Peat free compost/grow bags - anyone had good results?

NotSpaghetti I’m bloody horrified if it is. I’ve been peat free for years (with mixed results) and that was in the peat free section, so I didn’t even check. I will make sure, and then return the one bag I have left, and lecture the nursery.

I know that others have had problems but I have had great results with all of my seedlings and larger plants by using the cheapest peat free compound I could find and adding bonemeal. I bought the dehydrated blocks because my garden is very steep and the shed and greenhouse are at the top (obviously 🙂) and I can’t carry the big heavy bags up there. I have germinated many different native perennials and they grew like, well, weeds!

Siope - I hope I'm wrong!

I’m not much of a Gardner but do all the pots in the garden. I bought many, many bags of Miracle Gro peat free compost this year. My plants haven’t been great but that may be due to a wet summer. Despite watering wall troughs regularly the compost has the consistency of sand and falls out of the bottom. I’m wondering whether it would be worth mixing in topsoil in future. Very disappointed but understand the reasons but do miss peat compost.

I've just replaced four of my raised vegetable beds and shovelled all the earth from the old to the new (with the help of DH, thank goodness!) I incorporated handfulls of chicken manure pellets and blood, fish and bone in them to boost the fertility, and will top dress with my home made compost when it's ready in the spring, so hopefully that will do the trick for the veg in those beds.

I'm ashamed to say that a couple of weeks ago I made a trip to a local garden centre that is still selling Jack's Magic compost, including peat, for any sowing, potting on and cuttings that I take next year. Well it was there already and someone had to buy it!

Peat free has been a disaster in years gone by when I've tried it and again this year with peat free grow bags, so I've put off the day when I have to find a decent alternative, or mix my own recipe with a wish and a prayer, for at least a few months...

My peat free compost was awful this year. I then watched a tv program that said lots of them look dry on the surface but are wet underneath and the roots get waterlogged… maybe this is what happened? So I’m going to add vermiculite next year and see if that improves things.

Anyone found a decent one yet please?

Nope!
The best I can do is mix peat free with vermiculite and home-made compost, 1-1-1 ratio.
This is OK for big pots but I have yet to find a good seedling or small pot formula.
Hoping someone else has found the magic answer!

John Innes Seed Sowing Compost is now giving me good results, it is peat free but seems to work well. I’m still struggling to find a decent compost for potting on though, interested if anybody else has found anything good.

Casdon, thank you for your recommendation. I will buy a (small) bag next season for my seed-sowing and see how I get on with it. I'm really not looking forward to all the shovelling, sieving and mixing I'm going to be doing in future years for my pots when no doubt I'll be less able to do it!

My guess is that companies are experimenting now with blends of their own, and we’ll be buying these pretty soon 🤞

Let's hope so Ali!

They’ve just mixed some potting compost on gardeners world:

4 scoops peat free compost
1 scoop grit
1 scoop sand
Some fertiliser ‘to keep it going’

Might be worth a try next year 🌸

I had a complete disaster using peat-free compost, growing both plants from seed and growing tomatoes and cucumbers bought as healthy plants in peat-free grow bags.
I’ve never had such a bad year in 45 years of gardening.
Luckily my local garden centre still sells compost partly containing peat so I have unashamedly stocked up and hope I have enough for a couple of years. I do have 3 compost bins but the slow worms have moved in! I will focus on making more of my own in future.

The problem for producers is that the ingredients put into green waste is so inconsistent, everything from lawn mowings to rose prunings, not to mention various chemical residues and disease from gardens and commercial waste.
Getting consistent results from tender seeds and transplants is difficult, if there are any commercial growers using recycled compost they will be processsing and sterilizing their own material to make sure plants will thrive.

I need to take out all my year old container strawberries, the compost is useless. The plants were plugs last year and are ok but only ok. The first time this has ever happened, I used a peat free compost

It is so daunting tbh, I have a lot of troughs but my thought is to clean up every plant ie remove visible weeds and then to add something organic to the compost, rather than waste it. It looks as though it has also clumped together so I will be adding some grit as well. Luckily I have three small hotbins and I definitely have some good mature home made compost available.

I think mixing the peat free with homemade compost is worth trying karmalady. I tipped all my empty peat free compost containers into a compost bin, and mixed it with leaf mould and homemade compost at the end of the autumn. Mine hasn’t gone clumped though, I’m still struggling to get it to hold the moisture well. I keep turning it, so I’m going to experiment with it this year to see what happens. It can’t give worse results than peat free alone, surely.

I read this thread some months ago and have bought a few bags of jacks magic, stored in my garage for future years

I am experimenting this year and have today emptied 1 + 1/2 of my 3 mini hot bins. There is very good compost in there. What I have done in eg veg trugs and my small raised beds is to spread a layer of that compost on top. I am not messing with peat free compost this year, except for the one bag of seed compost that I need

The bins are a good home for compost worms and they seem to thrive on paper shreds that I use to top the bins up in winter. It is quite difficult to keep the 3 bins going during winter and the shreds help. I believe that these worms will greatly help the performance of my compost. I also use as much comfrey (bocking 14 ) as I can, it heats up quickly

Casdon, I`ll be doing what you did at the end of this season. A good idea

I used JI seed compost this year and have had 100% good results from my tomato seeds. Every one is looking very strong. I will buy that make again

Our old compost is recycled by mixing it in the compost bin with the home made compost. We never use bought compost alone, but always mix it according to need. So for seeds little added but for everything else beefed up with garden compost, grit, FBB etc.

JI 2or3 is our composts of choice.

Out tomatoes are big plants now and ready to be planted out into the greenhouse. Cucumbers not far behind. Next will be sown stuff like courgettes, beans etc.

Jack's Magic has always had varying amounts of peat in it (until they went peat free) when you look on the back of the sack there is a coloured bar showing what the percentage peat is. That is why it sometimes works better and sometimes way worse for sowing seedlings. Anyone who can suggest a peat free compost that retains moisture will be our saviour. Unfortunately I cannot buy the Melcourt product as Melcourt are responsible for destroying the verges and countryside around where their lorries go - no thought for others at all.

Whitewavemark2

Our old compost is recycled by mixing it in the compost bin with the home made compost. We never use bought compost alone, but always mix it according to need. So for seeds little added but for everything else beefed up with garden compost, grit, FBB etc.

JI 2or3 is our composts of choice.

John Innes No3 isn’t as good as it was in the past either since it went peat free, so I think mixing with our own compost is the only way forward - I just haven’t got the right consistency yet, because with the peat free mixed in, my mix is dry on the top still.

I’m buying some plants with a Sarah Raven voucher I was given and will add a bag of this
www.sarahraven.com/products/sarah-raven-peat-free-compost

🤞

Growmoor Multi-Purpose Compost 60 Litre
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Compost is produced from high-quality peats with the addition of a superb and proven fertiliser
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germination_time : 365.0 days