Compost Comparison - The Results! Shocking!!!!
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- Опубліковано 2 кві 2022
- Here we are with the results of the compost trial started on 6th March 2022.
The four composts being “tested” here, cheapest to most expensive, are:
Mother Earth Peat Based Multi-purpose - £0.08 per litre
Levington Essentials Multi-purpose Peat-free - £0.10 per litre
Ambassador Peat-free Multi-purpose with Added John Innes - £0.10 per litre
Coco Coir With 20:20:20 Fertiliser - £0.20 per litre
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#compostcomaprison #composttrial #comparingcomposts #peatfree #peatbased
Compost Comparison - The Results! Shocking!!!! - Навчання та стиль
Massive difference Steve. Thanks for doing this experiment, really interesting results.
A bit scary Liz - kinda like, your life in their hands!
That’s crazy absolutely love your experiments ingenious who knew it would make that much difference might need to see if I can find Mother Earth. Your cutting a chit in half was genius too.
Many thanks Sam - hope you have a great week ahead! 🙂
Thanks for the time you put into this experiment Steve. So interesting. I don't have much variety of soils available here but the difference is crazy
A bit worrying Greta - they can supply whatever they want in bags and call it "compost" 🙁
Hope you have a good week
Fascinating Steve! Amazing to see a shot every day and then the final result! Thanks for sharing that. Take care
And the cheapest compost was the best!
Really! Wow amazing
Hi Steve, that was great video on comparison compost. Its amazing day by dau how they progress, thanks for sharing and take care 🙂
Thanks Christine👍 Have a great week!
I'm gobsmacked at the differences, I expected some variations but not as extreme as you filmed.
Thanks for doing the test.
Thank you! A bit scary really. It seems that any rubbish can be sold as peat-free these days!
That’s insane! Great to see the results. I’ve tried the cococoir this year so glad to see that did well. Mine have all come on well with it
Coco coir held the moisture very well! I just wish it was a bit cheaper
I'm researching different compost for my raised beds and this is SO helpful. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful! These two videos are of a 15 compost trial from 2023 so may help too:
ua-cam.com/video/MPyJVRiSKTs/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/udiPqYVrezs/v-deo.html
WHOA!!! I don't even think I'd want to ingest the last two. So glad I'm learning to compost, no dig and build my soil. I'm a new subscriber from Ontario🇨🇦. I hear your name mentioned a lot, so here I am, eager to learn. 👍🏻☺️
Brilliant, so nice of you1 (I hope they were nice comments LOL)
I just popped over to you too and I hope we get to share some useful hints and tips!
Have a great week
Wow Steve, you wouldn't have believed it if this was done separately, excellent experiment.
♻️Happy gardening, Terry King.
Thanks, Terry 👍
Hope you have a good week
@@DigwellGreenfingers 👍♥️👍dam busy at work......lol.
Great experiment Steve 👍 fascinating results
Your money in their hands!
Hope you have a good week
Great experiment Steve!! Surprising how big the difference is. Take care.
Your money in their hands!
Hope you have a good week H&I
im glad the leveingtons actually worked as i bought 3 bags and after it had been rained on in the pots i found lots of glass, metal, hard and shredded soft plastics ! ...thanks for doing the trial im getting some mother earth next time
The Levington Essential came out far worse in terms of the debris than the others - but at least it supported life LOL
Hello Steve, what a great video and very enlightening. Maybe not all germination fails are down to us gardeners!
Very true! A bit worrying really. I have 5 bags of Ambassador compost left so it will be added to the beds (thinly) or compost heaps sometime.
Hi Steve, you can’t argue with that, very well executed, will be interesting to see what happens with a bit of fert in the worst one, many thanks for sharing this kind regards
alan…………………THE DAWN CHORUS PLOT 🌿
Cheers Alan. Let's see what happens LOL
That was absolutely fantastic mate.
You would not believe it unless you had seen it.
Take care
👍👍👍👍👍
And the cheapest won!
179 like my friend nice bhut bdhiya happy gardening good 👍
Thanks a lot
That`s great experiment Steve.It just goes to show what can happen with different composts,and i would be blaming myself for doing something wrong!I will be composting on a bigger scale this year!With the crazy prices of compost,and a ban on Peat coming soon,i can only imagine compost quality will go downhill!Keep up the good work.Shaun.
Yep - the peat-free stuff (especially those with green waste in) is shocking. I hope there will be some sort of legislation to force the makers to sell a decent product before the peat ban in 2024!
Great compost test, Steve. A dramatic difference, I'd say. Thanks for sharing and take care, my friend.
Just shows the rubbish we have to put up with Rob.
Have a great week buddy!
WOW!!! Amazing difference !!! Looking now for Mother Earth xox
Well what a difference. I'm going to have to keep a look out for mother earth compost. Great video. 👍
Many thanks for watching!
Have a great week.
Thank you for doing these test I for one really appreciate this info its priceless. I,m new to potting gardening and i,ve been so disappointed with the compost I,ve bought this year that i,ve started to make my own for next year. It will certainly be better than the sack of Shirts I bought from Tesco.
So nice of you! I made another one of these videos last year, which you may find interesting: ua-cam.com/video/udiPqYVrezs/v-deo.html
The peat ban is not going ahead for 2024 as it did not get its 2nd reading in Parliament before they disbanned for the election. I do not think it is high on Labour's agenda so there is hope for all of us! I have stopped stockpiling peat compost now, I'll just buy it as I need it. Happy chappy!
Loved this experiment !!
Many thanks! Hope you great week 🙂
Hi Steve thank you for doing this the coir got me how well it did , mother earth not in centers around us which is a shame , keep safe Bill and val
The coir did hold the water very well too - but crikey, is it expensive? Over twice the price of the others!
Mother Earth is made by the Clover people and I like Clover too.
Interesting experiment Steve, have been waiting to see the results. No doubt peat based compost is such a good growing medium, especially for younger plants, hence the difficulty industry has finding replacements. Good to see there is some almost as good peat free out there too though. In my experience, the peat free compost are completely different to manage, particularly from a watering point of view. Well well done buddy 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Cheers Hugh. I am just hoping that there will be some sort of legislation etc to force the peat-free makers to standardise their product.
At present I could buy 3 bags of Levington, for example, and they would all be different in content.
Great experiment Steve, the difference was astounding...I've been buying Levington's peat free for potting on but I may try Horizon now after watching your experiment, I don't think my local garden centre sells Mother Earth. Take care 😊
Yes, quite a difference Bethan. I'm still looking for a worthy replacement for the Mother Earth - another comparison video coming soon
excellent video, thank you............
You are welcome!
Have a great week 🙂
Excellent demonstration - thanks Steve. I hate the fact that when things go wrong amateur growers - especially beginners - end up blaming themselves (or being blamed by the compost company if they dare to complain) when it's more than likely that the product they've been sold is not fit for purpose.
To be honest, sourcing good compost has always been a bit of a lottery - my father subscribed to Which?Gardening back in the day, and their "Best Buy" compost changed pretty much every year, with no brand proving reliable - but I imagine with the withdrawal of peat this issue will be infinitely worse.
I am moving to direct sowing into the ground wherever possible, but of course that comes with its own problems, not least that in our climate it doesn't work for long season crops like tomatoes/peppers/chillis etc.
Not sure what the answer is really. I guess we have to hope that the industry gets its act together when the chips are finally down and peat is no longer an option.
Many thanks for the comment! Yes, it is and always was a lottery with the "best" composts but at least the big boys used to be stable with the peat-based ones. There needs to be some sort of accountability over the quality otherwise every Tom, Dick or Harry will just chuck any rubbish they can into a bag and call it compost🙁
I am hoping that the govt will delay the peat ban but we will not know for another 9 weeks or so.
Have a great week!
Hello from Texas. Here from the #lastchancecookoff. Thank you for this awesome information. I love gardening. 🌱 Have a blessed weekend.
Hi Gail. I'm slowly working through the list of collaborators! Gonna take a while LOL
Not sure how I will stretch my BBQ video to 10 minutes 🤣
Have a great Sunday over there
thanks iv been using coco coir for seeds
Coco Coir looks good but I just wish it was a lot lot cheaper - maybe I'll go that way just for the seeds 🙂
Can’t believe the difference, I have blamed myself for poor growth, ie too much water not enough water, etc. who would have thought the Lexington’s with John Innes would be so bad. Thanks for doing that and sharing the results, I will consider more carefully when buying compost.
The problem with the peat-free compost is that we do not really know what is in it until we open the bag.
Of 10 bags of Levington Essentials I bought: 5 were okay for potting on (smallish pieces of wood), 3 had what I class a big bits of wood in along with loads of stones and the last 2 were all wooly as if they were the floor sweepings from a cardigan maker! I could not even riddle these 2!
I really thought the Lovington's would have failed to be honest Steve, but I now think the only trial left for Ambassador is to see how long it take to put in the BIN............ Thanks for sharing your experience mate, Stay Safe Alan
The Levington was/is full of crap but at least things grow in it, just! I have 5 bags of Ambassador left so I may just add them to the compost heap a bit at a time
Really interesting!
This year's trial is already showing differences, although the actual composts seem to be better sifted.
Thanks for watching.
Love the experiment
Many thanks!
Have a great week.
Great test Steve, they shouldn't be allowed to sell the stuff, feed ratios must be well off, great video hope you had a great weekend stay safe 👍 🏴
I have 2 other trials going on with the Ambasso-crap 🙂
I'e only just seen this. I'm a new gardener and was using Levington's as it was the stuff that was advertised when I was a kid. After finding a pretty large chunk of glass in the bag I opened today, I won't be using it again! Never heard of Mother Earth but I'll definitely look it up and give it a go. Great video👍
Might be worth watching this one too from last year: ua-cam.com/video/udiPqYVrezs/v-deo.html
@@DigwellGreenfingers Thanks Steve. I've ordered 10 bags of the Mother Earth so it should keep me going until my own compost is ready. So disappointed with the Levingtons - it was one of those names you trust if you're of a certain age. But at least you've reassured me that my pathetic cucumber and tomato seedlings aren't entirely my fault!
@@Dominolly If you have the spare funds then it may not be a bad idea to stock up with peat based compost in advance of the ban at the end of 2024!
That is a very interesting result as you know I have had few problems over the last couple of years. What would be a good control is some sieved sterilized soil from one of your beds. That would be interesting just to see I might have a go with you at that.
Good idea Dave! All my beds are compost but they sit on "real" soil 🙂
@@DigwellGreenfingers try some off non beds mine have been helped and added compost over the years but they worms and plants and other life life take them back to almost the clay I started with, I would be up for that I am having to start late this year ans I need a good start every year. I think this could be a useful thing for anyone for starting seed. Just have to microwave the mediums first.
@@SouthpawDavey I was thinking of trying some more composts, in my quest for a decent peat-free, so I'll do this Dave - cheers buddy!
Wow that's a massive difference, I've just checked Amazon for Mother Earth and they don't have it, I'll check online later, I usually just get what the supermarket are selling and have to put up with it.
Some say that the Lidl one is okay - worth a try?
Well, that seems to be pretty clear results. Wish my lettuce would get a grow on. Still, the radishes seem to be doing ok. They prob less bothered by the freezing temps we’ve had overnight lately too.
Cold again this weekend ahead too - not so bad for me though 🙂
Great experiment just goes to show sometimes i blame myself or the seed never considered the compost
I would have carried on using it if my chillies hadn't started to die!
WOW what a great experiment. The ambassador compost has not performed other than germination. Mother earth is the clear winner to be honest I have never heard of it other than on your videos, if my memory serves me correctly Lol. Thanks Steve take care.
Yes, shocking Ambassador compost - and all the growth of the poor lettuce is from the seeds themselves!
Mothe Earth is made by Clover so you may see it at places that stock Clover.
Have a great week mate 😂🙂
@@DigwellGreenfingers Thanks mate have a good week yourself Lol.🤣
Interesting Steve, even the best wasn’t that great though was it. I plant my lettuce at around 3 weeks and it’s almost always better than the Mother Earth. Especially as its grown in small modules (rather than those huge pots) and pricked out too, which always sets it back a little : all the best - Steve
I normally start mine off in the Agralan plug trainers in seed compost, not multi-purpose, and then straight in the beds at around 3 weeks, weather permitting. No set back with pricking out other than the change of environment.
@@DigwellGreenfingers I generally think they are set back 3 days when pricking out, but I might just be biased
Remarkable.
You summed it up in one word! I can think of a few more but I might get banned from UA-cam LOL
Very interesting. That poor one looks to be lacking air. Whats the price difference?
The worst one (Ambassador) has no nitrates in it at all - separate video on the testing.
Mother Earth Peat Based Multi-purpose - £0.08 per litre
Levington Essentials Multi-purpose Peat-free - £0.10 per litre
Ambassador Peat-free Multi-purpose with Added John Innes - £0.10 per litre
Coco Coir With 20:20:20 Fertiliser - £0.20-£0.40 per litre
Interesting results Steve! That ambassador compost let you down matey! Great to compare them though.
Absolutely - I guess it wasn't a true Ambassador for the peat-free cause LOL
I still have 4 bags of the crap. I was toying with the idea of selling them on Facebook Marketplace --- but my conscience wouldn't let me.
"Sell it, my precious" - "We can't, lovely"
"No one will know" - "I will" 💍
@@DigwellGreenfingers "but we musts do masterrrr" 😂
@@TheGrowUpChannel LOL. Compost hear I reckon unless SuperSoil can revive them (another trial ongoing!)
@@DigwellGreenfingers that's worth a shout !!
Cheapest was the best, lol. I really feel that with the massive demand increase facilities , companies are just pumping out whatever they can get out the door !!
Same for us last year , cheapest was the best, most expensive was the worst.
At least it's "Organic.lol That word is a great marketing term; it meaningless otherwise
Great video Steve
Cheers Jason and Colleen 🌱🤞🌱
Totally agree! The problem with the green waste peat-free rubbish is repeatability of the ingredients at the manufacturer.
For example: one week they receive a truck of grass clippings, another week wood shavings, then wool, then municipal waste ---- they are not going to stockpile these to make the perfect compost mix. They compost whatever they have and get it out of the door ASAP!
So, in essence, every batch will be different!
@Digwell Greenfingers exactly!! And what if that load of grass clippings came from lawns/fields where broad leaf fertilizers were just sprayed. I know they are required to test, but I'm sure there's loop holes and other ways around. I mean, we are talking about "big business," and you know how that goes !!😡
Good on ya for bringing it to light Steve !!
@@clivesconundrumgarden I'm pretty sure that there is no requirement to test for aminopyralid in the compost constituents here, sad to say! Many I follow have fallen foul to it!
@@DigwellGreenfingers shocking really 😡
Super interesting, Steve! I use (and reuse and reuse) coconut coir to germinate seed but those definitely need potting on quickly or feeding if it‘s peppers or tomatoes or cucurbits. That ambassador compost is scary - that looks more like some sort of retardant - as if even the goodness within the seed itself wasn‘t accessed, kwim?
Cheers Rebekka. It's not really encouraging people to go peat-free! I do like coco-coir but I wish it was a lot lot cheaper! I reuse it in my hydroponics because there it is only a support medium to fix the plants in place but it is certainly worth a try with seeds.
Hope you have a great week ahead!
very interestingx
It just shows how much we have to trust a manufacturer to provide what is advertised. Sad.
Hi, do you use just the multipurpose compost on ur pots or do u add normal soil as well?
Just compost - no soil.
Hope you have a great weekend
@@DigwellGreenfingers thank you
Interesting
Just shows that no-one really cares, Helen. Chuck some rubbish in a bag, call it peat-free, and sell it!
What on earth is in that Ambassador compost, that's just an awful result with that!
Brilliant trial, I will get some mother earth to trial. Thanks
I had a few harsher words for it LOL
No idea what we will do in 2 years when there is no Mother Earth to fall back on!
@@DigwellGreenfingers indeed! I'm still hopeful that they will come up with something, if not, we are gonna need alot of compost bins!
Well Steve I don’t think you’r buy anymore ambassador Compost it was Absolute rubbish. I think you should send them an email to have a look at your trial. All the best Nic 👍
I have messaged them Nic - no reply!
Seems like their customer service is as good as their compost - crap!
"Sirs,
I would be interested to hear your reaction to the shocking quality of the AMPCJI50 "Multi-Purpose Compost with Added John Innes" as revealed in my two videos on UA-cam.
One shows the lack of nitrates in the compost and the other shows it in comparison with three other composts." etc
Very beautiful
Stay connected
have a good day💘💘
Thank you! Cheers!
Hello, I’m new to gardening and wondering where I am find Mother Earth compost? I can’t find it online. Am I being dim??
LOL - no such thing as a daft question, only daft answers!.
I buy mine from my local garden centre. You could try searching here: www.cloverpeat.co.uk/retail-compost/view/3/mother-earth-multi-purpose-compost
@@DigwellGreenfingers thank you! Great to find a UK based channel. I’m starting with herbs like basil and coriander etc and then on to veggies. 😁
Please do more edibles, your vids are lovely and clear with no nonsense. X
@@deirdrepattison7096 Bless you, thanks! Good luck and make sure to film some of your ventures and upload them - a great way to keep a record of things.
wow, DG, are you going to send the results to Ambassador? what a shocking result!
I have done so A-J. Part of the letter is in Nic's Allotment comment reply down below here somewhere LOL
No reply yet 🙁
Here's hoping you have a great week ahead!
@@DigwellGreenfingers ah cool, I can't wait to see what they say! I can hear the words 'bad batch' coming lol. You too, I'm covering everything back over for the end of the week.
I'm only new to your channel, and I was very interested in this experiment. However, I have a completely non-gardening query: I've noticed that several of you blokes have snake -around - knife/dagger tattoos. Would it be impolite to ask what they mean? The lovely man from Castle Hill Garden has one, and I think Terry King has one too. These obviously pre-date the current fashion for tattoos, and I'm just curious. I have some Kiwi friends who have traditional Maori tattoos, and they all mean something. Btw, I love your channel. Cheers from Tasmania (aka Van Diemen's Land), Kerry.
Yes, Cliff at Castle Hill Garden has the same tattoo.
The snake and dagger tattoo was relatively popular in the armed forces 45 years ago (Jeez - that long ago? LOL) but it is also a symbol of healing that some health workers used.
Hope this helps Kerry - have a great week down there!
I suspected as much, but I didn't want to pry. My nephew is married to a Kiwi who did five tours of Afghanistan. He was a sniper, and went through various types of hell. He's a Kiwi, but was under the command of US forces. He's never been the same since. Thank you.
So, is Lemington a 50/50 mix of Ambassador & Mother Earth?
LOL. I was reading the other day that peat-free compost does not store well and has a shelf life of 3 months or less from the date of manufacture. If that is true, then it explains an awful lot!
@@DigwellGreenfingers I don't know, Steve, that sounds like media propaganda to me...
@@trollforge Ooo - you'll rot in hell for that one LOL
@@DigwellGreenfingers Haha, but I was quite careful not to suggest whether it was a marketing ploy to sell more compost, or an anti peat-less ploy from the peat producers... ;)
Wow that is like the compost I’ve been dealing with I potted on some seedlings and they died after 2 days (Miracle Grow) one of Canadas top selling but then I’ve tried a few lately and they’re all crap and not in a good way. I may need to buy from Clive’s Conundrum 😂😂
LOL - poor Jason had better get busy (@Clive's Conundrum Garden). My problem is that I cannot make enough for the amount I use every year 🙁
👍👍👍
Cheers Ron.
All the best, buddy
Is mother earth peat free though ?
No - 100% peat from Ireland, just as I like it!
All these trial are me trying to find a suitable alternative that I can afford. Not found one yet!
Just looked on Amazon, the Ambassador is £20 for 50 litres and its clearly rubbish. My local shop sells 50 litres of Jack's Magic for a £5. What a massive con. Thanks for exposing Steve.
Even better if you can get the old Jack's Magic as the new one is at least 50% peat free now.
Just goes to show that you cannot beat Mother Earth 👍🙏😉👌
LOL - nature always wins 😂
Think that ambassador is 2 heavy /dense I had this with another and mixed 50/50 with coir and the seeds flew away
That will be worth a try but I only have coir with added NPK at present.
I'll give it a go when I get some - cheers
Did ambassador know that the rest had started?
LOL - bloody stuff nearly killed my chillies!
Have a great week!
@@DigwellGreenfingers I've just got my first allotment, and have been watching as many growing channels as possible to get up to speed. I'm itching to get going! Planted some onions, carrots and peas this weekend after 7 weeks of weeding. The plot is looking good, there was already established fruit bushes and rhubarb, I've just weeded and fertilized it. Check out my daughter's tour on my channel.👍
Where do you get mother earth compost?👍
My local garden centre - it is made by Clover
@@DigwellGreenfingers nothing near me but found a company that delivers! And it's cheap! 👍
@@nickthegardener.1120 Brilliant!
@@DigwellGreenfingers it says budget compost! I'd say it's premium by your results! 👍
@@nickthegardener.1120 My local nursery uses this, solely, to grow, pot on, repot etc all of his 100k plants a year!
considering i called the levington compost a load of crap, it didn't do too bad. i still wouldn't like to sow seed in it. you'd never get the roots apart.....................brian
The Levington Essentials was by far the worst in terms of debris mixed in with it!
👍🔥✨
I've dosed the Ambassador pot with SuperSoil to see if it brings in any nitrates 🙂
@@DigwellGreenfingers 😉🔥✨🙏
Crikey, that's a heckuva difference isn't it
A bit worrying really!
that's shocking from ambassador go and give them a will smith
LOL - or worse 😡
Wow. Not even subtle! Elizabeth.
It seems like anyone can put something in a bag and call it "compost" 🙁
Thanks for watching and have a great week
wowsers
Cheers!
As the Ambassador representative in your area, we have decided to decline any contributions to further gardening on your channel. We are sad at the results. Our product is second to none, I mean look at our product, have you ever seen any better looking dirt? We cry foul play. Mother Earth could never best us. Never. Also we may shut down our gardening products in the near future and invest in the growing industry of tiddley-winks. Thank you very much.
Made me chuckle - thanks 🙂
I'm still waiting for a reply from them, both email and webform!
Hope you have a good week
@@DigwellGreenfingers We have carefully examined your test, read your email and have concluded you didn't exactly follow all the instructions for our product. Yes, you seemed to have, but did you introduce our dirt into the test cups at night with the full moonlight? Probably not. Did you follow the prescribed chants after said inserting? Probably not. And most of all, did you sacrifice the required virgin? Mostly likely not. Our studies show few to no virgins in your area. Be it what it may, can we send you a complete set of colored Tiddly-winks with instructions? Yours truly.
👍👍👍
Cheers!