On 5/3/08 17:50, in article ,
"Jeff Layman" wrote:

Sacha wrote:

It's important to use seed compost because it won't over feed your
germinating seedlings. Some/many seedlings won't even germinate
in ordinary
compost and as my husband says, "don't save pennies and waste
pounds".

I have absolutely no problem using a "general purpose compost"

(Toms, lettuce, cucumbers etc etc)

Then the OP must choose your personal experience over my husband's
professional experience of 60 years. That's what newsgroups are
about - read the information and make your own choice.
His family grew lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers commercially in
Essex before he moved to Devon.

Absolutely. My very small amount of hands-on use would certainly
not scale up to large scale- professional practice.
Mine works for me, yours for you.
Horses for courses, innit.

Yes and part of gardening is, of course, its failures, too. It's all
part of learning. I think everyone has to push the boundaries a bit
to see what works for them. Years ago, I read a book in which the
author described how she'd asked someone to clean out the stables,
intending the manure to be heaped up and left to rot down a bit. As
we are all told, fresh manure direct onto plants is supposed to
'burn' them. Well, to her horror she saw her helper had put the
manure straight onto her flower beds, inches deep and she was
terrified all her plants were going to be killed off. In fact, they
thrived and grew wonderfully. Whether that sort of thing is a
question of luck or not believing all you read, I don't know!

I find this most intriguing.

I've often wondered if many of these suggestions are old wives tales (or
should I say "chestnuts" as this is a gardening group!).

Farmers spread raw muck over fields, and plants seem to grow happily.
Perhaps some get burnt - I don't know, but they wouldn't risk losing a crop.
But is it due to too much nitrogen as is usually stated, or that it is much
too acid (or alkaline. I've never measured the pH)?

With regard to seed compost use, why should any plant prefer a "poor" start
in life to a "rich" start? On that basis, should we feed a baby on watered
milk for the first few months of its life, as it will no doubt develop a
more efficient digestive system?

Unless a plant has a specific need for a certain soil type (eg Proteacea)
why not start it off in JI3?

I can't imagine that this has not been tried before, but if a comparison of
JI seed, 1, 2, and 3 for germination was only tested once, and that is what
all this is based on, well, perhaps we need to look again.

You might find this site interesting:

http://www.gardeningdata.co.uk/soil/...john_innes.php


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'