Best Supplier Of Compost 2022

Will we have any choice next year ?
Thought it was going the be the last year for any peat in compost, so expect there will be even less peat / choice.

Did buy a bag of top soil and John Innes but both seemed to be mainly sand, could make better using our garden soil, though probably not suitable for starting off seeds.

Wonder what type of Coir compost @gks uses for his seeds and if that type can be purchased in retail amounts, though sounds like basic Coir need feed adding even for seedlings ?

 

There are some commercial growers who are very disappointed with the peat free compost. The media will never allow this to become public though.

I was talking to another compost manufacturer rep, he like myself are more geared up to the commercial side. We both agreed, if we had our way, we would not ban peat, however, we would ban the sales of M/C to the retail sector. This will never happen, the lack of knowledge is scary in the retail sector. I would sell commercial grade fertilisers to allotment societies even to some of you who post on here regularly, that's because I can pass on my knowledge and trust you to follow my guidance. Unfortunately, the retail sector does not have the knowledge, hence why commercial grade fertilisers will never be sold to them.

I had a full load of coir delivered to me on Friday, 5040 x 5kg blocks in total. Growers prefer that I rehydrate the blocks and add nutrients to their requirements. However, online retailer's prefer to just buy the blocks, this is understandable. The couriers I use charge me £6.95 per 25kg parcel, so you can get 5 x 5kg blocks in one parcel, when it's rehydrated and I add 10% loam the 5kg block is now roughly 23kg when bagged, purchasing the blocks raw is a cheaper option.

 

What are the problems with peat free compost, I'm just trying to work out why nobody likes it.
Must admit I've never bought it to any great degree, but I find even peat based stuff varies quite a lot in texture.
Is it the texture that nobody likes or does it not grow plants as well.

I have to say that when I did try it I found it grew plants pretty much the same as peat based stuff.

 

Yes, think it has been passed into law, but with recent events in #10 not 100% sure.

Would be interesting to know what the Which ? Compost 2022 tests showed if anyone is currently signed up to them ?

Best compost to buy in 2022 - Which?

 

All our composts are reduced peat, we don't do any now that are 100% peat. A blend of reduced peat is as good if not better than pure peat based composts.

I have a had number of loads of peat, off the bog, not processed. I have put them through a 10mm screen, approximately 70% of the peat is passing through the screen. When I put composted bark through the same screen, I am only getting 30% passing through the screen. When you have to high a percentage of coarse growing media, then you start to have issues of it being to porous, which can result in leaching.

I will be doing trials this coming year, this will be with the bark that has passed through the 10mm screen, coir and loam. I have to take into account results and costs to what ratio the end product will be. I will probably be looking at a ratio of 60% composted bark 30% coir and 10% loam.

The 70% of bark that does not pass through the screen will be then mixed with horse manure and spent mushroom compost and sold as soil conditioner as usual. Due to me screening the bark, I will probably incorporate a higher percentage of manure and spent mushroom compost than I have previously due to the coarseness of the bark.

 

There is still some confusion about when the ban actually comes into force. After speaking to our local Tory MP last year, I was told they are committed to ban peat by the end of the current parliament, which is January 2025.

The BBC also reported the same, the ban comes into force at the end of 2024.

Climate change: England's gardeners set for peat compost ban - BBC News

 

Not my experience at all. It's been increasingly difficult to source peat-based compost here for quite a few years now. I've tried lots of different brands, mostly based on chopped (and supposedly composted) wood waste. It's a disaster! The results have varied from having xylophage beetles breeding and their grubs wreaking havoc in pots, to plants simply turning yellow and dying as soon as they were planted in the medium. Some brands make a big thing about having 'added manure'. The sole result of that is leaching of obnoxious, smelly, brown liquid from the pots without any noticeable benefit to the plants. Water retention is another issue with the peat-free composts. Bone-dry on the surface, but sodden underneath.
For the past couple of years, I've forked out for a 'professional' peat-based compost from a local nursery. It's expensive, but it seems to suit most of the plants that I grow and it doesn't contain stones, twigs, bits of branch or bark, grubs etc etc. The brand name is Jiffy.

 

A question for gks....what proportions of your sales are of multipurpose compost v soil improver? I'd have thought that there's far more demand for the MPC?

 

Yes the demand for MPC is far greater than soil conditioners. When people are using it for large containers and raised beds this will always be the case.

Jiffy is a Dutch company, they are known mainly for their expanding jiffy peat based pellets.

 

So surely the pressure is on the producers of the basic material to produce a finely-graded product? You gain more useable material. The problem is that there's an enormous demand and until the end-users complain or just stop buying the stuff, there won't be any improvement.

 

Correct, but why is the compost you purchased from a local nurseryman so expensive?

The retailers dictate the price. When a nuseryman asks for a professional compost, I will give them a quote, for ex works and delivered. They will then decide if they want to proceed with an order. The retail sector (the big chains) works opposite, they ask for a general compost but they tell me what I will be paid.

If we were not looking at the ban of peat this is achievable as a very high percentage of the peat passes through the screen, it's only since we have been pressurized to use non peat products that it has started to be an issue. Peat does not go through chippers before being screened, where as green waste does, all this comes at a cost, the more processing we do, the more we also increase our carbon footprint.

If a nurseryman only uses a professional compost, it tells you they do not trust the compost sold to the retail sector. So, for the retail sector to sell a compost of the same quailty or close to the commercial grade, they have to pay us a better rate than what they will give us. But that will never happen, the public in general will not pay for commercial grade.

Compost is seen as a cheap product by the retail sector, their margins will be very small, it's on everything else where they make the money on. I was in B&Q on Thursday, killing sometime while my parents were shopping and having a coffee. There compost per litre is considerably cheaper than a professional compost, but most other things are extortionate. They have 10kg tubs of BFB, G/M, B/M and poultry pellets all at £22, I don't even sell 25kg bags at that price. Then, garden lime at £8.99 for 4kg, I don't even charge that much for a 25kg bag retail let alone trade. When I get a full loose load of garden lime delivered into my yard it works out at 0.021 per kg.