Another great product bites the dust

A._Badger

Readers following the various 'which compost to buy?' threads may have noticed one or two of us praising Humax, though with a few concerns being expressed, as the Cumbrian makers were recently bought by Scotts, the American giant that has swallowed up much of the UK horticultural sundries business (Fisons, Levington etc). Scotts are the people who also make Miracle Gro.

Well, today I finished my last 75 litre sack of Humax and opened a brand new 60 litre one. Cue, wails of anguish.

The 75 to 60 litre reduction seems to have taken place across the industry this year. Someone told me it was caused by the health and safety Nazis, because, they insist, we are too weak and feeble to lift 75 litre sacks - maybe it was. Either way, everyone else seems to be charging the same for 60s and they did for 75s, so you can't blame Humax for that, I suppose.

But you can blame Scotts for turning a lovely, traditional soil less compost into yet another boring, fibrous clone. Gone is the silver sand that used to make Humax so fine and free draining, in has come 'waste material', to bulk it out , resulting in a product that is so different to handle, it really shouldn't be sold under the same name. True, mine didn't come with the bits of plastic, twigs and even mould that some composts have been afflicted with in recent years but it was still a far cry from last year's Humax.

If challenged, Scotts would probably say they were given no choice by the meddling government (who are forcing manufacturers to reduce peat use, despite the strong arguments in its favour) but the fact remains, last year's is a different product from last year's, so if you were on the verge of buying some - well... maybe you'd want to buy a sack of silver sand as well. Or maybe just buy someone else's cheap stuff instead.

A Rolls Royce of a product has just become a Vauxhall.

Thanks, Scotts. Any chance you could buzz off back across the pond and take your bright ideas with you?

Davesnave

There's no health & safety nazi regulating the size of B&Q compost bales, but as a 'mature' person I was glad when they reduced these from 150 litres to 125l about three years back! I'm looking forward to knocking them on the head altogether, but I need to work on my formulas a bit more yet. I'm sure it's possible to make decent compost without using peat.

There's all sorts of carp going into compost these days as a result of using composted municipal 'green' waste but, on the whole, it's a good thing that we are recycling rather than land-filling. As I now have the facility, I'm experimenting with composted bark, which seems quite similar in texture, but it may, of course, behave very differently. There's certainly no odd bits of plastic in that.

As for Mr Scott, he's been helping me to make my own compost for a long time, so I'd rather he stuck around. In an ideal world we wouldn't need him. Mr Chicken Poo is good for the edibles, but he falls down a bit on the long term ornamentals in pots. I suppose the average gardener has always been happy with a Vauxhall, but for me, it's a self-build Special, every time. :cool:

Kay_Peel

Badger makes a good point around a particular bug-bear of mine: labelling.

At a garden centre or superstore the consumer is faced with a vast array of different bags. I was looking at one that said 'Farmyard manure' but nowhere on the bag did it tell me the ingredients - the blurb just talked about it's 'special blend' that had been tested over many years. Yes, but what was in it - that's what I wanted to know.

I'm used to looking at labels to distinguish the good from the bad. With a pot of jam, for instance, I want to see that there is at least 50% fruit. I'll reject breakfast cereals that have too much sugar or sugar substitute. I'd do the same with bags of compost, soil improvers etc if the manufacturers would be less coy about the ingredients and be up front and honest about it. I don't expect them to declare 'we've made this lighter and cheaper by putting recycled paper and twigs into the mix' but they should at least state that it is a new recipe.

It's a good point A. Badger and well made. :T We gardeners want better labelling.

Along with J.Parkers, I will be giving Humax a wide berth.


:beer:

Farway

Kay_Peel wrote: »

Along with J.Parkers, I will be giving Humax a wide berth.

I doubt you use it, but just in case, avoid the ASDA one, obviously municipal compost now, and not very well composted at that.

I have had couch grass & mares' tail spring up in mine

BargainGalore

They do make good pvrs though

I liked B&Q own stuff multi purpose 3 bags for £10

Have tried HUmax my local nursery gets in in large quantities to bag up I think as I seen a large container like silage that has HUmax on it

Kay_Peel

Farway wrote: »

I doubt you use it, but just in case, avoid the ASDA one, obviously municipal compost now, and not very well composted at that.

I have had couch grass & mares' tail spring up in mine

I made the mistake of buying a couple of bags and I've got exactly the same problem.

Thumbs Down to Asda Compost from at least two Greenfingered MSE-ers. :mad: