Beware !!! Garden compost that kills your seedlings in a day

The word "Organic" is much abused, sadly.

If it has the Soil Association mark on it then it is "organic" - in the sense that you describe it.

Otherwise it probably just means that it uses manure and vegetation - not that the animals the manure came from were reared organically, nor that the vegetation was not sprayed with chemicals ... sadly.

 

It is a bit difficult to understand the use of 'organic' in this situation. The compost is made from the contents of folks garden waste bins. In that sense there should be no animal manure in it so no residue of Aminopyralid ought to be in it. However in a way one is at the mercy of whatever people put in their bins. It will be interesting to see what their response ,if any, is.
Not been out to check on mine yet, which was bought at a local garden centre rather than a big outlet.

 

Verdone Extra contains Clopyralid (which is a herbicide similar to Aminopyralid). Instructions on Verdone Extra say to not collect clippings at all from first couple of cuts, and not to compost them, or put in council bin, thereafter (I have forgotten for how long). Seems unlikely that everyone will do this! However, I posted about this before and the consensus was that it would be diluted by all the other compost, and therefore probably not an issue

 

Right, just opened one of our bags and there is little or no smell at all. It looks ok. For the benefit of others I have pricked out some Pulsatilla vulgaris seedlings into it. Normally I would add some peat (oooh naughty) to the mixture just to improve moisture retention, but this time I have used it straight. These plants are very sensitive to anything nasty in the compost so we will see what happens.

 

I will certainly be having a word with Focus about this. However, Focus are just the retailer. Past experience has proved to me that most of the staff at these big stores have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Worse still is that they just do not give a damn about anything they are selling. Getting money back from them is not the real issue here. Although I will certainly do that one way or another.

My real concern is that a batch of unkown quantity, of this compost has been on sale. I know what effect this has had on my plants. I also know that Mrs Chopper is upset about it. (That is the bit I am angry about). There may be a rational explanation for this problem arising. I will wait to hear what Focus and the manufacturers have to say before I go in all guns blazing. The law is on my side about any loses etc. So I am not too worried about that part. I am much more concerned that this product may have caused some damage to all the work that Mrs Chopper and I have done and any other problems it may have caused to other peoples gardens/plants. (Lack of knowledge and experience on my part, so I need to find out exactly what is wrong and why before I kneecapanybody! LOL).

I really don't know what to make of it. Really appreciate the input of other members, thankyou.

Chopper.
Off to make Mrs Chopper a cuppa and give her a hug.

 

What is bothering me is that I can think of nothing which will kill plants that quickly. Even the sulphuric acid which they spray on to the potato haulms takes a couple of days to turn them from green to brown.
The Clopyralid and Aminopyralid too take a few days and it is the tops which go rather than the roots. Strong bleach might do it, but you would smell the chlorine, surely? Very strange and worrying.

 

Mrs Chopper took this picture about an hour ago.



The tray on the left is Cleome seedlings potted on using another typre of general purpose compost. As you can see the seedlings look strong, green and healthy. That tray was filled using the last of the other GP compost.

5 Minutes later Mrs Chopper potted on more Cleome seedlings using the Vital Earth compost from Focus. This damage has occured in about 36 hours. There are several other trays of seedlings of other plants such as Chrysanthemum and Salvia. All have been affected in the same way.

None of our other seedlings have suffered using other composts. Mrs Chopper thought this picture would show the difference and be a good comparrison. We are going to keep the picture and the affected seedlings. Not had a reply to our email to Vital Earth yet.

Chopper.

 

Focus should have a sample of the compost tested at their own expense (£50). A refund is alright but it doesnt make up for the lost plants, time and inconvenience.

 

Sadly, it's academic as to what may or may not have been in that bag of compost - your seedlings are ruined and there's nothing that's going to make that any better.

My 'first port of call' would be to complain to Focus, they might be '... just the retailer ...', and try to pass the blame onto their supplier, but I once stood in the middle of a very busy garden centre and pointed out in a loud voice, that my contract was with them and thus I expected them to do something about my complaint - if they had a problem with their supplier that was a separate contract, their problem and nothing to do with me. Go complain.

 

Demanding your money back ?! And the rest ! you've lost 200 plants !!! : ) Occasionally they stuff up the mix . I worked for Whetmans dianthus growers for a while and they had a big compensation claim against levingtons for a mix that they got wrong for them . It might be a one off mix that went bad . U should definately let vitalearth know because they may be oblivious and carry on churning out poisonous compost. Deepest sympathies to u tho .

 

"And the rest !"

Yeah, but that's consequential loss. Not straightforward. If a Taxi breaks down going to the airport should the taxi driver pay for your holiday if you miss your flight?

I'm with Chopper on this, but I'm not hopeful that the company will pay out much in the way of compensation.

 

Update.

First of all thankyou for the good wishes and encouragement.

I had not had a reply to me email and growing impatient, I decided to phone Vital Earth.

Spoke to a young lady who asked me to email her direct and attach some pictures, which I did within the hour. I then had a phone call from thier Research Development Manager, who to be fair was pretty good.

He asked all the relevant questions and then told me that looking at the pictures of my dead and dying seedlings he thinks that the compost I bought is too rich a mix for seedlings. He has agreed with me that the wording on the compost bags is not as good as it could be. I did admit that I am a novice gardener and he suggested that to a novice gardener the description and suggested uses for that particular compost is not as clear as it could be. IE: Nowhere does it actually say "NOT SUITABLE FOR YOUNG SEEDLINGS".

What the guy said is that, the particular compost I have bought is more suited to trees, shrubs,vegatables and flowers and as a soil conditioner. He is sending me a voucher to buy some of thier other compost.

Now if this is just to fob me off, he is at least making an effort. Not 100% sure that I believe him. On the other hand I can really do without getting into a legal battle with them and possibly Focus.

Mrs Chopper has just raised the question as to wether any product labelled as compost should actually kill seedlings, regardless of its intended purpose. I did also mention to the guy that I had used a T&M soil Tester which showed that the compost was very acidic, right off the scale.

Not really that happy with this outcome and for once I am not sure if it is worth starting a fight over it. This would not be jackets off in the car park, this would be a legal battle. I honestly believe that the law has nothing to do with justice. I am quite peeved to say the least about my losses.

Chopper.

 

Sounds like small balls to me Chopper, sorry.

If it is indeed labelled as Tree and Shrub compost / soil conditioner then it probably isn't really suitable for seedlings, but only in the sense that it would be too rough and seedlings' roots probably wouldn't get adequate contact with the compost as a result.

I pot-on my seedlings into multi-purpose compost. I use a known-brand, but other than that I don;t give it much thought. The recommended time to do that is at the "first true leaf stage", but I routinely do it earlier, when just the seed leaves are available, and surely they would eb more "at risk" at that stage? I rarely get any losses.

So if what you bought is "multi purpose compost" then I stand by my view that what they said is small balls.

Your acidity test is interesting. How about sending a sample away for an independent (and more rigorous) test?

The RHS one for example:

RHS Soil Analysis Service / RHS Gardening

 

Note that it says "Nutrient analyses of composts, manures or container media are not available"