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JC's Garden
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Posts: 280
Joined: Mon May 12, 2014 10:43 pm
Location: Moultrie, GA Planting Zone 8, Sunset Zone 31

Weeds, weeds, weeds from store bought organic compost

Following several request for more herbs and tomatos, I expanded my garden and broke new ground. I didn't have time to wait for my compost to finish so I ammended with 'store bought' organic compost and potting mix. Big mistake. Weeds I've never seen in my garden are all through it. I bought brand names but it didn't work. :cry: Now I'm pulling weeds and chopping weeds. Just venting.

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JC's Garden
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Posts: 280
Joined: Mon May 12, 2014 10:43 pm
Location: Moultrie, GA Planting Zone 8, Sunset Zone 31

On the plus side ..... My humming bird vines started blooming and are attracting the first honey bees I've seen this year.

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ElizabethB
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Joined: Sat Nov 24, 2012 12:53 am
Location: Lafayette, LA

I feel your pain. I completely neglected my compost bins for 6 months and have no cured material for the garden. :x

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RogueRose
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Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 4:28 pm
Location: Buffalo, NY

Heck I got no compost anything but my whole garden seems to be taken over by weeds everywhere. I stay on top of the ones in the veggie beds, but in other beds I don't. My landlord said they were going to mulch them to prevent the weeds. Still waiting!

imafan26
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I just weed where I plant and clean when I can. The weeds are winning, especially after the rain.

Bobberman
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Posts: 2437
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2010 10:31 pm
Location: Latrobe Pa.

Need soil with little weeds just dig a 6 inch layer of soil off a planting area and take the lower 10 inches of top soil then fill the hole back up with other surface soil. The bottom layer is not only rich but has very little weeds unless you have a lot of grass growing in the garden. Grass roots go down about a foot! I use the bottom layer strained for half of my seed starting mix and it worked great this year.!

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applestar
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Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

How disappointing for you. I have had imported weeds from mulch (Canadian thistle). How did you pinpoint the compost as the source of the weeds? Did you rule out other possibilities?

Was the compost bagged ? What did they looke like and smell like when you first opened them?

How did you "break new ground" -- if you tilled, you could have brought up dormant weed seeds from below ground.

Did you use anything else to amend the soil? Mulch?

Have you identified the weeds?

Curious and somewhat alarmed since store ought compost should have been hot composted. I suppose it's possible the piles had cooled down and then become contaminated with wind-borne seeds before they were processed for bagging....

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JC's Garden
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Posts: 280
Joined: Mon May 12, 2014 10:43 pm
Location: Moultrie, GA Planting Zone 8, Sunset Zone 31

There are several weeds coming up that shouldn't be here in the quantities I'm observing. The one that screams the loudest is one we call beggar lice. It is present in the agricultural areas around here but I have never seen any in my neighborhood. Never had any in my yard or garden. Now I have beggar lice everywhere that I used the compost and organic potting mix. I used the two of them together so I can't be certian which is at fault but I believe it's the compost. I saved one bag for later use and I did find sprouts in it. :? I put that one in my compost pile.



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