What’s the difference?
Fertile Fibre produces 3 main types or compost
- SEED COMPOST
- MULTIPURPOSE COMPOST
- POTTING COMPOST
Seed Compost is a mixture of organic coir, vemiculite and fertile fibre nutrients. Our seed mix, as the name suggests, is ideal for seeds and cuttings. Coir has an excellent reputation for good germination and fast rooting. Use the compost straight from the bag. Place in seed tray or pot but be very careful not to over compact - simply tapping the container on a hard surface is sufficient. Place seeds on top and the general rule is to cover with the same depth of compost as thickness of seed, so if seed is 1mm thick cover with 1mm of compost.
The seed compost is fibrous to touch with small specks of white and gold vemiculite. The vermiculite in the main included as water control ie . when the compost is over watered the vemiculite will soak up the excess and then slowely release it as compost drys out.
As coir has excellent water holding capacities - over watering can be a problem. We recomment watering little and often. The compost may seem dry on top but will still be wet underneath, so it’s always worth double checking before watering.
Multipurpose Compost is an excellent all round general use growing medium. It has the same ingredients as our seed mix but with less Vemiculite and with a higher level of nutrient. This fiborous blend with nutrient levels low enough for germination and high enough for established plants. It is a popular choice amongst our customers growing crops such as wheatgrass for juicing.
Potting Compost is a high quality professional growing medium with high levels of Fertile Fibres unique organic nutrient. A rich, dark mix of Coir, Vemiculite, Bark, Loam and Nutrients. Particularly suited to pot and container growing – or like many of our customers just use the bag as a growbag and plant into directly. The compost is suitable for a wide range of plants ensuring strong, vigorous, healthy and sustainable growth.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:12 am
SEEDS
We use ONLY Fertile Fibre Seed Compost for all our seeds. We get uniform germination and there is enough nutrient to keep the seedlings going if we are a bit late pricking out!!
CUTTINGS
For raising cuttings we use sieved potting compost and then add a medium grade vermiculite. The ratio of sieved compost to vermiculte varies according to the cutting material, but is typicaly 3 parts sieved potting to 1 part medium vemiculite. This gives a more open rooting medium than the straight seed compost, which suits our mist propagation system better.
POTTING ON
We use the professional grade potting compost for virtually all our potting on. For the majority of plants we use it “straight”, ensuring it is well fluffed up and not over compacted ( I cannot stress the importance of this enough!). For lavender and rosemary we mix 2 parts potting with one part of “ballast” (the stuff you get from a builders’ merchant) or sharp sand, this gives the really sharp drainage these plants need and reduces the nutient levels to promote better flowering.
The results – our customers say they have never seen such healthy plants!