Over-watering a plant or seedling over a prolonged period of time is a perfect way to ‘rot off ‘ roots with too much moisture and moisture consistency in your planting is the key.
Many compost manufacturers claim you can enjoy “reduced watering”. But in reality, whether your plants are indoors on a window sill, in a greenhouse, or in a seed tray – human involvement either too much or too little will often dictate the outcome of healthy plants.
A few tips when using biochar composts:
Because the little pieces of biochar in Carbon Gold’s compost are like little sponges, (when you see them under a microscope they look like the picture above)… they hold onto moisture – usually up to six times their size in the water molecule. Many growers report watering on average a third less in dry warm periods as the season progresses. This is also ideal as a soil improver, as it is a completely natural product made by mixing coir and biochar.
What you are looking for is to keep a dry – ‘golden’ surface layer. Lifting this layer – with a teaspoon for example you can see if the compost is moist and dark underneath.
A permanent black sodden surface – like you have when you have just watered is usually a sign of too much moisture. So no need to water again until the golden top is showing!
What all plants really want isn’t feast and famine but consistency – so by ensuring moisture consistency with a little additional attention and a slightly different regime from your usual approach you can enjoy better results.
Don’t just take our word for it – see what professionals and award-winning experts say:
“In trials against what I thought was the best seed compost, Carbon Gold’s Seed Compost was definitely the winner and the best seed compost available today. Plus you water less often making it ideal for gardeners. I have been using the soil improver on all my raised beds and grow a range of vegetables, fruit, and flowers to good effect. Being a great believer in composting and vermicompost, I also started to use the Soil Improver as one of my ingredients in my compost bins and my composting is now ready to use within a month. When the worms multiply that tells me they are happy, which makes me happy!” National Vegetable Society exhibitor, judge & lecturer, Mick Poultney
“Carbon Gold is the best! After trying several other non-peat alternatives for propagating plants, I have found Carbon Gold to be reliable, easy to handle, uses less water, is easy to wet up if it becomes too dry and kind on the environment, as well as producing top-quality organic vegetable plants across our entire current organic range.” Martin Kyte, Product Development Specialist, Rijk Zwaan – one of the world’s largest seed companies.
Jez Taylor, Market Gardener for international award-winning Daylesford Organic Farm, said, “I’ve been using Carbon Gold as our main compost for 2 years now and it continues to give high performance with low watering requirements, good germination, and excellent plant health. Mixing Soil Improver with our own homemade compost we have even had some success on some trials with blocking it for larger seeds”
Jeremy Dore of online garden planners, GrowVeg.com, said,
“In our trials, we found Carbon Gold’s All-Purpose compost to be equally effective as the peat mixes it was being compared to. We are delighted to find such a good peat substitute that is sustainable and will be using this as our peat-free compost of choice in the future.”
James Wong, ethnobotanist, television presenter, and garden designer said, “I love the soil improver… it performed exceptionally well at (paradoxically) both improving the drainage & water retention of my London clay, which normally bakes rock hard in the summer so water just runs off the surface. Water now soaks in instantly and is retained for significantly longer, so I need to water half as much. The subsequent effect on plant growth is also impressive, meaning I could plant far more densely than I would have done in previous years. More crops in the same space with less watering, excellent!”
