What to do with the contents? They had tomatoes in them. I don't yet
have a compost heap.

I could dig the contents into the soil in the greenhouse (it needs
improving anyway), but I quite fancy growing tomatoes in the soil next
year, not in growbags, so will I perpetuate tomato diseases? Or I
could add the contents to my stock of 'potting up' soil, or I could
simply scatter it around onto the flowerbeds.

Suggestions please.

--
Chris

Gardening in West Cornwall, very mild, sheltered
from the West, but open to the North and East.

On Thu, 10 Nov 2022 08:45:23 +0000, Chris Hogg wrote:

> What to do with the contents? They had tomatoes in them. I don't yet
> have a compost heap.
>
> I could dig the contents into the soil in the greenhouse (it needs
> improving anyway), but I quite fancy growing tomatoes in the soil next
> year, not in growbags, so will I perpetuate tomato diseases? Or I could
> add the contents to my stock of 'potting up' soil, or I could simply
> scatter it around onto the flowerbeds.
>
> Suggestions please.

I would scatter them on the flower beds.

They could be harbouring disease, and they could also have some tomato
seed if any fruit have dropped and rotted.

Best not to use it for potting up either for similar reasons.

Cheers

Dave R

--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

On 10/11/2022 08:45, Chris Hogg wrote:
> What to do with the contents? They had tomatoes in them. I don't yet
> have a compost heap.
>
> I could dig the contents into the soil in the greenhouse (it needs
> improving anyway), but I quite fancy growing tomatoes in the soil next
> year, not in growbags, so will I perpetuate tomato diseases? Or I
> could add the contents to my stock of 'potting up' soil, or I could
> simply scatter it around onto the flowerbeds.
>
> Suggestions please.

Is there any evidence that growbags perpetuate disease, whether for
tomatoes or anything else? Do plants in them get any disease worse than
they would if in the ground?

I haven't used one for maybe 20 years, so don't know what's in them now.
Cheaper ones used to be pretty poor quality. If they are safe, why can't
they be reused by adding fertiliser to them, whether in slow release or
liquid form (or both)? If used for tomatoes one year, why not use them
for cucurbits the next year? I doubt they suffer any similar diseases.

Otherwise, I'd just use their contents as a mulch around the flowerbeds.

--

Jeff

On 10/11/2022 08:45, Chris Hogg wrote:
> What to do with the contents? They had tomatoes in them. I don't yet
> have a compost heap.
>
> I could dig the contents into the soil in the greenhouse (it needs
> improving anyway), but I quite fancy growing tomatoes in the soil next
> year, not in growbags, so will I perpetuate tomato diseases? Or I
> could add the contents to my stock of 'potting up' soil, or I could
> simply scatter it around onto the flowerbeds.
>
> Suggestions please.

I really wouldn't put it where you will grow tomatoes again.
Or add it to potting up soil.

I know people who do recycle potting media (for cacti) but you do have
to be careful to screen it for root mealy bug or it can spread like
wildfire. Looks like small blobs of cotton wool in the compost.

I tend to put my spent compost of all sorts on the nearly ready to use
compost heap and the dead stems on the currently actively hot heap. If
there is root mealy bug it goes in the hot heap to kill them.

If I can't be bothered going up there it ends up on the nearest
flowerbed as a top dressing. RMB don't survive long in garden soil (yet)
but if it stays this mild all winter then they might do in the future!

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 10/11/2022 10:58, Jeff Layman wrote:
> On 10/11/2022 08:45, Chris Hogg wrote:
>> What to do with the contents? They had tomatoes in them. I don't yet
>> have a compost heap.
>>
>> I could dig the contents into the soil in the greenhouse (it needs
>> improving anyway), but I quite fancy growing tomatoes in the soil next
>> year, not in growbags, so will I perpetuate tomato diseases? Or I
>> could add the contents to my stock of 'potting up' soil, or I could
>> simply scatter it around onto the flowerbeds.
>>
>> Suggestions please.
>
> Is there any evidence that growbags perpetuate disease, whether for
> tomatoes or anything else? Do plants in them get any disease worse than
> they would if in the ground?

Compost that has a had a particular greedy feeding crop in will be
depleted in the nutrients that crop want the most. That is one of the
reasons for crop rotation and to keep specific pests under control (in
this instance potato/tomato blight which got half mine this year).

Thing to watch out for is root mealy bug. That is bad news.
>
> I haven't used one for maybe 20 years, so don't know what's in them now.
> Cheaper ones used to be pretty poor quality. If they are safe, why can't
> they be reused by adding fertiliser to them, whether in slow release or
> liquid form (or both)? If used for tomatoes one year, why not use them
> for cucurbits the next year? I doubt they suffer any similar diseases.

You probably could use them for another crop entirely after adding some
slow release fertiliser.

> Otherwise, I'd just use their contents as a mulch around the flowerbeds.

I tend to do that or add it to the about to be used compost heap.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 10 Nov 2022 08:45, Chris Hogg wrote:
> What to do with the contents? They had tomatoes in them. I don't yet
> have a compost heap.
>
> I could dig the contents into the soil in the greenhouse (it needs
> improving anyway), but I quite fancy growing tomatoes in the soil next
> year, not in growbags, so will I perpetuate tomato diseases? Or I
> could add the contents to my stock of 'potting up' soil, or I could
> simply scatter it around onto the flowerbeds.
>
> Suggestions please.
>
>
I use it as a mulch on the flower garden, good soil improver.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden