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  T & S Plants February 3, 2011 at 7:58pm

  Andy,

   

  If they have slow release in them, storage is normally 3 months maximum.

   

  Try Woodland Horticultural Company - no contact details as a mate uses them, but we don't as they use peat.

   

  Otherwise, for a peat-free alternative :-) try Melcourt for their Silvamix Nursery stock mix, works for us.
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  AndyCharles-EnborneGardeningCo February 3, 2011 at 8:06pm

  Thanks - I'll try Melcourt. Peat free is my preference. I'm after something general purpose, as I add my own slow release when potting up etc, so that should make shelf like longer (?). I was hoping it would last for up to 6 months.
  
  T & S Plants said:

  Andy,

   

  If they have slow release in them, storage is normally 3 months maximum.

   

  Try Woodland Horticultural Company - no contact details as a mate uses them, but we don't as they use peat.

   

  Otherwise, for a peat-free alternative :-) try Melcourt for their Silvamix Nursery stock mix, works for us.
• 

  T & S Plants February 3, 2011 at 8:17pm

  With Melcourt we have found that you can spec as you wish.

   

  To kick off, we had their mix in 90 litre bags, 42 to a pallet, without slow release, then also added our own.  Just be aware, if you take bulk bags you have to have a way of taking them off the lorry and moving them, which is a fork lift job.

   

  As we had 17 pallets, they sent a lorry with a fork lift for free.

   

  
  
  AndyCharles-EnborneGardeningCo. said:

  Thanks - I'll try Melcourt. Peat free is my preference. I'm after something general purpose, as I add my own slow release when potting up etc, so that should make shelf like longer (?). I was hoping it would last for up to 6 months.
  
  T & S Plants said:

  Andy,

   

  If they have slow release in them, storage is normally 3 months maximum.

   

  Try Woodland Horticultural Company - no contact details as a mate uses them, but we don't as they use peat.

   

  Otherwise, for a peat-free alternative :-) try Melcourt for their Silvamix Nursery stock mix, works for us.
• PRO

  Will - WB Design & Construction February 3, 2011 at 10:28pm

  I can vouch for woodland horticuture brilliant chaps so helpful and they do a range of products and I am pretty sure they do peat free products after a conversation I had with Neil regards the new regs on peat usage etc coming in.
  
  T & S Plants said:

  Andy,

   

  If they have slow release in them, storage is normally 3 months maximum.

   

  Try Woodland Horticultural Company - no contact details as a mate uses them, but we don't as they use peat.

   

  Otherwise, for a peat-free alternative :-) try Melcourt for their Silvamix Nursery stock mix, works for us.
• PRO

  Stuart @ Eco Garden Maintenance February 4, 2011 at 7:56am

  Does it really work out any cheaper to buy these bulk bags? The 70 litre bags (4 for £10) i find in the local nursey have the contents really compacted in. Are the bulk bags compacted down or just filled with loose material?

   

  Another thing i have noticed are those bulk bags are rarely 1M3, sometimes as small as 0.75M3 but still advertised as a metre cube.

   

  stu
• PRO

  Will - WB Design & Construction February 4, 2011 at 10:18am

  I understand normally they are packed at 1m3 and it looks like less than that because they are filled with loose material that then settles over time. I certainly know when I have picked up a dumpy bag from woodland and they have packed it whilst I wait it comes full to the brim.
  
  Stuart Brogden said:

  Does it really work out any cheaper to buy these bulk bags? The 70 litre bags (4 for £10) i find in the local nursey have the contents really compacted in. Are the bulk bags compacted down or just filled with loose material?

   

  Another thing i have noticed are those bulk bags are rarely 1M3, sometimes as small as 0.75M3 but still advertised as a metre cube.

   

  stu
• 

  Eric Walker February 4, 2011 at 1:19pm

  Andy I've just bought 3 70 Lt bags for £10 . Last year it was 4 for £10 general purpose . On the bag it says Irish spagnum moss peat. I've bought this for years & it is OK.
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  AndyCharles-EnborneGardeningCo February 4, 2011 at 7:19pm

  Thank you for your useful replies - it has occured to me that the air in compost in a bulk bag would affect the amount you end up with. It is, in any case, difficult to compare suppliers as the volumes you get (or sometimes weight) for a bulk quantity vary enormously. A bulk bag can be a tonne, or 1000cu. ltrs. A pallet of smaller bags, however, can be a tonne or 1400 cu. ltres or more. Having smaller bags does mean that you can be sure of the quantity, as they are usually vacuum packed.

   

  Seems to me that there is an argument for some sort of standardisation here. The number of times I've heard a bulk bag referred to as a "tonne bag", no matter what is in it (topsoil or feathers!), are too numerous to mention. And a litre of vacuum packed compost is going to weigh more than a litre of loose.

   

  As if life wasn't confusing enough!

   

  I'm still in search of good  bulk compost deals though, if anyone knows any.

   

  One final thought - have you ever seen one of the multidrop drivers trying to get a badly loaded, damaged pallet of bagged compost onto a raised tail lift, then off again, using an ancient, wobbly wheeled manual pallet truck? Terrifying!