Coco coir vs soil

Its interesting that when i search it says that these coir products are the only peat containing soil and compost that the B and Q 15 mins away from me sells

https://www.diy.com/outdoor-garden/...st-soil-improvers.cat?Peat-free=Contains+peat

 

But they are actually only available for home delivery. B&Q online is now a retail platform, similar to eBay and Amazon with many goods sold on their platform are through a third party on a home delivery bases only. It's highly unlikely that your local B&Q will store and sell the coir blocks.

In general, I think the compost that B&Q sell which you can collect is all peat free, but bulk of the composts and barks listed on their site are home delivery only through a third party, B&Q take a commission on each of these sales.

 

I do not have any garden centres or nurseries near me. The only place which is relatively local that sells plant material is B and Q . What i was trying to say is that the only peat containing material they sell is Coco Coir. Part of the reason for me looking into this in the first place is because i do not drive so its difficult for me to pick up 25 L bags of soil . Getting this amount of soil and compost delivered is what i normally do but sadly ive run out of soil :(

 

Somerset peat is sedge peat, is it not??
I can remember years ago buying peat that was black, I was under the impression it was called sedge peat.

It used to crop up in grow bags for years.

 

No they do not contain peat they are compressed blocks of coir.
You often find things misdescribed/mislabelled on websites.

 

On the link that you have provided for B&Q the large coir block that weighs 4.5kg is actually coir husk chips. The chips are roughly half the size of a sugar cube, this type of coir is mainly used to open up the compost, ideal for orchids. If you were to purchase this then you would only add about 10-30% into your mix. If you were to use this, then you don't need to add any extra grit for drainage. If your wanting something similar to a compost in texture you would have to buy these ones.

https://www.diy.com/departments/coir-products-5kg-coir-potting-mix-80l-/5060861940131_BQ.prd

The listing states that when hydrated it will give you 80L, which in my experience is misleading. We have purchased these 5kg blocks in full 40ft containers, about 4800 blocks, we would get an output of 60-70L per block as not all the blocks actually weigh 5kg.

 

That seems a good price to me @shiney. I have no idea what's in it but my favourite ordinary potting compost here is about 13€ for a 70 litre bag.

Someone in the gardening club has connections in a professional nursery which means in January we can order professional seeds and cuttings compost which contains black peat, golden peat and other stuff plus perlite. They also do a potting compost with a small %age of peat, composted bark, good nutrient levels and microrrhizal fungae and it's been sieved! I tried it this year and t's brilliant so I'll order even more this coming spring. Not cheap but worth it for special plants.