"Alan Gould" wrote in message ...
In article , Milner
writes
To the wise people;

I am potting a large number of nettles (yes the sad truth) for a
biological
project but I really don't know much about the bought compost I'm using-
I've used lots of bags which were moist and crumbly, but I have come
across
several (same brand) that are very damp, heavy, slimy and foul-smelling.
Are these still good to use? The 'damp' bags were mostly at the bottom
of
my large stack of compost bags, might this have affected them?

Yes, the bags of compost at the bottom have suffered from poor storage,
mainly in the form of too little air supply. Open them up and empty them
into a pile which can breathe, then the compost should become usable. It
may help to add some of the better compost to the affected stuff.

I would be interested to know more about the project you are doing with
nettles. They are a very valuable and much underestimated plant which
when properly used can be very beneficial to gardening. See urg FAQ at:

http://www.nugget.demon.co.uk/MetaFAQ/nettle.html
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

Thanks for your help! I will do as you say to let them breathe, how long
might this take before the compost becomes useable? I actually did empty
one 'damp' bag into a wheelbarrow and took it outside to see if I could make
it dry out, but unfortunately it started hailing yesterday afternoon :-(

I also have some bags (of a different brand) of manure, which were stored
below the bags of compost in the large stack, on opening one of these I also
found it to be very damp and heavy. From what you have said I suspect that
these have also suffered from poor storage, but I'm not really sure what to
expect from manure. Would these bags also benefit from emptying into a
pile? As a matter of fact, would you expect manure to be useful for growing
compost? My supervisor suggested that nettles would grow well in it because
of high nitrogen content.

My project is actually about insect parasitism; I am investigating the
abilities of aphid parasites to attack colonies of aphids that are different
distances from large populations of aphids. To this effect I am planting
nettles in pots in a greenhouse, and when they've grown up a bit I will
inoculate nettle aphids onto their leaves to establish aphid colonies. The
pots (acting as habitat fragments) will then be put out in pasture fields at
different distances from the edge of a woodland (where there are large
numbers of nettles, aphids and parasites). The idea is that the pots
closest to the woodland will be quickly be attacked by parasites, while
those further away will take longer, and those furthest away will remain
uninfected..

Phew! The trouble is I started off without much practical knowledge of how
to deal with the plants-- I'm just now busy digesting "If you are just
starting out in gardening" :-)

Milner