Isn't any peat in compost an environmental no-no?

Discussion in 'Compost, Fertilisers & Recycling' started by Lone Northern Lass, May 22, 2020.

  1. gks

    gks Total Gardener

    Joined:
    Feb 28, 2021
    Messages:
    1,499
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Production Manager
    Location:
    Cumbria
    Ratings:
    +4,410
    We have found by adding 10% sterilised loam helps to manage watering.

    We import it, the coir comes in 5kg (approx) solid blocks and when rehydrated you get about 65L of coir.
    We used to put it through the chipper, but it was vile work doing it that way. You needed full face masks and goggles, you don't want to be getting it in your eyes or breathing it in while its bone dry.

    I get people buy it online from us in the compressed blocks. I sometimes get a message asking for it to be packed in discrete packaging, we have even had to help the police providing details of how much coir a customer had purchased.
     
    • Informative Informative x 3
    • Like Like x 2
    • gks

      gks Total Gardener

      Joined:
      Feb 28, 2021
      Messages:
      1,499
      Gender:
      Male
      Occupation:
      Production Manager
      Location:
      Cumbria
      Ratings:
      +4,410
      We screen the soil using a power screen, which we put through a 8mm woven mesh. If anyone has top soil for sale locally I am always interested, if it is good top soil it tends to be fibrous in texture. If it's sub soil I will mix some organic matter into it, I won't screen it for 12 months or until it shows some texture. I have even turned down the chance of getting soil for free in the past. If it's poor quality with to much stone or debris in the soil, we can't justify putting it through the screen and paying for the waste to be tipped. Sometimes I will go and collect a couple of ton of the soil and put it through the screen. If I am not getting a high enough percentage of soil coming through the screen, I will decline it.

      I will be delivering 6 pallets of JI No2 to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh next week, I think we have supplied them for over 20 years now. I also batch up a compost to the spec of the national chrysanthemum society. It is possible to make good compost but I wouldn't like to be doing the volumes that the big boys do.
       
      • Informative Informative x 2
      • Like Like x 1
      • Agree Agree x 1
      • Scrungee

        Scrungee Well known for it

        Joined:
        Dec 5, 2010
        Messages:
        16,524
        Location:
        Central England on heavy clay soil
        Ratings:
        +28,996
        It's that price (£4 for 60L) at Wickes, but only a few stores have any stock New Horizon All Plant Compost 60L | Wickes.co.uk

        There's supposed to be 41 in stock at their Bracknell store.
         
        • Like Like x 1
        • noisette47

          noisette47 Total Gardener

          Joined:
          Jan 25, 2013
          Messages:
          5,861
          Gender:
          Female
          Location:
          Lot-et-Garonne, Aquitaine
          Ratings:
          +13,958
          Are the days of using Kettering loam well and truly over, gks? My father's garden was pure KL. You could stick a corpse in it (without it's box) and it would resurrect :biggrin: That's what started me off 'gardening' at 5 years old.....
           
          • Like Like x 5
          • shiney

            shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

            Joined:
            Jul 3, 2006
            Messages:
            60,996
            Gender:
            Male
            Occupation:
            Retired - Last Century!!!
            Location:
            Herts/Essex border. Zone 8b
            Ratings:
            +117,282
            What? :yikes: You buried your father in the garden! :rolleyespink:
             
            • Funny Funny x 1
            • gks

              gks Total Gardener

              Joined:
              Feb 28, 2021
              Messages:
              1,499
              Gender:
              Male
              Occupation:
              Production Manager
              Location:
              Cumbria
              Ratings:
              +4,410
              For me, when Charles Dowding says he feels safer making his own compost than using municipal/waste compost, says it all. With all these horrible weed killers and pesticides still on the market, it is always going to be an issue. Would anyone on here allow your next door neighbour to put grass cuttings in your compost bin if you knew 2 days earlier they had been using a lawn fertiliser with a weed killer?

              Somethings should not be allowed to go for composting and belong only in landfill.
              They made a mistake giving grants to people with no experience and when the money dried up they were off, that in itself tells you it was never composted correctly in the first place.
               
              • Like Like x 3
                Last edited: Mar 6, 2021
              • Jiffy

                Jiffy The Match is on Fire

                Joined:
                Aug 25, 2011
                Messages:
                11,168
                Occupation:
                Pyro
                Location:
                Retired Next To The Bonfire in UK
                Ratings:
                +31,458
                We had a plant near here, all sorts of things were going in on the qt even raw meats/waste, had lots of tax payers money because it was "green" like you said when the money/grants came to a close the compost cault fire then they were off. all the locals had to keep windows doors closed because of the flies, they blamed the fish meal that was near by but the locals new that that wasn't the case because they lived with the fish meal for 20+ years before the compost site turned up and they wasn't a proplem with flies before then
                 
                • Like Like x 3
                • Friendly Friendly x 1
                • noisette47

                  noisette47 Total Gardener

                  Joined:
                  Jan 25, 2013
                  Messages:
                  5,861
                  Gender:
                  Female
                  Location:
                  Lot-et-Garonne, Aquitaine
                  Ratings:
                  +13,958
                  He did spend a few years over here, under a Camellia, which would really have cheesed him off had he known. (Nothing against Camellias, but he never intended emigrating :biggrin:) But then I did the decent thing and took him and Mother back to Kettering :) Come to think of it, being mingled with Mother would have cheesed him off even more....:roflol: Bless!
                   
                  • Funny Funny x 3
                  • Like Like x 1
                  • gks

                    gks Total Gardener

                    Joined:
                    Feb 28, 2021
                    Messages:
                    1,499
                    Gender:
                    Male
                    Occupation:
                    Production Manager
                    Location:
                    Cumbria
                    Ratings:
                    +4,410
                    • Like Like x 1
                    • Informative Informative x 1
                    Loading...

                    Share This Page

                    1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
                      By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
                      Dismiss Notice