B&Q Peat Free

[chris]

Anyone else used this rubbish?

I'm sure that all my stuff potted up in it hasn't grown since it's been potted on it in?

Full of bark, really not impressed... giving them a week to see if they grow, else I'll get rid of as much as possible and pot up in some other decent stuff.. won't be using B&Q's again!

[singleseeder]

No, haven't used B&Qs but there are always threads about rubbish compost, some even from good names.

Our lottie shop sells Humax(?), but I had a sack of Wickes' left over from last year. So, when I put my tomatoes in flower buckets last night, I used Wickes for the bottom half and Humax on the top. The theory is that they feed from the top.

I have used the Humax for all of my seeds though.

[chris]

They've picked up in terms of growth, but still far far behind Virtal Earths stuff I used last year. Won't be using B&Q's stuff again.. it's a shame really because their peat based stuff comes out high in tests, and I beleive their previous generation of peat free did too.

[smallblueplanet]

Anyone else used this rubbish?

I'm sure that all my stuff potted up in it hasn't grown since it's been potted on it in?

Full of bark, really not impressed... giving them a week to see if they grow, else I'll get rid of as much as possible and pot up in some other decent stuff.. won't be using B&Q's again!

Unfortunately it seems that peat-free compost seems more variable than other composts - not sure why. Last year I was very impressed with New Horizons peat free, it was fab stuff, black and crumbly, not full of bark. This year I bought two bags (and they were this years) and they were dreadful, really poor quality. They were so bad I bought some of the Wickes 4 for 3 peat-free and the quality was the same - ie bad. But of course the Wickes was lots cheaper!

VERY disappointed with this years New Horizon, I imagine they didn't leave it long enough to compost, perhaps due to demand? Well I shalln't be buying again until I see an improvement, so there's less demand!

[chris]

I've picked up some more Vital Earth stuff, it's really good again - don't know why I tried B&Q.. I won't be again in the future.

[Alison]

VERY disappointed with this years New Horizon, I imagine they didn't leave it long enough to compost, perhaps due to demand? Well I shalln't be buying again until I see an improvement, so there's less demand!

Strange, the stuff I've bought has been up to their normal high standards, have always found their's to be very consistent. To be honest I've not found brands to be variable but I've found the general quality to vary a lot ie the B&Q stuff I bought (admitedly years ago) was terrible and nothing thrived in it. Whereas when I bought peat based stuff (sorry, I knew no better), I found that any multipurpose was pretty much the same. As a result I'm always a bit loathed to try different brands (I only use peat free) as I don't want to waste my money or time.