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Pocatello ([email protected])

This year I'm growing in raised beds with *most* of those beds made from compost. This approach has transformed growers in my region, for the better.

I had two sources for the compost:

Compost A: compost that I made myself last year from fresh manure and lots of dead plant material mixed in. By mid-summer volunteer pumpkin plants were growing and thriving in it.

Compost B: excellent *looking* and *smelling* compost that came from a commercial operation. This outfit sells semi-truck loads to farmers.

I have two beds that are mostly compost A. One of them has the best plant I've EVER had. I have two other beds where all the compost present in them is compost B. Those plants are sick, yellow, and not growing. Elsewhere in the garden I have two tomato plants growing in compost B. They are sick and near death. Two-dozen other tomato plants growing in my native soil are doing fine.

I can't understand how something that looks so good could be so bad. Chemical problems? I don't know. After three years of terrible weather, this is hard to take.

5/24/2012 3:10:00 PM

Upa Creek, MO

I think Peace Wayne had some problems years ago with municipal compost. I forget what was in it (maybe heavy metals that can't break down). On the other hand, here it works great and it is pre-stested where I buy it. I'd test what you use if concerned. Here's a read on why I'd test.

http://www.composterconnection.com/site/heavy-metals.html

5/24/2012 3:18:03 PM

Midway, UT

Did Compost B have a lot of wood chips in it? I often see a lot of wood in commercial compost and wonder how much nitrogen has been robbed out of the compost because of the wood.

5/24/2012 3:42:22 PM

Pocatello ([email protected])

Nope, no wood chips that I can see. Like I say, it appears very "finished".

5/24/2012 4:02:17 PM

Hinckley MN

Compost is suposed to be a soil ammendment not a soil substitute. Most recomendations are that growing mediums contain less than 30% compost. Composts can vary in pH, salts, and nutrients. Many finished composts will have a pH of 8 or higher, high salts, low nutrients and poor drainage. Compost will hold more moisture in sandy soils and seperate clay particles, improving drainage in clay soils.

composted manure w/bedding along with additional kitchen and garden scapes are about as good as it gets, but even that should be mixed with peatmoss, soil or bothe to provide a better growing envirionment.

5/24/2012 4:50:04 PM

Springfield, VT

Could the compost been made with grass clipping containing a broadleaf weed killer? Alot of farm seeds are resistant to herbicides and maynot have issues with the compost.

Wood chips shouldn't be a problem, usually screened out. They are used to add carbon to a compost pile.

5/24/2012 4:50:43 PM

Pocatello ([email protected])

My own compost had manure and grass clippings in it. That is the good compost. The other is manure based, and has straw in it, but that's all I know. Like I say, the plant that is growing in my own compost is the best I've ever had at this stage.

5/24/2012 6:47:10 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

Throw some radish seeds in compost "B"...the Compost most likely is contaminated with weed killer. We had this issue with Grass Clipping/compost from an organic source...they did not ask if prior spraying had been done...

5/24/2012 7:59:03 PM

Johnston, R.I.

This is why I make my own. I have a better idea of what is in there before I start..

5/25/2012 4:37:39 AM

Bethlehem CT

Maybe the pH of compost b is way out of whack. That could be enough to lock up nutrients and also to make some nutrients toxic. I think sometimes we assume that if something is dark and humus looking than it has to be good. Sometimes the eyes can deceive.

5/25/2012 8:07:52 AM