what is the pH of council compost ?

Hi
Has anyone tested the pH of the compost "soil conditioner" you can get from the Council in many areas for free ?
I have collected a big load for general use, but I want to transplant my blueberries from their pots to a larger tank (an old cold water tank). I'm on alkaline soil, so I'm looking for a large quantity of acid soil / compost. I have a fair amount of leaf mould, some homemade compost, and lots of council compost.

Last year I used homemade compost a bit of topsoil and as much rotting conifer clippings as I could find - it seemed to work well, but I need a larger volume this year.

I guess there will be someone who says buy a pH tester - in which case what is recommended: A meter, strips of paper, some sort of kit, where from ?

Thanks

 

I can't answer the question but, when you consider the bulk of the content of Council Compost is going to be the collected weeds etc. taken from ratepayers gardens, I wonder what the content actually is.
A gardener will burn contaminated material. Will a householder include Horsetail, weedkilled waste etc. in their contribution?
Who knows what benefits - or unpleasantries - will be imported.
Mind you, who knows what there is actually contained in any of the commercial compost?
You make your choice and hope for the best. Personally, last year, I took the advice from this forum and used Wickes compost and was happy with that.

 

It is very good stuff for cheap .... but bear in mind, it is more of a soil conditioner than a compost

you can sometimes get small bags from the Milton tip/recycle centre .... From what I understand, there is no council compost recyle centre in cambridge, and the nearest one (where you can buy) is in thriplow

here is an article with info
http://www.recycleforwestsussex.org/composting/frequently_asked_questions

and here is a recent thread where it was discussed:
http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/reclaim-organic-soil-conditioner.37281/#post-472107

 

Our council do not sell to the public, just own use, as they say, their system can not attain the heat, to kill all, so not allowed to sell it to urks

Adjacent coucil Dundee, have a better quality composter, and the heat generated kills all seeds, weeds,diseases and fungi,
So IF a council sells compost to the Public I would believe it would be safe, and I would think general compost will be acid or no more than neutral ph7

Jack McHammocklashing

 

As a slight aside, although pH7 is neutral, in terms of growing media, it is not quite so specific. According to a very technical horticultural science book I have, in peat and some composts, neutral is considered to be just under pH6.5 even though that's technically acid. The reasoning went way over my head, but its something to do with the availability of nutrients in different media at different pH. 7 is neutral to a chemist, and for the most part is neutral for the horticulturist too, but in the case of the latter, that's only because pH7 is where the widest range of nutrient availability happens (acid or alkaline forms cations that lock up certain elements). In peat and some composts apparently pH6.5 is where most elements are readily available, and so that's where the neutral mark goes in that particular growing medium.

 

thanks, the Cambridge stuff gets pretty hot (people were worried it would melt plastic sacs when shovelling). Reading around other council sites, one says not to use on azaleas etc. I guess that could mean its about pH 7, though, rather than actually alkaline. I'm thinking I could use as a top dressing in limited amounts.
I've used a load more conifer clippings on top, will see how this goes.

 

Well - I know what I put in my "Garden Waste" bin - its all the stuff that I don't really want on my compost heap but that will probably break down eventually ; so lots of Ivy, Twiggy hedge clippings & other woody stuff, leaves from the walnut tree... in the good old days I would have just stacked it up somewhere to dry out & had a big bonfire, but theres so many houses around me now its not really acceptable to do that - so it just gets binned.

With that in mind, I wouldn't really want to be putting the compost back on my garden even if it was free. Not that I have the option - I don't know what the councils contractor does with it all.. perhaps I am buying it back from B&Q without realising !

 

At this time of year I would assume the council compost would be full of christmas tree debris and thus quite good for blueberries.