On 22/05/2019 10:23, Roger Tonkin wrote:
In article ,
says...
In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:
A handful of Growmore, or a slow release fertiliser like Osmocote should
see you ok for next year. I reuse everything - from compost in pots,
seedtrays, plugs, etc. Maybe add a bit of fertiliser if I remember, or
some new compost. And I never wash old pots - I just brush them out with
an old washing-up brush (and no, I don't put it back by the sink after
use!).
No, Growmore alone will NOT work - most especially not on 'soilless'
compost. It is a NPK fertiliser, and the compost will be depleted
of many of the other nutrients. Miraclegrow and other 'complete'
fertilisers will work. I don't know what Osmocote contains.
Thanks for all the responses, looks as if I may have to admoit
she was right 
Bulbs in flower don't take all much out of their growing media.
Hence you can grow them in bulb fibre or even a hyacinth glass.
Bit confused about Nicks comment on "soilless" compost. I used
a standard garden centre product Levington Potting compost with
added John Innes, what ever that may mean,
Soilless with peat or coir based composts have essentially no reserves
of minerals beyond those that are added to them during manufacture.
John Innes and other loam based compost contain enough clay that
minerals and trace element availability is better. But even so growing
the same sort of plant in it more than once is a bad idea. The other
problem is build up of diseases and pests in reused compost.
I tend to put my spent compost and dead plants in a corner of the
compost heap or if it is clean as a top dressing on the vegetable patch.
--
Regards,
Martin Brown