COMPOST - HEALTH WARNING!

The BBC news site today is carrying an article about the risk of Legionella being picked up by gardeners from compost.
You can read the full article here >

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-18206191

 

Thanks for that Dave. I knew I should have taken up knitting......
treetree Health and Safety

 

the problem I think, is that lots of the compost now comes from the recycle centre green and brown bins

thats the reason why I buy specialist imported composts now, that are organic, and ingredients include the finest peats from several parts of the world, worm humis/vermi compost, perlite, bat guano, Mycorrhizal Fungi, etc etc

and it's not all that much more expensive if you have to add those ingredients seperately ...

the one I use now costs £13 for a 50 litre bag, and the plants and shrubs love it ...

obviously, if you use tonnes of compost a year, it will not be feasable

 

Talking of dodgy Telford meat pies 'oop North, has anyone seen Jack the Mac lately or is he on his hols now?
Of course darling, we don't have problems like that down south with our Waitrose "gourmet range" meat pies....

 

Yes, the last lot of 'budget' stuff I bought came complete with bits of wire and assorted ironmongery. Never again.

 

The budget stuff used to be reasonably good a few years back but now it seems to be full of old rope, lumps of wood and has dubious levels of nutrients. These days i mostly use inert media like gravel or no media at all so i dont need to worry about it.

 

what they need to print on the compost bags is the PH value and the E.C. value (like all the imported composts at hydroponic stores)

none of the composts in the UK (that I have seen) have the EC (electrical conductivity level) printed on the bag, and many don't have the PH level either ....

I read somewhere that companies that produce 'poor' compost are too 'shy' to print this data on the bags

I don't fully understand the EC .... but it explains it on these links:

http://www.soilandplantlaboratory.com/pdf/articles/CompostAGuideForUsing.pdf
http://www.agriculturesolutions.com...ing-the-Electrical-Conductivity-of-Soils.html

 

I'm pretty sure most bags of compost in the uk do actually already have a warning saying "always wear gloves when gardening"... Which I would agree with but I think the BBC is scaremongering a little, like they said 3 definite cases, of the billion bags they use, and at this stage how can they confirm it's the compost?

 

compare a bag of fairly decent compost in the UK .... I used to favour John Innes #3, and this is favoured by many from what I have read on UK gardening forums ... a 25 litre bag costs approx £4.98 (£9.96 for 50 litres)

from this site:
http://www.gardeningdata.co.uk/soil/john_innes/john_innes.php

JOHN INNES POTTING COMPOST No.3
a richer mixture for final re-potting of gross feeding vegetable plants and for mature foliage plants and shrubs in interior planters or outdoor containers.
7 Loam
3 Peat
2 Sand
each cubic metre of mix, add
0.6kg ground limestone
3.6kg hoof and horn meal
3.6kg superphosphate
1.8kg potassium sulphate


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now, compare it to an imported compost such as this:
Alpha - Mix Organic soil mix 50 litre bag:
http://www.camgrow.co.uk/products/ALPHA%2dMIX-ORGANIC-SOIL-MIX-50-LTR-BAG.html

a 50 litre bag costs £11.99 ...

and details:
Alpha Mix is a professional soil mix, formulated by a noted European agronomist and blended from carefully chosen organic ingredients.
Alpha-Mix is blended from:

• Careful selections of black peat and white sphagnum peat extracted from sustainable Baltic sources.
• Natural lime.
• Pure worm casts.
• Blended organic nutrients for early growth.
• Volcanic lava sand for enhanced drainage.

This is a sensational development in professional soil formulation. Alpha-Mix is significantly drier than other soils on the market. It is designed to offer maximum aeration to the root zone and to resist waterlogging. This is the characteristic that delivers faster and more vigorous growth, and is a product of the careful professional approach to the formulation of this product
---------------------------------------
so, for less than £2 more, I get a far superior compost which makes John Innes #3 look like playsand ....

it does not make sense buying the local stuff .... and the hydroponic store is half the distance than the nearest garden centre from where I live .... and they deliver in a 10 mile radius for free

I use one that costs £13 for 50 litres, and is even better than the one that I have given as an example

 

Oh please, not another warning!! If I am potting plants with a bag of compost I don't wear gloves as I like to 'feel' the consistency of it, but I do always wash my hands afterwards and just consider this to be common sense!!!!


Val

 

I tried so many makes of compost this year that seemed to be full of soft wood pieces (it almost felt like wool), that I've asked garden centres to open a bag for me to see the texture before I buy. Of course that doesn't tell me anything about the quality of the nutrients etc but it does mean I have been more satisfied with what I've bought in the last month or two compared with earlier in the year.