multi-purpose compost problem?

[BarleyMo]

Hi all,

Recent bought a bag of all purpose compost from Asda, with the view to filling a new 3 tier planter with strawberry plants. Over the last 2 weeks after showing signs of initial growth, the plants have all died back. The leaves started by going dark at the edges. I haven't watered them for a while as the compost has felt damp to the touch. The compost has delevoped a white "mould" for want of a better description, and the plants now seem to have clumps of this mould at the bottoms of the leaf stems.

The planter has been moved to/from the conservatory and lounge, in trying to avoid really cold overnight temperatures.

I opened the bag that's been kept in the garage outside today, with the view to using it to cover some potatoes I'm planting and the contents of the top of the bag is also coated in a fine layer of this white mould. As a result I decided against using the rest of the bag.

Have I done something wrong with the strawberry plants?

Do you think they can be rescued?

Is the bag of compost at fault? should I jetteson the rest of the bag?

enclosed at pics of the affected plants... The last pic (207) shows a plant that as far as I can see doesn't have any mould on it. Only other thing - when planting the strawberries, I got some free fertilizer, which I put reasonable generously round the roots - should I have avoided doing this and just mixed it with the compost?

Sorry - lots of questions - any comments most appreciated.

BarleyMo

[rustylady]

Sorry to say this, but your strawberry plants look dead to me. Where did you get them from? Are there drainage holes in the pots? You really don't need to add fertiliser to multipurpose compost, and strawberries are hardy so they don't need to be kept indoors.

[BarleyMo]

Hi,

Yes drainage holes are in the pots... The plants were the "free" ones advertised on the front of Feb's Grow Your Own mag.... just needed to pay the postage. The plants all showed signs of growth when I planted them and shortly after being planted.... Have I inadvertantly killed them by keeping them inside then?

[rustylady]

They look as if they have been overwatered, which is why I asked about drainage holes. Another possibility is that the roots have been burned by the fertiliser you used.

[BarleyMo]

ah... that makes more sense - there weren't any do's and don't's for applying the fertilizer and being a novice at this I've probably overdone it.... ho hum, back to the drawing board...

Many thanks for your feedback

[veggiechicken]

The planters look like the ones that we have been talking about recently that are difficult to water http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...els_63902.html
Not very encouraging are we, BarleyMo sorry!

[BarleyMo]

Hi,

The planter I have isn't a barrel. It's one of these; Botanico - PNI1033 (ca we paste links to other sites?) which if you water the top tier, you actually water the bottom tier too as the drainage holes are directly over the bottom tier pots. I liked it as it was modular and also had the right number of spaces for the 10 plants I was expecting. It was £15 from our local garden center, which is probably slightly over the odds but it looked like it was going to do what I wanted, so for the want of burning more fuel in the car I bought one.

It's my first time with strawberries so I'll jetteson the whole lot and start again and as we're still early in the season go and get some more - minus the fertilizer this time.

[Pa Snips]

Did you add the fertiliser to the planter or the the compost prior to filling the planter?

If it was added to the planter then that would not explain why it's also growing on the compost that's still in the bag.

I unnecessarily added fertiliser to new compost in a container and got white growth that looked like some type of mould, but it went after a couple of weeks and before the new shoots came up...no harm done, everything seems to be growing as I would expect it to (not that I know much about these things, yet), however, it did look very similar. The remaining compost in the bag didn't get any mouldy growth and hadn't been exposed to the fertiliser.

[BarleyMo]

Hi Pa,

To clarify, I added the fertilizer to the planter as I was adding the plants. I think RustyLady nailed the problem - I added the fertilizer into the hole where I put each plant. It would have been all around the roots so I believe I've burnt them.

As for the "mould", it's in the pot and in the bag, but as you suggest I think that's a side issue and probably wouldn't have affected the plants

[Kaiya]

I've got compost with that sort of mould. I have peat free Verve (B&Q own brand) compost. New bags are fine, but once open after a few weeks the top layer gets that mould, and I've got a few pots or seedtrays that are in a humid environment with it. However any pots that are in dryer environment don't get it. So it seems to be air + compost + damp + warmth = mould. It doesn't seem to harm the plants, but that which causes the mould (being too damp) can harm the plants. I wouldn't chuck the bag personally (and indeed didn't - I planted a honeyberry pot and a hanging basket with mine), though I'd avoid using the directly affected top layer for seedlings.

[Aberdeenplotter]

someone already mentioned but I will reinforce the view. No need to add fertiliser to gp compost. It already contains enough.