Safe brand of top soil in Uk

[Konstantin]

Hi all
As per title can anyone living in UK recommend me any tried and tested brands of top soil.Having trouble with my coco fiber batch and is impossible to pack down in my dry enclosures.
Regards Konstantin

 

[m0lsx]

I know some people use top soil with no issues at all. But I use to drive trucks for a living & have done lots of what is called "Muck Away" jobs, where we were moving soil from one site to another & that sometimes meant to locations that sold top soil & I have to say, I would personally not use soil of unknown origins in my T's enclosure.

Companies who sell top soil, sell tons of it & generally acquire it from construction sites etc. These sites could be brown or green sites. So maybe from old industrial sites or former agricultural fields.

I remember one site I helped to clear I was driving a 44 ton articulated tipper & there were about 10 other vehicles all smaller 32 ton rigids on the same job for weeks. We were all making at least 4 trips per day to the soil recycling centre & if traffic was good 5 trips. The site we were puling from had been agricultural fields. But that means they would have been treated with chemicals for years & other drivers were tipping top soil from other sites too, or loading up & moving the soil else where. So it was all mixed up.

It is just personal opinion & as I said, I know others have had no issues at all. But I would not use top soil, unless I knew where it had come from & unless it had been heat treated. Heat treated soil is what glasshouse owners use, the soil is heat treated to sterilise the soil & then mixed with good quality humus. The other option I would consider is peat from an organic source. Although personally I find coconut coir works well for me.

Top soil could probably be microwaved, but having sterilised soil myself in a proper implement, I would not recommend it, as it produces some really thick & terrible smelling steam.

 

[Rs50matt]

We've been having issues recently with cocofibre for no reason whatsoever. I've used westlands before and had no issues. we are using B&Q own brand (verve) Only around £3 a bag and we've used it straight from the bag without issue.