John Innes seed compost

[Chomerly]

Is it just me or does it seem to have a lot of grit/sand in it?

I've recently purchased a bag because all of the seeds i have planted, and that have sprouted, seem to dry up and die off within a few days when using my regular MPC.
So, starting again i purchased the John Innes.

I had purchased the JI seed compost before and found it to be gritty then. Nothing seems to have changed since last year and again, i find myself having to mix it up with a little bit of MPC just to give it a bit of texture.

So, what are your thoughts guy's?
And what alternatives would you recommend?

[WendyC]

I find it very difficult to keep watered correctly so don't use it.

[Chomerly]

I find this too.
With it being so gritty i would have expected the drainage to be quite good but it is anything but.
The water retention is just ridiculous. Thats one of the other reasons i mixed it up with some regular MPC.

[Alison]

Not used any JI for years as I've never really liked it, don't know why but it just doesn't seem to suit me. I also buy peat free these days so not an option anyway.

[WendyC]

I picked up a bag of Westland's GroSure this year, which I have had good results with so far, but does contain peat. I do try and avoid using peat but reckon this is about as minimal as I can go at the moment.

[Kristen]

I use J.I. Seed, mainly because it falls away from seedlings so easily when pricking out that I think I get less damage to roots at that time. Its not going to matter with robust plants, but I grow lots of fiddly things (ornamentals).

Yes, it does dry out very quickly. I like that as I find it harder to overwater seedlings, but again for Veg. seedlings that isn't normally an issue - as Veg. plants do tend to "get on with it" far more than 99.9999% if the ornamentals I grow

Apart from Celeriac - that's a fiddly little seedling.

I stand my seed containers in a shallow tray of water for a few minutes to water them - saves getting their leaves, and the soil surface, wet which I find can lead to rot.

[21up]

J too bought JI number 1 last year and the water in it was ridiculous ,just like wet sand and finished up like concrete.
I put holes in bottom and left it till this year and it was still soaked ,so mixed it with MPC to get rid of it.

Never use it again.
cheers Peter

[Alison]

I use J.I. Seed, mainly because it falls away from seedlings so easily when pricking out that I think I get less damage to roots at that time. Its not going to matter with robust plants, but I grow lots of fiddly things (ornamentals).

I sow a lot of my stuff in teeny newspaper pots which I then transplant as a whole. The larger seeds (toms, chillies etc) can be sown individually but with fine stuff a go for a small pinch and then pull out the spares, leaving a single seedling which I can transplant insitu. Works well for me and I find it far quicker than having to manage loads of delicate ickle plants.

[Veggielot]

I have never bought any sort of JI mainly because of the price. I do use seeds compost as opposed to mpc though. Have used Westlands in the past have bought B&Q this year and have good success with both.

[Martin H]

Sounds like I'm the odd one out. I much prefer JI seed compost to multi-purpose for most seeds. I get better root growth and less damping-off as well as being easier to water.

MPC seems okay for bigger seeds though, like brassicas, peas and beans.

[Kristen]

I sow a lot of my stuff in teeny newspaper pots which I then transplant as a whole. The larger seeds (toms, chillies etc) can be sown individually but with fine stuff a go for a small pinch and then pull out the spares, leaving a single seedling which I can transplant insitu. Works well for me and I find it far quicker than having to manage loads of delicate ickle plants.

That wouldn't work for me as I have over 400 packets of seeds to sow this spring ... many of those packets have only 5 seeds or so, and from some I will get 5, from others maybe only 1, so individual seeds per pots takes up too much space, particularly the failures - hence I sow & then prick out.

With vegetables its less critical. I have 1,500 seeds in my packet of lettuce - I'll never grow that many before they lose viability! - so a pinch of seed per pot, and cull all-but-one would be fine, but they would still be in a relatively large pot so I prefer to sow, prick out and then pot on. Much less "soil" per plant in the early seedling stages, and thus a) much easier to get the watering right and b) not taking up any more space on the greenhouse bench until they need it (by which time, hopefully!, something else will have moved out! I have a lot to do & look after, so I don't have time to carefully water each pot, the whole lot gets a drowning, and then left for a day or two, so it helps me to have the right amount of soil for the plant so that by the next time I water them all they will have all, pretty much, drunk all the water in their soil / container

Sounds like I'm the odd one out. I much prefer JI seed compost to multi-purpose for most seeds. I get better root growth and less damping-off as well as being easier to water.

MPC seems okay for bigger seeds though, like brassicas, peas and beans.

You're not alone, that sums up how I feel about it.

But I do think that for Veg. pretty much anything goes, as they (in general, albeit not all of them) are much tougher than most of the non-Veg stuff that I grow.

[AllInContainers]

This year I have been using Verve soil based compost with John Innes, and have found myself having to weed my seedlings. A couple or three had grass appearing, and another couple had some unidentified sprout appearing that I knew wasn't my doing. Not particularly impressed!

[Fleurisa]

Our allotment shop sells J Arthur Bowers brand compost. The seed compost is not fit for purpose as it is full of gravel and other large bits and bobs which need to be sieved out before it is used. Would be ok for large seeds though, such as coconuts!

[Chomerly]

As i stated in my earlier post, i found it amazing that this seed compost can hold onto so much water yet be so full of grit at the same time.
When i got it out of the bag and into my soil tray i found myself having to break it up with my trowl first, before adding regular MPC and some perlite.

I should have just purchased some Levington's or some other brand but hey ho, the decisions we make.

[Chomerly]

I've been meaning to upload these pictures for a few days now.

This is the condition of the seed compost directly out of the bag.



Then this one was after the first sieve.
(sorry about the quality, or lack thereof)



And then the final sieve.



I still ended up mixing some MPC in to give it some texture.