Feeding time and grow bags?

Are grow bags any good or would you rather use a bag of compost? I bought some grow bags because they were cheap and used them for my strawberry's in hanging baskets, somehow I dont think they have enough nutrients to feed fruiting plants. Should I pot them on into decent compost? John Imes No 3 perhaps?
Or , should I leave well alone and just feed them? They dont look very hungry but the leaves are light green verging on yellow.

I also have some other plants in this grow bag compost , a scotch bonnet chilli plant among others.

Any recommendations for an organic plant food for tomatoes , chillies and strawberrys?

 

Hi RobGil. Its a curious thing that growbags usually cost less per litre than normal compost. But I suspect that it is exactly the same stuff. Consequently I buy them and use them as compost.

I wouldn't worry about the feed content - it will be used up after a period of time anyway. You need to feed your plants regularly - and if you do so I don't think it matters how much there was there to start with. Consequently I use old compost from last years pots that may have had its feed depleted, but as I feed regularly - it doesn't matter.

I am never sure what people mean when they say "Organic". I think they mean something that doesn't have complex organic (in a chemitry sense) compounds that could get in to the food chain and have a detremental effect on health. I would use any tomato feed (which is good for fruit and flowers). Phostrogen, as a solid, is cheaper that liquid feeds like Tomorite, where you are mostly paying for the water. Things like Phostrogen are simple inorganic (in a chemistry sense) salts that to my mind are as "Organic" as table salt - which is a simple inorganic product. If that makes sense .

 

It is hard to answer such a question as every growing situation is dependant on circumstance, location and the particular plants being grown, but for what it's worth I have found gro-bags bought from mainstream garden centres like Homebase to be quite efficient for potatoes, onions and, in a good summer, tomatoes, but less good for things like chillies and peppers. Strawberries I've usually just grown in the soil.

 

I tend to think that the cheapest Peat, or whatever the lumpy stuff is they use these days, goes into growbags.
Consequently you end up with a compost that holds virtually no water and you rely on the bag to hold moisture.

I must admit to using the cheapest compost I can find at times, but its water holding capacity is always low.
I bought some Leavington compost recently, (first for ages), got to admit it a hell of a lot better, even contains some grit to open it up.

As to the feed content, agreed, it only lasts a month or so, but if the compost wont hold water, it wont hold liquid feed either.

I guess the best "organic" feed would be the ones based on seaweed.
But I'm not "organic", so probably thats best answered by an organic grower.

 

You'll be hard pressed to find Organic plant food, and it will be expensive.

Chicken pellets - great for plants that your grow outside, such as veg. Comes from battery farmed hens. Organic versions available that have come from Organically reared hens

Blood Fish and Bone. From abattoirs ... Dunno if Organic versions available?

Growmore, and mainstream liquid feeds ... from the chemical industry.

Your best bet might be to grow some Comfrey and make your own. That is excellent for tomatoes , chillies and strawberries