Tomato Growing Thread 2022

Things have changed since then with new legislations allowing animal litter to be burnt to generate energy.

Poultry manure was never burnt in a combustion unit to generate heat, now waste plants that would of gone to produce compost can now be decomposed and pelleted for biomass, the same is expected with horse manure.

Entrepreneur aims to use muck heaps to fuel power stations - Horse & Hound

During lockdown, I could of sold tonnes more of poultry manure, trying to get hold of it was like try to find, hens teeth.
I have since found a new source, an independent free range chicken broiler, my previous supplier has to import some of the raw materials to meet the demand. Sort of makes a mockery of this going green.

Hens that heat themselves

 

As you are clearly in the supply chain, what causes you not to be confident. Where can the industry correct its "shortcomings", do you have a recipe to correct this, and is it a case of whats left out, or what is included?

 

Why does commercial growers purchase commercial grade compost, when retail compost from supermarkets, diy stores etc etc is cheaper?

https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/m...natives-to-horticultural-peat-in-scotland.pdf

Bottom of page 12. Relatively few organic materials have the potential to partly or wholly replace peat in growing media.

You will note that 3 of the products, coir, softwood pine bark and wood fibre financial costs are an issue. Competition for forest by products for renewable energy means the likes of softwood pine and wood fibre are becoming more expensive.

The alternatives that we used to use are becoming more and more expensive, which the retailer outlets will not pay. When you have a retailer who says I am only going to pay x amount, then your limited even more. I believe in, quality over quantity, which come at a price, but inhibits us when the retailers are not prepared to pay.

 

Re: Infradig post re PAS100 THANKS VERY MUCH FOR THE LINK,! Am reading it now, very interesting and informative!!

 

I fully understand the points made; its difficult when the customer only understands price, not value.
There is the desire to cost-effectively deliver the plants required, and this has not so far enabled me to justify the considerable premium of 'professional' growing media, rather to maximise the utility of such peat based as can be sourced economically, supplement with such as JI base fertiliser and sharp sand, and considering ways to re use /re cycle/re compost seperately 'spent' media for certain crops. A 'lasagne' mix of this, topped in trays and modules by a finer 'seedling' layer , appears to be one satisfactory compromise. As a pensioned grower,
with the target of clearing gardening expenses by sale at the gate of 'excess' plants, one seeks the best way achieving this.

 

Once they started with the phasing of peat policy this is when compost costs started to rise as the main element of growing media, Peat, is going to be banned. Also, the contracts for recycling green waste did not go to the manufacturers, no in house control.

The local green cycling company near me, only 5 miles away has had problems with green waste. As you will see in the link below, they have issues with what is going in the garden waste bins.

Garden waste contamination in Egremont | Copeland Borough Council

The recycling company basically do 2 products with it, which they sell it as, compost / topsoil and compost /soil conditioner. Now they state on their site that it, Is Quality Protocol and PAS100 Certified Compost. The site also states, Professional horticulturists should seek advice from a specialist in compost use. There blend is only screened through a 0-25mm screen, yet my peat reduced M/C is passed through a 0-10mm screen.

I produce soil conditioners, one has no added nutrients, with the other having BFB added. None of my material is sourced local, the bark, spent mushroom compost and horse manure comes from out the county, costing me £350 in haulage for each load with the raw materials also costing me. However, I can still sell my soil conditioner cheaper per litre to the general public, locally than the recycled garden waste company. They are getting the garden waste dumped in their yard and probably for free, where as I have overheads for the material and haulage. I sell far more soil conditioner than they could produce, so what do I then use to make compost? The last green bin collection in our constituency is the first Tuesday in November, they don't start to collect again till the last Tuesday in March, how would I make anything without raw materials.

These environmentalist's tell you that recycling green waste will be cheaper as more people start to purchase the product in volumes, well its actually more expensive than peat. They also said 15 years ago that coir was a cheap alternative and as more people used it, the cheaper it would be. What they forgot to tell people, back then the £1 was very strong and was for about 4 years. Back then £1 got you anywhere between $1.8 and $2 dollars. Now you will only get $1.15 to the £1. Coir has been increasing in price due to international markets trading in usd, which effects cost when you have weak currency, something they seemed to forget when they were pushing coir. I have a load of coir at sea but I will have to increase the price due to the weak pound, the coir blocks are now 20% more compared to the same period last year. My sales of coir both to the commercial sector and retail are in decline a weakening pound is a factor.

 

Thank you for your full and frank responses. I appreciate your position. Clearly, as with all things, that the inflationary spiral is to reach very close to home. Veolia will supply me with full 12ton loads of 'Progrow' conditioner @£15/ton, plus freight @c £187, plus vat, delivered 32miles.
The local processor offers Pas100 @£97.99 , Cow compost (Pas100+ Cow) £109, Potting (suitable seeds) £235 per 1000l bag delivered 4 miles kerbside. So far refuses to quote for Loose bulk, despite loads passing my gate daily.

 

What is the volume of all the others in litres? The one suitable for seeds @ £235 per 1000l is expensive, what's it made from?

I don't have as many commercial growers growing in coir compared to what we used to, some of the local council's insist it has to be peat free but they tend to have a budget on what they can spend. I supply a couple of Uni's and colleges with coir based composts, again they also have a budget. Supplied Durham Uni for a number of years now with coir potting which is packed in 60l bags, last order they got was for 140 bags and was just under their £1000 budget inclusive of freight and vat, there will be an increase next year due to the load I will be getting costing me more due to the poor exchange rate.

For the last 10-15 years I was getting peat from Borda Mona until they seized harvesting peat, I had an allowance of 5,000 cubic metres per year, no more. I also used to get composted bark locally, I have known the owner since our school days. One of the big boys came in and said, I will purchase all you can produce and that was the end of that for me. If he fails to meet the requirements there is financial implications, so I fully understood. He just forgot it was supplying the small people like me got him to where he is now. Maybe your source has prior contracts, hence why they will not quote you on loose bulk loads, or there is not the volume to supply you even if they could.

 

All prices quoted for 1000l bags. Can only presume thats to a standard volume of content!
The potting is described as "At the core of this Peat-Free growing medium is a blend of composted fine bark and coir, with a slow release fertiliser which is resistant to leeching and will last for up to 12 weeks with no risk of scorching young or delicate plants making it a perfect solution for growing your seedlings in pots in the garden or at the allotment."
It is open to interpretation as to what may surround the core.
Further research ,me thinks.

 

Thanks for the VERY valuable real common sense regarding 'business' problems in the production of 'modern' compost. Learnt a lot from the earlier facts re compost legality as well as 'local' problem regarding green waste content! Must be said, in my ignorance, I was concerned about the nature of the green waste. Still a little concerned that small or even possibly unscrupulous 'rotters' (!!!) utilising almost anything organic. However you have tended to put my mind at ease simply because of the effects of heat in the process!
Also can now appreciate the effects of size of sieves!! Probably helps to explain my dislike of certain bought composts simply because I put my prejudice down to coarse nature of product. Can appreciate the 'sense' to some producers of a coarse, include-all content!! Thanks again for your diligence!!

 

Hello all,

I've been harvesting my outdoor tomatoes today. The indoor (greenhouse) tomatoes are starting to come to an end though there are still a few left. What amazed me about the outdoor ones is how many had ripened since last time I checked. I managed to fill 4 large bowls (see photo below).



Varieties include Maskotka, Black Russian, Cherry Falls, Garden Pearl and Radana.

Tomorrow will be a processing day. Dehydrating and also making tomato sauces for the winter time. The nice thing is that the outdoor tomatoes are ready for picking a month or so later than the indoor ones, spreading the season.

Ademission

 

Wonderful harvest! Well done!! Virtually all our Tom's have come from plants grown outdoors, and yes there are so many more now that the weather has changed since those hot dry weeks!! As our general atmosphere 'warms up' I think even the relatively small increase has pushed many plants outside. I expect things will inevitably 'go back' occasionally, but we are in a global warming cycle that will change ultimately our general temperature over the next years. Good for Tom's in the short term!!!

 

@Ademission Well done on such a bumper harvest!

 

Very impressive @JWK