RocketGro Avis 79

Bought 8 of these peat free grow bags for tomatoes, the tomatoes have poor root development, failing growth and the bags are filled with flies. we have ended up cutting our loses and throwing the bags and the plants away. These are the worst grow bags we have ever bought.
My Father in law has been growing tomatoes for decades this is the first failure he has had and the first time he has used rocket gro products.
We are now waiting to receive a condescending, passive aggressive reply from the company .

And another thing ..
Having already written a bad review based on the loss of so many veg plants this spring (And emailed, neither responded to I might add .... rude)
I've now just discovered my 1st and 2nd early spuds in pots have rotted. I thought I initially had blight, alas no, they've rotted!
Please just STOP producing this 'compost' until you get it right, I wasted £150 .....BIG FAT THANKS FOR NOTHING

Ordered 7 bags of "Premium bark chunks" supposedly premium pine bark chippings, sorted and removed of any other debris so they have a consistency. These are for decorative purposes. What arrived were bags of standard "garden mulch" you can literally buy anywhere. Opened one and got mulch, opened a second just to be certain - again mulch. Photos on the packs DO NOT IN ANY WAY represent the content and are completely misleading. Have reached out via email and WhatsApp but have had no response from customer services over the last 4 days. Do not expect support once you buy anything.

Addendum: Nice to see them jump all over the Trustpilot review but not bother to respond either to my email or WhatsApp...

Last week used 9 bags of this awful peat free compost for plants in containers & my small garden. This week my poor plants are barely alive. This muck is infested with gnats, it's lumpy, clumpy doesn't retain water, the worst soil I've ever used & I'm 62! I'm hoping Sunshine Garden Centre will take this seriously & take action against a company not fit for purpose.

I bought a small bag of the multipurpose compost from Abel and Cole. I potted on seedlings once they had four proper leaves (dahlias, wallflower, chard) over two or three weeks end April/early May and they all stopped growing. I've rescued some and put them into coir compost and they seem to be recovering. The pansies that I potted on directly into coir are doing really well. Abel and Cole refunded me (Thanks!) but I've wasted a few key growing weeks. It seems I'm not the only one.

I have been growing from seed organic vegetables for over 10 years. Having used RocketGro this time, never before have I had a worst year for growing. The soil smells odd and the shoots do not develop fully into healthy plants. At the time of purchasing, I gave a bag to my daughter, also an experienced plantswoman, who has also had little success. We may as well have written off 3 months of time and effort for starting off beetroot, carrots, herbs, beans, peas and salad varieties. They are either dead or not developing. This product is seriously poor quality. My opinion resonates with the previous reviewer and I would like to challenge this company on account of this very negative and disappointing experience. Post script: Further to your appreciated reply, the product we bought out of the 17 RocketGro choices is called Peat-Free Seed and Cutting Compost:Stage 1

There seriously is something wrong with RocketGro compost. Having had to transplant my seedlings that germinated and then stopped growing in RocketGro seed compost and resow many others in Sylva Peat free compost, everything is now thriving thank goodness but frustrating that it has delayed my growing season.
I am writing this review again as the company did not respond to my question ‘Has something gone wrong this year’
The compost did not smell good - at times smelt of ammonia.
Judging from other reviews you really do need to rethink your compost mix. With this many poor reviews we can’t all be wrong even though you seem to be blaming the grower - which I have to say is insulting.

I’m an amateur but experienced gardener and chose the stage 2&3 compost for growing on my vegetable seedlings started in a Levington seed compost. Most of the seedlings barely moved after planting. After several weeks I’ve rescued the tomatoes and chillies by repotting in tomato grow bag compost and planted out the other tiny plants into the garden where they are now growing on. Courgettes and sweetcorn sown directly into this compost germinated well but soon turned yellow. I’m very disappointed with this compost which seems to be short of nutrients.

I have found this compost to be the worst I have ever bought - and judging from many of the other comments here, I am not alone. Many of my seeds have failed to germinate - even tomatoes! Those that have are yellow on stunted. I have grown other plants alongside, and under identical conditions but using a different compost and these have been fine. I am totally confident (after 40 years of gardening) that the problem is the compost. I have also noticed that it smells really unpleasant. I will not be buying again and suggest you radically change your formulation if you don't want to lose many other customers.

Really disappointed with this compost. I bought several bags of ericaceous compost to replant blueberry bushes which have now turned yellow and had zero flowers. I tested the pH and it's actually alkaline (pH of 7.5-8!). It also has become a fly breeding ground with tiny black flies crawling out of it and spreading through my garden. The seed and potting compost stage 1 and 2 don't seem to work either. Seedlings have not got beyond two leaf stadium and have all turned yellow or died, despite trying to save them by transplanting to stage 2 mix. Would have loved for this to work but won't buy it again.

Now I’ve seen all other negative reviews I can understand why I’m having such a disaster with my fruit and veg growing! Have wasted the entire spring now. To find out you have to use outdoors and not in a poly tunnel! What? Nothing about this on the package at all. Have thrown out dozens of seedlings as they don’t get past the two leaf cotyledons stage. Healthy bought cucumber and aubergine plants curl up and dying and tomato plants really struggling. Courgettes racing away and producing lots of flowers with no product so far.
Will be moving everything from my large poly tunnel tomorrow in the hope of rescuing what’s left. Will purchase other compost and try to repot everything so waste of a pallet load. Will try to mix into my compost bins for next year. Rocket Grow MUST make it clear not for indoor planting!!

This review refers to the packaging issues with the All Purpose organic liquid plant food. Two bottles were purchased at the Malvern show & both leaked badly on the journey home, leaving quite a foul smelling mess in the boot of the car.
Unfortunately customer services have yet to respond to several emails sent from 11th May onwards.

Quality products and efficient service. Environmentally friendly, quality products. Efficient delivery. Kept informed re delivery.

Awful compost. Bought over 100 bags of multipurpose for my allotment and it’s the worst I’ve ever used. Smells bad, contains fungus, has an oily film, and doesn’t hold water. I’ve wasted a huge amount of money and my growing season will result in almost no produce. Never again.

Amazing quality!!!

Highly recommend these guys!! I have tried a few of their products and I can not fault them. My garden has never looked so good! The roses are luscious and green, and there are so many roses on them this year. The beds are looking healthy and full.
I have also tried a few different seedling compost this year to see which does the best and RocketGro's Seedling and Cutting compost gave the best results!!

Also their customer service team are very friendly and on hand to help with any queries.

Overall fantastic products and team!!

I was recommended Rocket Gro by my local garden centre last year.
I have never been fond of peat free compost always hard and lumpy bits of twig. But I thought I’d give it a try wow I’m glad I did!! Smells like manure as it has been through a digester but it’s just plant material.
Tomatoes oh boy they grew like rockets so did my flowers heavy crop of tomatoes and plenty of flowers.
Have since purchased 2 more bags for this years garden plantings. Tomato plants have only been planted 10 days so much growth and forming trusses already.
Yes it can dry out a little but what compost doesn’t?I find a half inch layer of John innes on top of the compost sorts this out nicely.
And all English made good video on you tube too!
Have ordered the plant fuel feed this year to try.
Am an older gardener I was at college many years ago obtaining city and guilds in horticulture,now as a keen gardener I cannot recommend this product enough it really is money well spent.

Really poor compost. dries hard like a brick, everything I put it in seems to turn yellow!

EDIT, the company says its because its peat free however I grow in peat free Sylva grow compost normally and have never had these issues!

A good delivery service of their seed and cutting compost (and I was sent a bag of rose compost in error which they kindly told me to keep.
However, I sowed 70 chilli seeds, most germinated and started to grow true leaves….but that’s where they stopped. The compost is chunky not fine as I would expect for seeds, and as it starts to dry out it sets like concrete - not good for fine seedling roots. I see from another one-star review that Rocketgro say their products are all only suitable for outdoor use - who sows tender seed outdoors?
I’m throwing away all the seedlings from £20 worth of chilli seeds.

I’m new to using this compost and thought I’d give it a go as it’s organic and created locally on a Somerset farm, has fully recyclable packaging and ticks the boxes environmentally. (Being endorsed by River Cottage, if I’m honest, made me think it was worth a try). I really liked the consistency, all a consistent mix of different sizes, nice and crumbly and retains water well. So far so good, I’m getting really good results - everything has developed strong roots in it. Really happy with it and will definitely be ordering more.

Speedy delivery and great product. The garden is looking ready for this season and already the plants are benefitting from great soil. I would highly recommend.