Dave's Organic Liquid Compost product reviews

I have a Black Thumb when it comes to plant life. Honestly, I have been known to kill "Air Plants" - and they don't even need soil to live in! Thus, anything that could give me a 'helping hand' was something I certainly was wanted to try at the very least. I've tried many different liquid plant foods - from home-brew stuff that contains the waste byproducts from shellfish and seaweed to the fancy lab-mixed cocktails that supposedly have everything plants need and nothing they don't. They all had some degree of success, but nothing that really impressed or warranted the exorbitant price tags they all wore.

This product sounded like it would do some good, and it was more affordable than many of the others I have tried barring some of the other chem-lab options, which I am loathed to try since I am resistant to non-naturally-produced products. To read the ingredients list of this, one could be forgiven for thinking it was also a lab-made mix, but after some facetime with the man behind the brand, I was reassured enough to give it a go anyway. So... time to try it out.

Mixing it was simple enough thanks to the clever bottle design. Squeeze the main bottle and it pipes a small dose up and into the smaller compartment. Such a great way to ensure you don't accidentally tip half the bottle in and make the mix too caustic for the plants - it can give their tender roots chemical burns if it's not diluted enough. Then, time to spray the plants. I have a planter box that I try to grow things in every now and then, this season it's Spring Onions. I have about 24 plants in there, so I sprayed ha;f with this mix and left the other half alone. All the plants get regular watering.

After a few weeks, the difference was noticeable. A month after first application and the plants I had sprayed with this mix were almost ready to be harvested while the control batch was still at least 2 weeks behind. This actually worked out very well for me, since I don't eat them at a great rate so having the crop staggered was a godsend, but the point is that this mix worked, and worked well.

Because of the accelerated growth, it was hard to compare the taste between the two batches - the control group was still too young and a bit sour while the sprayed group were tender and full of flavour. By the time the control group were ready for harvesting, the sprayed group had aged past the point I usually harvest them - I often let a few go to seed so I don't need to buy plants the following season - so I was relying on memory alone. They still tasted good, but I honestly could not give a quantitative or even qualitative comparison between them. It basically comes down to "This stuff speeds plants up and makes keeps them healthy."

Overall, this is a very good and effective product, based on my admittedly limited trial. I also sprayed some on my inevitable potato crop - seriously, I can't seem to get rid of them, so may as well let them grow despite the fact I don't eat therm very much any more. The plants seemed to do well, but then, potatoes are the one plant that seems to be immune to my Aura of Herbicidal Energy. They are the ultimate zombies of the plant kingdom when it comes to me - unkillable and they just keep coming back! I can't in all fairness attribute their success to this mix, but it certainly did them no harm whatsoever.