Melcourt Professional Growing Media

[Graeme]

The nursery in South Cumbria where my wife Susan works ( http://www.halecatplants.co.uk/  )

just watched the video - I want those two large glasshouses.........

[Neil]

The larger one would be enough to start with

[Darren]

They are very old, beautifully constructed glasshouses and underwent major refurbishment by the present nursery owners when they took over. There was a previous nursery on the site which eventually got very neglected and overgrown before Abi and Tom took it over and totally revamped it. The glasshouses are almost all that is left of the original nursery.

[pseudobulb]

melcourt orchid bark and potting bark is smetimes availible on ebay  i have fairly recently obtained potting bark and propogating bark from ebay supplied by southern horticultral aka fargrow. hope this may be of help to those wanting the odd bag

[pseudobulb]

further to my earlier posting melcourt barks are availible on amazon

[Maggi Young]

further to my earlier posting melcourt barks are availible on amazon

 In which case,  making a purchase through the link at the foot of this page  could also benefit the SRGC!!

[Tristan_He]

further to my earlier posting melcourt barks are availible on amazon

Before purchasing from that particular source, whether from the SRGC link or not, I'd encourage members to read the following:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/18/amazon-regime-making-british-staff-physically-and-mentally-ill-says-union

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3782591/The-new-robber-barons-MARGARET-HODGE-Starbucks-Amazon-Goldman-Sachs-ripping-billions-British-taxpayers-civil-servants-tax-chiefs-helping-them.html

Other sources are available. You can still donate though! 

[brianw]

I think you will find much cheaper prices for Melcourt composts if you look around and can find a supplier.

[Bart]

An old thread but I have a question about the 'new' melcourt range
Today I received a bag of 'Coarse' orchid bark
I was a bit confused by a) the look of the bag, where one can not distinguish at all what it is that is actually packaged, and
b) the grading of the bark chunks.
I thought to ask on the forum first if anyone can tell me what to expect, before I take it up with the online supplier.
Please see pictures- the pic of the particle sizes is  a bit poor but it is basically a mix of fine stuff- flakes nearly with reasonable chunks in it.
I will use it, but will have to sift through it carefully before I repot something like Phalaenopsis into it. In the past I had good chunky nuggets from them. Have I been sold the wrong stuff?


Non- descript bag


substrate size mix

[Maggi Young]

I remembered that Ian - the  Christie  Kind, used  similar  bark so I dropped him a line.... here's his reply....
" Hello I have never used the Orchid bark - always use the Propagating bark a very good uniform mix have just ordered another whole pallet from Clydeside trading.  Never had any problems.  I expect delivery early February; price has gone up a bit but for me well worth the money. I have no dealings with any Amazon site selling Melcourt,  cheers Ian"

[Mike Ireland]

Bart,  I have used Melcourt bark products for a number of years, always first class products.
Try East Riding Horticulture Ltd, probably not far from you.  I live in Lincolnshire & deliveries are free.
A link to their catalogues     https://www.eastridinghorticulture.co.uk/catalogues

Mike

[Bart]

Thanks Mike,
Yes, I had spotted them but dismissed them as wholesalers- but did not investigate further, but now I will. I proceeded to look for the product online and found gardensuperstore.co.uk. Nothing seemed amiss- so I tried.

Just out of curiosity, Is there any way to tell, looking at the (picture of) bag, which of the stated options might be packaged? It is like tinning some veg and then listing baked beans, brown beans, mixed beans, sweetcorn , and mushrooms as options on the wrapper, but leaving it to chance to see what you actually get. Or am I being daft?

[Paul Cumbleton]

Hi Bart,
On Melcourt bags I have had, they have a box on the left side of each named product and the one actually inside has a tick or cross in the box next to it. I have occasionally though had a bag where there was no tick.

Paul

[Bart]

Thanks Paul, Yes, I remember receiving a bag with a tick in a box as well, must be 6 years ago. There are now no boxes on the left but barcodes on the right. Progress.
I seem to go through a bag every 3 years although this finer stuff won't last that long. Pleiones will do well for a year I guess in this with a bit of moss etc mixed in.
Oh well, I'll drop the 'superstore' a line without any expectations.
Thanks for the replies.

[Bart]

I have found out that it is indeed coarse orchid bark I received, it has been stored outdoors and the packaging date was 21-02-2020 ! So it has been composting away, that's why it looks like mulch.
They are offering that I can send it back and get a refund, minus £9,- !!!!! Did not accept. Or, keep the product and keep, with 25% discount.  That would make it £21,- for mulch that I didn't want and still having to source bark for my phals.....
Boring, I know. I'll stop.