Fothergill's Enriched Seed Compost

Mr Fothergill’s have kindly sent me a block of their New Enriched Seed Compost which they state is new exclusive to them and has been formulated to create the ideal growing medium to give your seeds the very best start. 

Now it really depends on what one takes as something being "New" and "Exclusive" basically It is produced from a blend of coconut husk fibres (known as coir), a by-product of coconut growing, and these kind of blocks have been with us for a long time. 

This is a selection of different blocks that I purchased from £1 and 99p shops a few years back so the technology is nothing new, I historically bought coir to add to my peat based compost to make it go further. 

However Mr Fothergill's New and Exclusive Seed Compost, is not just basic coir, it has added seaweed powder and slow-release nutrients. which they state "means you will get strong root development and healthy seedling growth!"

Again this is not a new concept, because there have been enriched versions of coir blocks available for some time. 

Above is a selection of these blocks that I have trialed and blogged about historically on manvslug.uk. I have looked on the packaging to see who is making these block for Mr Fothergills as I have my suspicions, however the only name and address that appears on the packaging is Mr Fothergill's and I don't believe for a minute they have set up their own manufacturing operation for these £6.99 blocks of enriched coir and that they have an arrangement with an established coir block manufacture. 

Graphic above harvested from a newsletter sent from Mr Fothergill's over the Easter holidays offering a FREE block when you purchase £15 worth of seeds from them. 

The method of hydrating the Mr Fothergills blocks is exactly the same as all the other blocks I've ever used