all purpose potting compost vs peat-free compost?

**Flummery** · 19-06-2007, 08:32 AM

Peat free can be very variable. If you've found a good one keep using it. The 'ingredient' used instead of peat can be coir (outer husk of coconut) and I've found this very hard to water correctly. It seems to go from sodden to dried out and un-re-wettable - think I've invented a word.

**sewer rat** · 19-06-2007, 06:01 PM

If you are gonna use peat free for seeds and seedlings, it really needs to be seived first, as there are a lot of hard chunky bits within it's content.
I have also found in the past that it slumps a lot more on watering than peat inclusive Multi purpose

**Alison** · 19-06-2007, 09:18 PM

I agree that the peat free can be very variable. I've been using New Horizon's stuff for a few years and and that doesn't have the chunky bits (well only the odd twig) that Rat mentions although it does cost more than some - but suppose there's no waste so ............... Anyway, it is harder to keep watered properly but you get the hang of it and it means that you're not pillaging the peat bogs.

**SarzWix** · 21-06-2007, 05:05 PM

I used some peat-free last year to pot up tomatoes and peppers. I found it absolutely atrocious; the plants all really struggled to grow, leaf colour was yellow/lime green, pests made a bee-line towards them. By contrast, the ones planted in normal multi-purpose, but otherwise in the same conditions, thrived and fruited well, with only minimal pest problems. I may have chosen the 'wrong brand' of peat-free, but it was enough to put me off using it. I use a 'reduced peat' formulation instead now, but even that isn't as good as the cheapest multi-purpose.

**rustylady** · 21-06-2007, 05:53 PM

I know we should be cutting down on use of peat (at least according to some "experts"), but I've never found peat-free compost to be as good as even the cheapest multi-purpose peat based ones.

**Madasafish** · 22-06-2007, 10:36 AM

Homebase Peat Free was very good when I used it: no degradation in plant quality.

Now I use a multi purpose peat one for raising seeds but for potting on larger plants I used unseived garden compost... a few weeds but much cheaper (I used to buy around 300 litres of compost a year).

I recycle all mine onto the vegetable garden and without digging now have a fine loam where once I had clayey lumps. IF I dig.. I get more clay. If I sieve the soil, I get small clay balls:-(

**deeky54** · 28-01-2010, 03:49 PM

I'm a bit after the event on this one (looking at the dates on the posts), but I spotted it because I was looking for input on peatfree versus multipurpose compost for my tomatoes.

I would really like to use peatfree, but my experience with tomatoes in my concrete floored greenhouse has been that no peatfree did as well for them as the larger multi-purpose compost growbags, mirroring I suppose SarzWix experience.

I tried various ways with the peatfree bags - using just the bags, using additional bottomless pots into the top of the growbags, and cutting them in half to stand on end to make a deep root run - none were as good as the expensive multi-purpose tomato bags.

A separate Hello here to Madasafish - I'm at 1200 feet in the Staffordshire Moorlands ... brr indeed, especially this winter !

**jackyspratty** · 28-01-2010, 05:19 PM

It was our first growing season last yaer and we mainly used peat free. Wouldnt use it again! Maybe it was the make? But our experience mirrors others, lack of growth, fruiting, poor water retention etc. Shame but we were really put off using it

**Bigmallly** · 28-01-2010, 06:04 PM

I've used it straight out of the compost bin for the last 3 years and have had great crops of toms.

**jackyspratty** · 28-01-2010, 06:59 PM

Originally posted by Bigmallly View Post

I've used it straight out of the compost bin for the last 3 years and have had great crops of toms.

Got the pallets today, hooray, hooray! Ready at the lotty to build on sunday and we are making staging for our poly too!! Compost here we come

**Bigmallly** · 29-01-2010, 08:01 AM

Thats great Jacky, you'll have it filled in no time then you can come back on the vine & tell us that your compost is not decomposing...........

**smallblueplanet** · 29-01-2010, 11:10 AM

Originally posted by jackyspratty View Post

It was our first growing season last yaer and we mainly used peat free. Wouldnt use it again! Maybe it was the make? But our experience mirrors others, lack of growth, fruiting, poor water retention etc. Shame but we were really put off using it

As with any other 'compost purchase' there are different brands of peat-free compost & types too. As a 'general multi-purpose' peat free we use New Horizon. If we use it for sowing seeds we seive any big lumps out.

**Alison** · 29-01-2010, 11:58 AM

Originally posted by smallblueplanet View Post

As with any other 'compost purchase' there are different brands of peat-free compost & types too. As a 'general multi-purpose' peat free we use New Horizon. If we use it for sowing seeds we seive any big lumps out.

The New Horizon stuff is fab and usually comes out tops in the polls. Giving up on all peat free because you had a rubbish bag (and there are some VERY rubbish varieties) is like not eatinig vegetables because you tried cabbage and didn't like it

**kentvegplot** · 29-01-2010, 12:13 PM

I used Fertile Fibre for both seed compost and multi-purpose. Brilliant results, but (like any compost) you have to keep up the feeding etc.

The peat-frees are very variable - only New Horizon seems to be generally good. (Fertile Fibre hasn't been tested in one of these surveys).

I think the peat based composts are more forgiving if you forget to water or feed.

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all purpose potting compost vs peat-free compost?

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