I've used the B&Q stuff earlier this year and had no problems. Bought some Wickes own as it was on offer and what a load of tosh. Talk about water retention, half of the Busy Lizzies I've potted on have died. I'm going to repot the remainder this evening in the hope of saving them. Tried the Focus MPC, never again so it looks like its back to B&Q later today. Pocket money is gone again

If you have trouble with compost drying out, a drop of washing up liquid is supposed to help with water retention. Below is an extract I found.

"If a peat-like growing medium has been allowed to dry out, it can be
very hard to get it wet again, and plants may not get enough water
even if you attend to them regularly. In that case, a drop of
washing-up liquid in the water will help it soak in; best to stand
the container in something for an hour or so to let water come up
from the bottom as well as the top."