Compost differences

A warning to all:

Well I bought some more compost, 3 50L bags for £20 not cheap but said organic, peat free, soil association approved, no chemicals. It is Blue Diamond own label "Growers Gold, peat free organic fruit and veg compost". It seemed really good stuff to handle and was thinking of recommending it if you had one of their garden centres near you.

Well I potted up my toms, aubergines and peppers using it on Monday. I remember looking in the evening and one tomato plant looked a bit droopy but thought it would pick up. we were out all day Tuesday and when I looked Wednesday morning, they were in a right state. Instead of all standing erect, a lot were fallen over and/or with curled up leaves. I spent yesterday repotting in some compost off the heap mixed with soil, not brilliant and a bit claggy but a lot better than the bought in stuff.

It will be a few days before I know how many will survive. This morning, I also potted up some seedlings I had discarded on the bench as they were in far better shape.

I would say it is Aminopyralid contamination - so much for "Chemical free" on the gag.

I don't think I will be buying

A few pics to go with the above post. I'll keep the pepper plant a while in case it sprouts from the seed leaves.

               

Bloody hell Mark, the devastation! It looks very similar to my tomatoes and chillies that didn't like to be moved off the lovely and warm propagator mat, nor the compost that I put them in. Maybe it was more the compost than the temperature change for my poor seedlings then. Blimey.

Was there a temperture change Mark as we have had some cold nights lately? Just wondering?

So sorry for you Mark!
All that wasted effort - I’ve had similar crap results with compost too. You think that you’re laughing once you’ve got your stuff big enough to prick out and pot on - but sadly it’s not the case.
Hope you can manage to salvage some of it.

So sorry for you Mark!
All that wasted effort - I’ve had similar crap results with compost too. You think that you’re laughing once you’ve got your stuff big enough to prick out and pot on - but sadly it’s not the case.
Hope you can manage to salvage some of it.

I've repotted those that look like they could recover after washing their roots clean. I'm away till Monday so I'll have a good look at what I've got left. Should have plenty of tomatoes as I've grafted a lot and are not ready for potting on yet - but some of those are not going to survive. I've a couple of capsicums that were potted on. The aubergines don't look too bad at the moment but I only have one spare if they kick the bucket.

Was there a temperture change Mark as we have had some cold nights lately? Just wondering?

It was definitely caused by the compost. They are all in a propagator and there were other plants in there also, mainly chillies which are fine. I left some 'seconds' on the bench in the shed bare rooted and they are looking in a lot better condition than the potted up plants. I've just potted up a couple of those today, mainly capsicums and one aubergine and tomato.

That's dreadful - have you told the company? Presumably some of the material supplied to the digester was contaminated

That's dreadful - have you told the company? Presumably some of the material supplied to the digester was contaminated

It also contains green waste, according to their website, so could be that too. https://rocketgro.co.uk/product/peat-fre...eg-compost

Looking at the lawn weed killers currently on the market, Weedol contains clopyralid. It does say not to dispose of via council composting schemes but how many people do you reckon either don't read that or just ignore it?

That's always been my worry about green waste, TMTT.
Joe Bloggs may not have a compost heap, or doesn't want to put treated grass cuttings in there so puts them in the garden waste bin. Household waste bins, here anyway, are too small for filling with grass cuttings - in fact I think we've been told they're not to be used for garden waste. How else would Joe BLoggs get rid of them??