Peat-free compost’s finally germinating results
24 February 2010
For the first time ever peat-free compost has out-performed its peat-containing rivals in rigorous tests by Which? Gardening.
Which? Gardening has awarded Best Buys for container compost to three peat-free varieties – Vital Earth Tub and Basket Compost, New Horizon Mulit-Purpose Compost, and Vital Earth Multi-Purpose Compost. In previous Which? Gardening trials peat-free failed to match the quality of traditional peat-containing composts.
In contrast, no peat-containing compost met Best Buy standards.
This is great news for gardeners, especially as Government targets require 90 per cent of growing materials and soil conditioners to be peat-free from this year.
The experts at Which? Gardening awarded one “Don’t Buy” as a result of the trials. Miracle-Grow Moisture Control Compost received the lowest score overall, with plants performing poorly from the start and showing signs of nutrient deficiency within the first few weeks.
Ceri Thomas, editor of Which? Gardening, says:
“This is fantastic news. For too long peat-free compost just haven’t lived up to the standards required by gardeners.
“The results of our trials show that it is possible to find compost that is not only great for your plants, but good news for the environment too.”
Notes to Editor
In Spring 2009 experts at an independent testing site planted impatiens and seed potatoes in 624 containers. Which? Gardening tested the performance of 26 widely available multi-purpose, John Innes and specific container composts. Each compost was bought from four different locations across the UK to test for variability between bags of the same brand.
For each compost on test, Which? Gardening planted up to 12 large pots with the patio favourite Impatiens “Pink sparkle” (busy lizzies) and 12 with potato “Sarpo Mira”.
A slow-release fertiliser was incorporated into each pot at the start and then pots were watered no more than once a day during the trial.
Experts assessed the impatiens for flowering and vigour on three occasions between June and October. The potatoes were harvested in August and their yield and quality recorded. Which? gardening also recorded how often each pot required watering.
