I found a supplier of a compost based on bracken and horse manure. The
price is almost exactly twice as much as that of ordinary peat based potting
compost. Is this a rip-off?

Franz

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these words:

I found a supplier of a compost based on bracken and horse manure. The
price is almost exactly twice as much as that of ordinary peat based potting
compost. Is this a rip-off?

Much more work required in gathering bracken and mixing/composting.

Sounds very reasonable to me.

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

On Wed, 1 Oct 2003 17:18:46 +0100, Jaques d'Altrades
wrote:

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these words:

I found a supplier of a compost based on bracken and horse manure. The
price is almost exactly twice as much as that of ordinary peat based potting
compost. Is this a rip-off?

Much more work required in gathering bracken and mixing/composting.

and the spores cause cancer allegedly


Sounds very reasonable to me.

--
Martin

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these words:

I found a supplier of a compost based on bracken and horse manure. The
price is almost exactly twice as much as that of ordinary peat based potting
compost. Is this a rip-off?

Isn't the composted bracken/manure product is intended as a
fertiliser/soil enricher? Potting compost is intended for what it says.
If they are not equivalent products then one wouldn't expect the prices
to be similar.

Compare it with the price of other composted manures like 6X , which
is also twice the price of ordinary potting compost.

Janet.

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these
words:

I found a supplier of a compost based on bracken and horse manure. The
price is almost exactly twice as much as that of ordinary peat based
potting
compost. Is this a rip-off?

Isn't the composted bracken/manure product is intended as a
fertiliser/soil enricher?

Yes. It is intended to be used as a mulch, as far as I can make out. Which
is why I find it surprising that it is twice the price of peatbased
composts. Typical of the price of other non-peat composts. I consider them
to be rip-offs too.

Potting compost is intended for what it says.
If they are not equivalent products then one wouldn't expect the prices
to be similar.

Indeed. I would have expected the mulching composts to be less expensive
than the peat-based composts. Perhaps I anm just plain wrong on this issue.

Compare it with the price of other composted manures like 6X , which
is also twice the price of ordinary potting compost.

Franz

"Jaques d'Altrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these
words:

I found a supplier of a compost based on bracken and horse manure. The
price is almost exactly twice as much as that of ordinary peat based
potting
compost. Is this a rip-off?

Much more work required in gathering bracken and mixing/composting.

Sounds very reasonable to me.

But then it will cost me a leg and an arm to treat the whole garden with it.

Franz

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these words:

Sounds very reasonable to me.

But then it will cost me a leg and an arm to treat the whole garden with it.

Then I recommend what I used to do when I was ickle - go out with a
bucket and shovel and take home the hors d'offerings which steamed in
the road.

Of course, in those days the milkman had a horse and cart, as did the
baker, the fish man, the 'mobile greengrocer', the farmer more-or-less
next door.

One of the coal merchants had a Foden steam lorry, but that only left
ash and hot cinders for unwary pssssssssssssssssssssscyclists instead.
Any of the abovementioned substance was purely verbal.

(I understand now that it should have had a plate under the grate to
prevent this.)

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

In message , martin
writes
On Wed, 1 Oct 2003 17:18:46 +0100, Jaques d'Altrades
wrote:

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these words:

I found a supplier of a compost based on bracken and horse manure. The
price is almost exactly twice as much as that of ordinary peat based potting
compost. Is this a rip-off?

Much more work required in gathering bracken and mixing/composting.

and the spores cause cancer allegedly

Not even allegedly. There are some very nasty toxins in bracken.
I have eaten the stuff once in Japan where it is a traditional delicacy.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown

"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
In message , martin
writes
On Wed, 1 Oct 2003 17:18:46 +0100, Jaques d'Altrades
wrote:

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these
words:

I found a supplier of a compost based on bracken and horse manure.
The
price is almost exactly twice as much as that of ordinary peat based
potting
compost. Is this a rip-off?

Much more work required in gathering bracken and mixing/composting.

and the spores cause cancer allegedly

Not even allegedly. There are some very nasty toxins in bracken.
I have eaten the stuff once in Japan where it is a traditional delicacy.

I hope and trust that these products are broken down during composting......

Franz

"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
In message , martin
writes
On Wed, 1 Oct 2003 17:18:46 +0100, Jaques d'Altrades
wrote:

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these
words:

I found a supplier of a compost based on bracken and horse manure.
The
price is almost exactly twice as much as that of ordinary peat based
potting
compost. Is this a rip-off?

Much more work required in gathering bracken and mixing/composting.

and the spores cause cancer allegedly

Not even allegedly. There are some very nasty toxins in bracken.
I have eaten the stuff once in Japan where it is a traditional delicacy.

I hope and trust that these products are broken down during composting......

Franz

"Jaques d'Altrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these
words:

Sounds very reasonable to me.

But then it will cost me a leg and an arm to treat the whole garden with
it.

Then I recommend what I used to do when I was ickle - go out with a
bucket and shovel and take home the hors d'offerings which steamed in
the road.

I do it now. There is always a small coal shovel and a poly bag in the
boot. But even here, in the Dales, horses are not all that prevalent
nowadays.

Franz

"Jaques d'Altrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these
words:

Sounds very reasonable to me.

But then it will cost me a leg and an arm to treat the whole garden with
it.

Then I recommend what I used to do when I was ickle - go out with a
bucket and shovel and take home the hors d'offerings which steamed in
the road.

I do it now. There is always a small coal shovel and a poly bag in the
boot. But even here, in the Dales, horses are not all that prevalent
nowadays.

Franz

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these words:

Then I recommend what I used to do when I was ickle - go out with a
bucket and shovel and take home the hors d'offerings which steamed in
the road.

I do it now. There is always a small coal shovel and a poly bag in the
boot. But even here, in the Dales, horses are not all that prevalent
nowadays.

Sheepsh composts well.

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these words:

Then I recommend what I used to do when I was ickle - go out with a
bucket and shovel and take home the hors d'offerings which steamed in
the road.

I do it now. There is always a small coal shovel and a poly bag in the
boot. But even here, in the Dales, horses are not all that prevalent
nowadays.

Sheepsh composts well.

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

"Jaques d'Altrades" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these
words:

Then I recommend what I used to do when I was ickle - go out with a
bucket and shovel and take home the hors d'offerings which steamed in
the road.

I do it now. There is always a small coal shovel and a poly bag in the
boot. But even here, in the Dales, horses are not all that prevalent
nowadays.

Sheepsh composts well.

Yes, but being distributed in smaller, widely spread packages, it is rather
tedious to collect significant amounts.

Franz