The Lidl peat free compost looks much like the local authority soil
improver.
Very coarse grained, and has the warning that you should use very strong
gloves when working with it.
This could suggest that it is from recycled plant material and so could have
'foreign objects' in it.
Don't know, but I don't recall seeing this kind of warning on other
composts.

Anyway, it does not retain water well and so needs either frequent watering
or some kind of deep tray under a pot to catch the water and let it be
absorbed over a period of time.

I had a pot of wilting sunflowers which have much improved with this
treatment - other two pots had 'normal' compost in them.

A pot with an outdoor cucumber was also not doing well.
Pot is now in a plastic tub and the cucumber has sprung back to life.

So be warned - possibly O.K. as a soil improver but questionable for use on
its own in large pots.

Cheers

Dave R

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...
The Lidl peat free compost looks much like the local authority soil
improver.
Very coarse grained, and has the warning that you should use very strong
gloves when working with it.
This could suggest that it is from recycled plant material and so could
have 'foreign objects' in it.
Don't know, but I don't recall seeing this kind of warning on other
composts.

Anyway, it does not retain water well and so needs either frequent
watering or some kind of deep tray under a pot to catch the water and let
it be absorbed over a period of time.

I had a pot of wilting sunflowers which have much improved with this
treatment - other two pots had 'normal' compost in them.

A pot with an outdoor cucumber was also not doing well.
Pot is now in a plastic tub and the cucumber has sprung back to life.

So be warned - possibly O.K. as a soil improver but questionable for use
on its own in large pots.

I recently bought 48 pansys. 36 were planted in a raised bed with B&Q peat
free compost. The rest in clay soil. Those in the soil are fine, those in
the compost have all died. There are also masses of weeds in that bed. BE
WARNED!

--
Pete C

"Pete C" wrote


"David WE Roberts" wrote
The Lidl peat free compost looks much like the local authority soil
improver.
Very coarse grained, and has the warning that you should use very strong
gloves when working with it.
This could suggest that it is from recycled plant material and so could
have 'foreign objects' in it.
Don't know, but I don't recall seeing this kind of warning on other
composts.

Anyway, it does not retain water well and so needs either frequent
watering or some kind of deep tray under a pot to catch the water and let
it be absorbed over a period of time.

I had a pot of wilting sunflowers which have much improved with this
treatment - other two pots had 'normal' compost in them.

A pot with an outdoor cucumber was also not doing well.
Pot is now in a plastic tub and the cucumber has sprung back to life.

So be warned - possibly O.K. as a soil improver but questionable for use
on its own in large pots.

I recently bought 48 pansys. 36 were planted in a raised bed with B&Q peat
free compost. The rest in clay soil. Those in the soil are fine, those in
the compost have all died. There are also masses of weeds in that bed. BE
WARNED!

I took a large compost bag full of diseased plant material, blighted
potatoes and stems, and onions with white rot and brown neck rot down the
local recycling centre two days ago. I asked the chap there where it should
go, he said "in the Green Waste", I said "but it's diseased", he said "where
else are you going to put green waste?" so I tipped it in the green waste
bin for making into compost and soil improver.
I have asked our Council in the past if they can supply soil improver to our
allotment site but I don't think I'll bother now.

--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:17:44 +0100, Bob Hobden wrote:

I took a large compost bag full of diseased plant material, blighted
potatoes and stems, and onions with white rot and brown neck rot down
the local recycling centre two days ago. I asked the chap there where
it should go, he said "in the Green Waste", I said "but it's diseased",
he said "where else are you going to put green waste?"

More or less the only stuff that goes in our garden waste bin are things
we want to get rid of, like Ragwort, Thistles etc. It's not a problem
provided it all gets shredded and composted properly but I do have my
doubts that happens with any consistency.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Mon, 27 Aug 2012 17:11:44 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

On Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:17:44 +0100, Bob Hobden wrote:

I took a large compost bag full of diseased plant material, blighted
potatoes and stems, and onions with white rot and brown neck rot down
the local recycling centre two days ago. I asked the chap there where
it should go, he said "in the Green Waste", I said "but it's diseased",
he said "where else are you going to put green waste?"

More or less the only stuff that goes in our garden waste bin are things
we want to get rid of, like Ragwort, Thistles etc. It's not a problem
provided it all gets shredded and composted properly but I do have my
doubts that happens with any consistency.

We are told not to put Japanese knotweed in our green waste, which
seems to suggest that the composting method is not thorough.

On Mon, 27 Aug 2012 18:35:59 +0100, Fuschia
wrote:

We are told not to put Japanese knotweed in our green waste, which
seems to suggest that the composting method is not thorough.

The reason is more likely to be that it's illegal.

Last year someone deposited some JK at the local tip. The skip in
question was quarantined as they couldn't send it off site (again
illegal) to be composted and the lot was removed by a specialist
contractor as they couldn't reliably separate all the knotweed from
the other green waste.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay where sometimes
it's raining and sometimes it's not.

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...
"Pete C" wrote


"David WE Roberts" wrote
The Lidl peat free compost looks much like the local authority soil
improver.
Very coarse grained, and has the warning that you should use very strong
gloves when working with it.
This could suggest that it is from recycled plant material and so could
have 'foreign objects' in it.
Don't know, but I don't recall seeing this kind of warning on other
composts.

Anyway, it does not retain water well and so needs either frequent
watering or some kind of deep tray under a pot to catch the water and
let it be absorbed over a period of time.

I had a pot of wilting sunflowers which have much improved with this
treatment - other two pots had 'normal' compost in them.

A pot with an outdoor cucumber was also not doing well.
Pot is now in a plastic tub and the cucumber has sprung back to life.

So be warned - possibly O.K. as a soil improver but questionable for use
on its own in large pots.

I recently bought 48 pansys. 36 were planted in a raised bed with B&Q peat
free compost. The rest in clay soil. Those in the soil are fine, those in
the compost have all died. There are also masses of weeds in that bed. BE
WARNED!

I took a large compost bag full of diseased plant material, blighted
potatoes and stems, and onions with white rot and brown neck rot down the
local recycling centre two days ago. I asked the chap there where it
should go, he said "in the Green Waste", I said "but it's diseased", he
said "where else are you going to put green waste?" so I tipped it in the
green waste bin for making into compost and soil improver.
I have asked our Council in the past if they can supply soil improver to
our allotment site but I don't think I'll bother now.

Bob, I contacted Westland this year after finding that their compost was
full of weed seeds.
I asked them if they could tell me what treatment they gave their compost to
kill
weed seeds and pathogens (such as eelworm). They have not replied. As I use
about 700
litres of new compost a year for my late flowering chrysanths, I have gone
back
to using pure peat compost.

Phil

"Phil Gurr" wrote ...


"Bob Hobden" wrote

I took a large compost bag full of diseased plant material, blighted
potatoes and stems, and onions with white rot and brown neck rot down the
local recycling centre two days ago. I asked the chap there where it
should go, he said "in the Green Waste", I said "but it's diseased", he
said "where else are you going to put green waste?" so I tipped it in the
green waste bin for making into compost and soil improver.
I have asked our Council in the past if they can supply soil improver to
our allotment site but I don't think I'll bother now.

Bob, I contacted Westland this year after finding that their compost was
full of weed seeds.
I asked them if they could tell me what treatment they gave their compost
to kill
weed seeds and pathogens (such as eelworm). They have not replied. As I use
about 700
litres of new compost a year for my late flowering chrysanths, I have gone
back
to using pure peat compost.


If they, and I mean the Government and the "Green" lobby too, want us to use
this recycled waste instead of peat then they have to sterilise it
thoroughly before sale. You have been put off as have I and I'm sure many
more gardeners feel the same. If they keep on just composting without
treatment eventually it will filter down to the general public how dangerous
it is and they won't be able give it away let alone sell it.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

In article ,
"Bob Hobden" wrote:

If they, and I mean the Government and the "Green" lobby too, want us to use
this recycled waste instead of peat then they have to sterilise it
thoroughly before sale. ...

[Coming in late to this, but ...] Doesn't the heat generated kill off
all seeds, pathogens, etc.? The heaps are vast (like slag heaps!), and
get turned regularly.

Surely they wouldn't be carrying out these operations if they hadn't
taken into consideration the question of sterilisation? It's easy to
talk about "they" meaning "The Council", but the people actually
concerned aren't bungling councillors (as they're often thought of), but
professionals in their respective fields.

(Having said that: the people actually ding the work, as opposed to
commissioning it, are farmers round our way, and they're not best known
for due diligence!)

John