Mrs A’s Peat Free trials at Aylett Nurseries

Comparing tomatoes in peat- free

grow bags

Trialling and comparing the performance of peat-free media is helping staff to help customers.

If you want advice on what peat- free compost to use for growing tomatoes, then you can’t get much better than hearing from Mrs Hazel Aylett of Aylett Nurseries in Hertfordshire.

Known to many as Mrs A, she has been growing tomatoes and ornamental plants for more than six decades and in her own garden greenhouse this summer is comparing the performance of three tomato cultivars in three different peat-free growing bags.

Ayletts has created its peat-o-meter device so customers can easily see how much peat is in each blend and help them with buying decisions, but Mrs A appreciates it is still difficult for customers to know what to buy. Equally it’s a challenge for staff to know the idiosyncrasies of each brand and gain hands-on experience using different compost. GTN has heard of several garden centres doing their own comparison trials so they can help their staff to offer more confident advice for customers. Mrs A’s comparison is one of those.

I doubt the average gardener will be able to keep up with watering t wice a day

In Growpots, Mrs A is growing three popular cultivars, ‘Ailsa Craig’, ‘Alicante’ and grafted ‘Shirley’ in Levington’s deep filled Tomorite growbag, Melcourt’s SylvaGrow planter and Westland’s New Horizon Tomato Planter.

All the plants look healthy and any gardener would be more than happy to have them in their green house. She liquid feeds with Tomorite and a seaweed-based fertiliser and has been picking fruit since April but she says it’s the watering that has been an issue. Luckily Mrs A has an automatic system but knows most people don’t. “The Levington bag needs to be watered twice a day but the Melcourt and Westland bags only once. On a really hot day, I doubt average gardeners will be able to keep up with watering twice a day.”

Strangely, Mrs A has also noticed her pet Labrador has taken a shine to the compost in the Westland New Horizon Tomato Planter and given half the chance enjoys eating it. “It could be because it has a smell to it,” she wonders. The best performing plants are the grafted ‘Shirley’ and didn’t suffer at all in the high July temperatures.

The comparison trial will run until the end of the season but so far Mrs A says the best of three is the Sylva Grow planter. “It holds its moisture better so requires much less watering.”

Are your teams carrying out trials in peat free composts so as to better inform your customers? Let us know, we’d love to publish your findings: trevor@pottingshedpress.co.uk

Tomatoes in the trial and Growpots which are sold in batches of three so gardeners can easily grow three plants per grow bag.