At this time Robert was a hop farmer in Worcestershire and was able to use a by-product of this process, known as “hop waste”, to grow his plants.

It’s always worth a try – but you would need evidence to back up your claim – we had an independent pH test done by the then ADAS advisory service, so the company did not really have a leg to stand on. We have also had some germination problems in the seed compost with brassicas but particularly cucurbits.Klassman always has better or, at worse, the same performance as FF and WRO and the WRO module has been generally good, certainly better than FF, but does have the weed problem with particularly rushes/reeds germinating after about 3 weeks.

It does seem a very variable product and we have had a lot more fibre in the seed compost this year which makes filling the module trays difficult. A question to everyone – why do we blame ourselves/the weather/anything before we point an accusing finger at an ‘organic quality’ product? Some plants have liked it, but others I've struggled to germinate, including ones that usually grow like weeds.

i imagine, as with most things organic, there is natural variation in the ingredients they use to make the compost. If they do not keep checking their end product these will not be identified and thus critical adjustments to the mix will not be made.