After having a long discussion on Twitter regarding Peat Free what are
your thought on it (as long as you have tried it).
I use bought composts for germination and growing on of allotment
plants, for potted plants like Cannas and Dietes etc and for summer
bedding type pots for the patio.
I'm interested in the newer types of PF which are more expensive
Dalefoot and Sylvagrow to name two.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

On 28/07/2019 16:43, Bob Hobden wrote:
After having a long discussion on Twitter regarding Peat Free what are
your thought on it (as long as you have tried it).
I use bought composts for germination and growing on of allotment
plants, for potted plants like Cannas and Dietes etc and for summer
bedding type pots for the patio.
I'm interested in the newer types of PF which are more expensive
Dalefoot and Sylvagrow to name two.


On the nursery we use Melcourts silva mix, but we mix 1 third soil to 2
thirds compost (bagged ph neutral soil) and we also always add a slow
release fertilizer. The reasons for doing the adding is that with all
peat frees you seem to get batches which will kill or stunt anything in
them. Also certain plant types hate peat free, again adding soil gets
over this. We have been using various brands now for over 20 years.

--
Charlie Pridham
Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk

On 29 Jul 2019 22:53, Charlie Pridham wrote:
On 28/07/2019 16:43, Bob Hobden wrote:
After having a long discussion on Twitter regarding Peat Free what are
your thought on it (as long as you have tried it).
I use bought composts for germination and growing on of allotment
plants, for potted plants like Cannas and Dietes etc and for summer
bedding type pots for the patio.
I'm interested in the newer types of PF which are more expensive
Dalefoot and Sylvagrow to name two.


On the nursery we use Melcourts silva mix, but we mix 1 third soil to 2
thirds compost (bagged ph neutral soil) and we also always add a slow
release fertilizer. The reasons for doing the adding is that with all
peat frees you seem to get batches which will kill or stunt anything in
them. Also certain plant types hate peat free, again adding soil gets
over this. We have been using various brands now for over 20 years.

Thank you Charlie. So you effectively make a John Innes type compost
using Peat Free instead of Peat, interesting. I originally used New
Horizons some years ago and it was a disaster which put me off trying
again but I keep being told the new types are good so next season we
will see.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

On 28/07/19 16:43, Bob Hobden wrote:
After having a long discussion on Twitter regarding Peat Free what are
your thought on it (as long as you have tried it).
I use bought composts for germination and growing on of allotment
plants, for potted plants like Cannas and Dietes etc and for summer
bedding type pots for the patio.
I'm interested in the newer types of PF which are more expensive
Dalefoot and Sylvagrow to name two.

Not quite what you asked, but a warning to read /all/ the info on a bag
of compost you haven't previously purchased.

For some years I have used this peat-based ericaceous compost:
http://www.erinhorticulture.com/erin-traditional-ericaceous-compost.html
as I grow quite a few proteaceous plants, and they are quite fussy what
they grow in. I usually dilute that 1:1 with sphagnum peat, and dilute
that mixture with sharp sand in a 1:1 or 1:2 mix. So you can see it is
pretty low in nutrients! Well, proteaceous plants don't like phosphorus
- it can be quite toxic for them.

There was only one supplier of Erin composts "locally" - in fact about
30 miles away. So I was very happy when a really local Wyevale (about 3
miles) was sold to the same group. When I went there a couple of weeks
ago I saw the pink Erin ericaceous bags and bought a couple. It was only
when I got home that I noticed they weren't the same. These were "Erin
Excel" bags:
http://www.erinhorticulture.com/erin-excel-ericaceous-compost.html

It was only on reading the small print on the bags that I saw they were
"reduced peat" (see towards the bottom left when the cursor rolls over
and magnifies the notice. But it's still pretty hard to read!). On the
back of the bag, in even smaller writing and buried in a mass of
instructions, it refers to "peat mixed with composted organic material"
(as opposed to "composted inorganic material?!). But the source of that
isn't stated, and there doesn't seem to be any mention of it on their
website.

Fortunately I had half a bag of the old compost and used that to make up
my usual potting medium. The new stuff has been used on ordinary plants
and tubs and baskets, etc.

It seems that the pure peat-based stuff will disappear in a few years,
so I will have to find something else for my proteaceous plants - maybe
pure composted bark or coir. Or maybe something even better:
http://www.macpennys.co.uk/brackenCompost.php

--

Jeff

On 30 Jul 2019 11:49, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 28/07/19 16:43, Bob Hobden wrote:
After having a long discussion on Twitter regarding Peat Free what are
your thought on it (as long as you have tried it).
I use bought composts for germination and growing on of allotment
plants, for potted plants like Cannas and Dietes etc and for summer
bedding type pots for the patio.
I'm interested in the newer types of PF which are more expensive
Dalefoot and Sylvagrow to name two.

Not quite what you asked, but a warning to read /all/ the info on a bag
of compost you haven't previously purchased.

For some years I have used this peat-based ericaceous compost:
http://www.erinhorticulture.com/erin-traditional-ericaceous-compost.html
as I grow quite a few proteaceous plants, and they are quite fussy what
they grow in. I usually dilute that 1:1 with sphagnum peat, and dilute
that mixture with sharp sand in a 1:1 or 1:2 mix. So you can see it is
pretty low in nutrients! Well, proteaceous plants don't like phosphorus
- it can be quite toxic for them.

There was only one supplier of Erin composts "locally" - in fact about
30 miles away. So I was very happy when a really local Wyevale (about 3
miles) was sold to the same group. When I went there a couple of weeks
ago I saw the pink Erin ericaceous bags and bought a couple. It was only
when I got home that I noticed they weren't the same. These were "Erin
Excel" bags:
http://www.erinhorticulture.com/erin-excel-ericaceous-compost.html

It was only on reading the small print on the bags that I saw they were
"reduced peat" (see towards the bottom left when the cursor rolls over
and magnifies the notice. But it's still pretty hard to read!). On the
back of the bag, in even smaller writing and buried in a mass of
instructions, it refers to "peat mixed with composted organic material"
(as opposed to "composted inorganic material?!). But the source of that
isn't stated, and there doesn't seem to be any mention of it on their
website.

Fortunately I had half a bag of the old compost and used that to make up
my usual potting medium. The new stuff has been used on ordinary plants
and tubs and baskets, etc.

It seems that the pure peat-based stuff will disappear in a few years,
so I will have to find something else for my proteaceous plants - maybe
pure composted bark or coir. Or maybe something even better:
http://www.macpennys.co.uk/brackenCompost.php


Might be worth contacting Melcourt or Dalefoot and ask them if they
have a suitable compost because if they haven't they might like to make
one as you cannot be the only gardener in your situation. What about
carnivorous plants, don't they demand peat based composts with very low
nutrients and a lot of people grow those.


--
Regards
Bob Hobden

On 30/07/19 14:49, Bob Hobden wrote:
On 30 Jul 2019 11:49, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 28/07/19 16:43, Bob Hobden wrote:
After having a long discussion on Twitter regarding Peat Free what are
your thought on it (as long as you have tried it).
I use bought composts for germination and growing on of allotment
plants, for potted plants like Cannas and Dietes etc and for summer
bedding type pots for the patio.
I'm interested in the newer types of PF which are more expensive
Dalefoot and Sylvagrow to name two.

Not quite what you asked, but a warning to read /all/ the info on a bag
of compost you haven't previously purchased.

For some years I have used this peat-based ericaceous compost:
http://www.erinhorticulture.com/erin-traditional-ericaceous-compost.html
as I grow quite a few proteaceous plants, and they are quite fussy what
they grow in. I usually dilute that 1:1 with sphagnum peat, and dilute
that mixture with sharp sand in a 1:1 or 1:2 mix. So you can see it is
pretty low in nutrients! Well, proteaceous plants don't like phosphorus
- it can be quite toxic for them.

There was only one supplier of Erin composts "locally" - in fact about
30 miles away. So I was very happy when a really local Wyevale (about 3
miles) was sold to the same group. When I went there a couple of weeks
ago I saw the pink Erin ericaceous bags and bought a couple. It was only
when I got home that I noticed they weren't the same. These were "Erin
Excel" bags:
http://www.erinhorticulture.com/erin-excel-ericaceous-compost.html

It was only on reading the small print on the bags that I saw they were
"reduced peat" (see towards the bottom left when the cursor rolls over
and magnifies the notice. But it's still pretty hard to read!). On the
back of the bag, in even smaller writing and buried in a mass of
instructions, it refers to "peat mixed with composted organic material"
(as opposed to "composted inorganic material?!). But the source of that
isn't stated, and there doesn't seem to be any mention of it on their
website.

Fortunately I had half a bag of the old compost and used that to make up
my usual potting medium. The new stuff has been used on ordinary plants
and tubs and baskets, etc.

It seems that the pure peat-based stuff will disappear in a few years,
so I will have to find something else for my proteaceous plants - maybe
pure composted bark or coir. Or maybe something even better:
http://www.macpennys.co.uk/brackenCompost.php


Might be worth contacting Melcourt or Dalefoot and ask them if they
have a suitable compost because if they haven't they might like to make
one as you cannot be the only gardener in your situation. What about
carnivorous plants, don't they demand peat based composts with very low
nutrients and a lot of people grow those.

I'll have a look at the Melcourt & Dalefoot websites. I've not grown
carnivorous plants, but would have used sphagnum moss in ignorance of
their actual requirements! It seems to be quite complicated:
https://www.hantsflytrap.com/compost-16-c.asp

--

Jeff

On 30/07/19 21:45, Jeff Layman wrote:

I'll have a look at the Melcourt & Dalefoot websites.

(Melcourt has one of the most annoying websites I've come across
recently! It's much better with scripting turned off.)

The Melcourt Sylvagrow ericaceous compost looks good and there's a
(fairly) local garden centre which sells it. I'm not sure what to
"dilute" it with, though - probably composted bark or coir. Or maybe
that composted bracken I mentioned - although preferably hot-composted.

--

Jeff