'Seed' compost

1940sGal

I've just been looking at seeds on the Thompson and Morgan website and it says to sow in seed compost. I'm wondering, is there a massive difference between seed compost and just standard bags of compost? Is it just a money making thing intended to dupe unknowing amateurs or will using it actually produce better results?

Sally_A

Seed compost tends to be finer and sandier (and twice the price).

My seeds always seem to cope in multipurpose compost.

You can sieve this if you feel it is a bit too lumpy.

lindseykim13

I've never bothered with seed compost either, you should see some of the chunks of my homemade compost that go in the pots! I use multipurpose if my homemade stash is low or i mix the two.

Miss_Havisham

I use ordinary compost (bought, not home made). I crumble any big lumps between my fingers. Most seeds only need a light covering so I don't think it really matters what you use.

I buy cheap grow bags when I can find them, use them as sacks of compost. I use it for my hanging baskets, pots, tubs and mix into the garden soil to beef (not horse) it up a bit. Always get good results.

I'm itching to get started in my garden but it's so soggy and boggy yet.

Miss H

1940sGal

Miss_Havisham wrote: »

I use ordinary compost (bought, not home made). I crumble any big lumps between my fingers. Most seeds only need a light covering so I don't think it really matters what you use.

I buy cheap grow bags when I can find them, use them as sacks of compost. I use it for my hanging baskets, pots, tubs and mix into the garden soil to beef (not horse) it up a bit. Always get good results.

I'm itching to get started in my garden but it's so soggy and boggy yet.

Miss H

It's been gorgeous here today. Should have seen the smile on my face when i woke up! Went out and got lots of jobs done. Tidied up the borders, divided the veg patch with some bricks our neighbour gave me which have made little paths, pruned the buddleia, noticed my bulbs starting to show along with new lupins growing, my garlic's coming along lovely, there are new catkins on the willow, fresh buds on the lilac, fresh growth on the roses and I've also put a new raised bed up.

It's been a brill day and it's finally started to feel like Spring is just round the corner. The complete opposite of a few days ago when we had very heavy snow! It's been brill

forgotmyname

If you can find my posts last year the seed compost was not worth the extra over the general purpose compost.

What surprised me was the Sainsbury's cheap stuff, Which was more like shredded strands that compost/soil. But it seemed to work fairly well.

I have forgotten already but i bought a bag of the expensive stuff and it was utter rubbish a total failure.

A total no show on 40 pea seeds (i think) 2 different varieties. In 4 different composts.

forgotmyname

Here...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4025461

Rummer

I bought seed compost last year having always just used general compost in the past and tbh I didn't really see any difference in the seed growth.

Mojisola

Seed compost should have lower levels of fertilizer in it than the "growing on" composts. If you're getting success with the general fertilizers, then the levels of nutrients can't be very high in them.

sobie

As others have mentioned seed compost is finer, and has less nutrients in than general multipurpose.

The brands of compost do vary widely. You probably found the Sainsburys peat free compost good because it would have been very free draining (hense the sand in seed composts) and it would be relatively low in nutrients.

To be honest for most seeds a sieved multipurpose is fine, however their are some seeds that must be planted in a low nutrient medium. These are normally seeds that take longer to germinate, or more expensive seed. Meconopsis is a good example. Although you can simply add some grit, sand or perlite to multipurpose compost and this will better airate the compost and allow for better drainage.

If you have trouble with algae growth on top of your compost in your seed trays theirs too much nutrients in the compost or too much moisture being held by using peat based composts (again another reason why you may have had better success with a peat free compost) adding a top layer of vermiculite can help. The algae doesn't damage the seedlings in itself but it can hold too much water close to the seedlings causing them to rot.

Home composts can hold bacteria that can be harmful to seedlings. Don't use rainwater for seedlings it too much nutrients & bacteria can cause damping off.

forgotmyname

But my test were 2 varieties of peas, And it wasnt just a case of smaller plants it was a case of nothing grew...

I repeated the test with beetroot seeds and same again, Seed compost totally rubbish. Nothing grew again.

So with one tray of one type of peas 10 seeds for each type of compost, Most seeds grew. Yet the seed one failed miserably.

Another tray with a different type same again a couple of no shows for each compost, So i put that down to bad seeds. But the seed compost nothing again.

What are the chances of planting 80 seeds and all the 20 going into the seed compost were bad?

But only 9 no shows from the other 60?