WHAT IS JOHN INNES BASE

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Up until the beginning of the 20th century there were no ‘standard’ compost mixes for plants. In fact, before the introduction of John Innes Composts gardeners generally used a different compost for each species of plant they wanted to take cuttings from or pot up.

Usually the soil was neither sterilised or heat pasteurised and consequently plant seedlings were often attacked and destroyed by soil-borne diseases and insects.

In addition, the plant nutrition that was being added to the traditional composts were usually ‘unbalanced’, causing the plants to be either too soft in their growth and liable to diseases, or overly tough and slow growing.

In the 1930's two research workers at the John Innes Horticultural Institute, William Lawrence and John Newell, set out to overcome these problems by formulating composts that would give consistently good and reliable results. After six years of experiments they determined the physical properties and nutrition necessary in composts to achieve optimum rates of plant growth. They also introduced methods of heat sterilising the soil that eliminated pests and diseases, but did not cause any retardation of plant growth. If was through this research that the John Innes Base Fertilizer was developed and finally formulated.

John Innes Base Fertiliser is the name coined at the John Innes Research Institute in the 1930's for a ready mixed blend of hoof and horn, superphosphate and potassium sulphate. This was then mixed together with loam, peat and grit to make the now well known John Innes Loam-based Potting Composts.

The John Innes Base is a balanced mixed of the following plant nutrients:NITROGEN - for top growth
PHOSPHATES - for root growth
POTASH - for flowering and fruiting
TRACE ELEMENTS - for colour and flavour

The following lists gives the formulae for the Composts - the proportions of the substrate are measured by volume, with loam and peat passed through a 9mm sieve. For the No. 1,2 and 3 composts the John Innes base fertilizer consists of 2 parts Hoof and Horn for the Nitrogen (N), 2 parts Superphosphate for roots (P)and 1 part Potassium Sulphate (K) for flowers and fruit. This is balanced with one part ground limestone (CaCO3) to provide an optimum pH.

For growing seeds, cuttings and ericaceous or calcifuge plants (plants which require acidic conditions) the proportions vary and for the latter the ground limestone is replaced with an equal quantity of Flowers of Sulphur which lowers the pH.

Compost Substrate Fertilizer rates for the John Innes base are per each cubic metre of mixed compost.John Innes No. 17 parts loam
3 parts peat
2 parts sand 0.6kg ground limestone
1.2kg hoof and horn,1.2kg superphosphate
600g Potassium Sulphate
John Innes No. 27 parts loam
3 parts peat
2 parts sand 0.6kg ground limestone
2.4kg hoof and horn
2.4kg superphosphate
1.2kg Potassium Sulphate

John Innes No. 37 parts loam
3 parts peat
2 parts sand 0.6kg ground limestone
3.6kg hoof and horn
3.6kg superphosphate
1.8g Potassium Sulphate

John Innes Seed Compost
2 parts loam
1 parts peat
1 part sand 600g ground limestone
1.2kg Superphosphate
John Innes Cutting Compost1 parts loam
2 part peat
1 part sand no added fertilizer
John Innes Ericaceous Compost2 parts loam
1 part peat
1 part sand 600g Flowers of Sulphur
1 part superphosphateMixing is more easily performed if the ingredients are not too moist so that the particles do not stick together and so become more evenly distributed. Storage should be kept to a minimum as the nutrient balance will change due to the Nitrogen being mineralised by bacteria to unavailable Nitrate (NO3=) ions.

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Photograph care of bjgardeners

Article care of John Innes Manufacturers Association