On Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:55:47 +0000, Janet Tweedy
wrote:

In article , Charlie
Pridham writes
If you want to acheive the same effect without the weight use perlite
instead of grit.


I like vermiculite, not had much success with Perlite. I sprinkle it on
top of seeds as well it's never too heavy for very small seeds.
Good for getting drainage when doing cuttings.

Best stuff i ever sued when first potting up cuttings was a block which
first had to be soaked and swelled to about 8 times it's size but when
used in the pots and with a tiny bit of slow release added gave me
absolutely stupendous root growth on all the cuttings. Not so food for
second potting on but for the first it seems to encourage really good
root growth and you don't want to burn bay roots with strong fertiliser
anyway.
Think i got the coir brick as a freeby from Wiggly Wiggler's when first
bought a wormery. Not seen them much since.

Must look for it again. i had forgotten my success

Janet

I've been using coir exclusively for 3 years to grow on seedlings and
plug plants and get much better results than the days when I used
"ordinary" composts. For sowing seed I mix coir with John Innes No. 1
on a roughly 50-50 basis.

My feeding regime is now very much "QVC" - I use Richard Jackson's
Flower Power range as, again, I find I get much better results with it
than with Phostrogen, Miracle Grow and the like. I don't feed any more
than I would were I using ordinary compost.

When planting up my baskets and wall planters I use a mix of about 25%
compost and 75% coir with some added "Rain Gel" (combined water
retaining granules and controlled release feed) for good measure. I
don't use coir in tubs though.

I get the large "bricks" that make about 70 litres when you water them
(I use the wheelbarrow for this) - I bought a "job lot" last year from
a local garden store which worked out only about 25p a brick more than
equivalent bags of compost. I notice that Ferndale Lodge are selling
this size for about £19 for three.

"The Garden" January edition has an article on peat free compost,
including coir.

Incidentally, where I need to line a basket, I use the similar blocks
of dried, compressed moss. Much more fun to do than just stick in a
pre-made liner, looks a lot better and often lasts for a couple of
years befoire going on the compost heap. And a lot cheaper than bags
of moss in the garden centre.

Jake