Independent sowing and growing trials confirm incredicompost® can’t be beaten on performance
It takes confidence to launch a new product in a crowded market while claiming to have the best in the business, but consumer champion Which? has confirmed what Thompson & Morgan already knew: the mail order specialist’s incredicompost® really is the best overall compost for sowing seeds and raising young plants.
The premium-grade compost was officially launched in March 2015 in response to increased levels of Thompson & Morgan customer disappointment with existing blends on the market, which were leading to poor performance in their gardens from the mail order specialist’s core range of seeds and young plants. Following extensive in-house comparison trials incredicompost® was launched along with incredibloom® and incredicrop® fertilisers, promising the healthiest of plants with up to 400 per cent more flowers and fruit.
incredicompost® – prices from £9.99
Justifiably the trials team at Which? Gardening was keen to put the claims to the test. Their independent trials, carried out during the 2015 growing season, have named incredicompost® as the best overall compost for sowing seeds and raising young plants. It was given a score of 95 per cent for sowing seeds, setting it well ahead of the next best performer, which scored 80 per cent. It came miles ahead of the worst seed sowing performer, labelled a ‘Don’t Buy’ product by the trials team having scored just 33 per cent. For raising young plants incredicompost® also gained a high 90 per cent test score, leading to a Which? Best Buy.
Two seed varieties, antirrhinum and cabbage, were sown in the Which? trial and two plant varieties, fibrous begonias and tomatoes, were chosen for growing on. According to the trial report incredicompost® “had the highest germination rate by far for the antirrhinum seed and close to perfect germination for cabbage seed. The seedlings were all very healthy. The young begonias were the best in the test and the tomatoes were robust plants.”
In another Which? Gardening compost test looking at container performance, incredicompost® was listed as a recommended product: “The bedding plants [grown in incredicompost®] were dazzling. They shot away and were larger and flowered better than in most other composts early in the season. They were also superb in August.”
Comparison shot from Thompson & Morgan’s own trial programme
Thompson & Morgan Horticultural Director Paul Hansord said: “We always knew we were on to a winner with our first move into the compost market. Our aim with incredicompost® has been to develop a premium-quality product that brings consistency and reliability back to the market – something that has been missing since the increased use of green waste materials in a bid to reduce peat content in many well-known brands. Gardeners are keen to reduce their peat use but many have reported poor results with green-waste products.”
He adds: “To reduce the peat in our blend we have instead included wood fibre, sourced from Irish saw mills, actually making use of a surplus by-product. This wood fibre is graded by chip size, so each time we make a new batch we can guarantee consistency from our ingredients, leading to consistent performance from the compost, no matter the time of year or which ‘batch’ our customers are supplied from.”
incredicompost® comes packed with trace elements and minerals and like many other composts includes wetting agent for easy watering, plus a little pre-mixed fertiliser to ensure good early growth. What sets it out from the crowd is a pre-packed sachet of incredibloom® in every bag for mixing in at planting time, ensuring strong healthy growth for 7+ months – a little goes a long way! Separating the feed into a sachet prevents degradation (leading to either a lack of nutrients for plants or nutrient scorch), a common problem with other pre-mixed, long lasting composts.
If you can’t afford failure in the garden, choose incredicompost® for the best performance from all your seeds and plants. Click here to view incredicompost®. Prices from £9.99.
How to use Incredibloom: quick video guide
Kris Collins works as Thompson & Morgan’s quality control manager, making sure customers new and old are kept up to date on the latest plant developments and company news via a wide range of media sources. He trained in London’s Royal Parks and has spent more than a decade writing for UK gardening publications before joining the team at Thompson & Morgan.
Hi I have 2 standard gardenias what is the best compost to use I am planting them in containers
Hello
Gardenias are best planted in a decent quality compost (preferably ericaceous) mixed with a John Innes No.2 compost. This will give the plants a well structured soil-based mix.
All the best
Sue
Is incredicompost ok to use for blueberries
Hello Kelvin. No, incredicompost isn’t suitable. You need to use an ericaceous compost for blueberries as they are acid-loving plants.
Is it ok to use incredibloom with Incredicompost for herbs in pots or should I be using incredicrop for edibles?
Hello
Incredicrop would be preferable if you have some, but Incredibloom would still do the job!
All the best
Sue
I have just purchased 2 hydrangeas…one is midnight moonlight and the other is bubblegum. I have been advised to use alkaline free compost . Is this incredicompost suitable
Thanks
Hello
Incredicompost is a multipurpose compost which is best used for annual bedding plants and perennials. Your Hydrangeas will need more structure to the soil than a multipurpose compost can provide. I would recommend that you use a mix of John Innes No.3 and ericaeous compost (for acid-loving plants). This will create far better growing conditions for your Hydrangeas.
All the best
Sue
Hi, I wish to buy some of the garden ready begonias and will be planting up into the little black plastic pots. If I use the compost with the Incredibloom mixed in, do I then still need the separate begonia fertiliser as well? I will be keeping them indoors.
Hi Kate.
Incredibloom is a complete plant feed so you shouldn’t need to add any more feed until much later towards the end of august when you can just add some extra incredibloom as a top dressing.
Hope that helps
Sue
Hi
I have 3 blueberry bushes in the garden that our fruiting – can I use Incredicrop to feed them?
Thanks
Hi Sheila
Yes of course! Incredicrop is ideal for all crops.
Bets wishes
Sue
Hello. I’ve a bag of Incredicompost and just want to make sure there’s no lime in it for my acid loving plants? I plan to use it in my basket, but there’s enough to top up my potted climbers and put around my shrubs too. Thank you.
Hi Kathryn,
Your Incredicompost will be absolutely fine with your acid loving plants, it will be great as a mulch around the base of them, especially at this time of year when an extra layer of protection around the roots is always good!
All the best
Graham
I was thinking of stocking up on compost for next summer. I have 7 large hanging baskets for trailing begonias which I plant each year on the front of my pub. Is it too early to buy incredicompost? Should I wait until nearer the planting time?
Hi Freda,
There’s no harm in stocking up early, it’s always useful to have spare compost around anyway. Maybe keep an eye out for special offers or anything like that and order then?
All the best
Graham
i have always planted plug plants in peat in containers is this right ?
Hi Joyce, there’s nothing wrong with that at all, it probably means less disturbance to the roots when you then go to plant them out again later on!
All the best
Graham
Can I plant my plug plants in incredicompost
Hi James,
yes, definitely, it’s the best thing for them! 🙂
Cheers
Graham
I am currently considering planting up to 10 laurel plants that I have seen in your brochure, should I use incrdicompost when planting
Hi Alan,
I always dig in plenty of compost when I plant out any new shrub, so yes, ivcedicompost will work very well, especially when you mix in the feed with it, which will boost the plants even further!
I hope this helps 🙂
I have two blueberry bushes (one pink, one blue) that are doing very well in large pots, but need to be upgraded to even larger ones. It is recommended that ericaceous compost should be used, but I am having difficulty finding a supplier who will deliver (I am no longer able to drive due to back problems). However, I have used Incredicompost previously with great success for various plants. Can I use it for my blueberry bushes if I add ericaceous feed? (And the joy is that T&M deliver Incredicompost)!!!
Hi Joy,
yes, that would be the best idea, you’ll get the best quality compost, combined with plant feed which you can top up with the ericaceous feed too! – Hope that helps – Graham
Many thanks, Graham, for your useful advice. I have now ordered the Chempack feed along with 75 litres of Incredicompost. I’m so looking forward to a bright & colourful summer – and a grand harvest of blueberries!
Devastated to find the dm481z promotion sold out but very happy to come across your advice site and I have decided therefore to buy your ,incredicompost premium multi-purpose compost.
I am new to your site and will be pleased to hear all about your promotions as and when they happen. .
Hi Anna,
Have you registered your e-mail to get our daily newsletters with a fantastic new offer every day?
I guarantee you won’t be disappointed with Incredicompost, as a former landscape gardener I won’t use anything else now – it really is the best possible compost!
Is Incredicompost good for tomato plants? And for using as a planting mixture when planting things in the borders? And, sorry, I have 3 40 cm pots that I am intending to plant tomatoes in – about how much compost will I need? Thank you.
Hi Hilary,
Incredicompost is ideal for growing tomatoes in, it comes with a sachet of Incredibloom to mix in with it, which will provide your plants with loads of nutrients. I have also used it in my borders, digging it in, especially when planting out new plants.
The formula for the volume of a cylinder is pi x r2 x h so I assume your pots are 40cm diameter and height? … 3.14 x (20cm x 20cm) x 40cm = 50,240 cubic centimetres = 50 litres of compost!
I hope that helps
Thank you Graham.
Hi, I am in a process of getting my vegetables started and will be using incredicompost. How much do I need to fill one of the tomato growbags you sell in your catalogue? Can I use incredicompost for potatoes as well as tomatoes?
Hi Niina
One of our growing bags holds approximately 36 litres of incredicompost.
Using it for growing potatoes in bags will be absolutely fine too!
Many thanks
does incredicompost hold water to sow seeds or should you put soil from outside
Hi Roshan, Incredicompost was voted one of the best seed sowing composts so it will perfect for sowing your seeds into
Can I use with acid loving plants?
Hi Patricia,
You can use it with acid loving compost, but you would need to boost the acidity using an ericaceous feed.
Best Wishes,
Holly
I have recently bought 8 of your easy fill baskets and wish to order incredicompost can you please let know how much i would need to fill them many thanks Gordon Hamilton
Hi Gordon,
each basket will need approximately 15 litres of compost to fill it to the brim.
I hope this helps – Happy Gardening!
I have had to start planting in long wooden tubs because I can no longer kneel. I have a plentiful layer of bulbs laid in each container and have had petunia growing and flourishing all summer on top. They are now done and I understand I should dress the soil with mulch before planting winter pansies to nourish them. Would Incredibloom be appropriate to use as a mulch?
Thanks Sue
Hi Sue,
Thanks for your query. It is best to empty the tubs of the soil and put this as mulch on the garden. Then put new bulk standard compost into the tubs with a little incredibloom and you should be good to go! Any further queries dont hesitate to contact us. Regards, Wendie
Hi Wendie
Thanks for your response. I used the wrong product name. I meant would incredicompost be good to top up with? The tubs were only filled this summer with standard compost and the bulbs are already in situ so needed a mulch. These tubs are over a meter long and 2 foot deep! The builder got carried away! There’s lots of draining rubble in the bottoms and then standard compost on top about half a mtr deep.
Hi Sue, not to worry it is easy to confuse the two. The incredicompost would be perfect to top up the planters. I am sure they will look lovely, do send a photo if you get time. Good luck and please do not hesitate to contact us if you need further advice. Kindest regards, Wendie
My Geraniums exploded into life after swapping to this compost. Would it also be suitable for a young Phyllostachys aureosulcata f. spectabilis in a large container?
Hi there, I have spoken to our horticulturalist and he has said yes you are fine to use incredicompost. We are happy to hear your geraniums grew after using it. Feel free to send in any pictures to our social media sites. Regards, Wendie
Hi there, I am happy to confirm our horticulturalist says it is fine to add incredicompost to the oung Phyllostachys aureosulcata f. spectabilis, and am glad to hear it has helped your geraniums. Kind regards, Wendie
Is it ok for small potted fruit trees ie cherry plum Apple ect
Hi Clarkson, thank you for your comment. We could encourage incredicrop® for fruit as this will work better. Hope this helps, regards, Wendie
‘Hi I have been given a hardy outdoor gardenia I need to plant it in a rich organic soil and feed it with acid fertiliser after it blooms. I guess that incredicompost will suffice but what would be a good acid fertiliser.
Regards Brian.
Hello
There are lots of ericaceous fertilisers available. You might like to try something like thishttps://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/doff-ericaceous-feed-azalea-camellia-rhododendron/TKA2307TM
All the best
Sue
Hello
Is there an Organic version of this compost?
Incredicompost picture bag says’for pots & containers’. Can this be used on borders?
Hi Mary,
Thanks for your correspondence. The Incredicompost is organic if you choose not to add the sachet of Incredibloom which is included with it. The incredicompost is a very high quality compost but the sachet of incredibloom will increase plant yield. It can be used on borders and beding too. I hope this is helpful. Kindest regards, Wendie