Plantation using Compost ONLY

[GardenLover]

Its been more than 6 months now since I planted an Adenium in
a planter using Compost ONLY.
I mean no sand or soil as a complement.

But this plant is doing well with compost only having no side effects.

I wonder why gardeners keep saying that using compost only
can be overfeeding for plants.

 

[zigs]

Welcome to the forums

I don't say that Plants very quickly use up the nutrients in compost only planters. As a rule of thumb I start feeding grow bags after 2 weeks with a liquid feed

 

[Chuck]

Its been more than 6 months now since I planted an Adenium in
a planter using Compost ONLY.
I mean no sand or soil as a complement.

But this plant is doing well with compost only having no side effects.

I wonder why gardeners keep saying that using compost only
can be overfeeding for plants.

I wish I could grow my plants in straight compost but I don't have enough. Compost is organic matter, not really a fertilizer although it does feed plants. If you tried to grow a plant in straight chemical fertilizer your plant would die very quickly. I think this is what you are referring to.

 

[roadrunner]

I think it depends on the plant. My banana trees love very fertile soil, they are "heavy feeders". However, I have some plants, such as the Blanket Flower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaillardia that thrive in sandy, low-fertile soils and the Spanish needle will grow along side the Blanket Flower, but it will also grow in fertile soil, so it doesn't seem to care...

However, one observation I made recently is that I've noticed when I first started gardening some plants didn't grow well and others did, this is when my soil was not nearly as fertile as it is now (after a few years of heavy mulching and composting).

An example is the Cosmos, it use to thrive in my yard, all I had to do was cast some seeds and they just took off and re-seeded itself exponentially. However, I've noticed lately that I don't have Cosmos any more and I tried to plant them last year and nothing...then I read how the plant prefers low-fertile soil, so I'm experimenting this year with a section of my yard that is mostly sandy still, since it's never been mulched over.

 

[GardenLover]

@Chuck
The term OVERFEEDING always creates confusion in the soil-compost ratio.

 

[headfullofbees]

If your compost has finished the composting process, there is no such thing as too much.
There are many recommendations about how much compost to use in your garden, ratios, etc. but these are minima to obtain optimum results.
rue compost is only organic material and has NO nutrients to speak of.
It's a growing medium, good at holding the nutrients and water THAT YOU ADD and, hopefully, full of the beneficial bacteria, etc. that allow your plants to access them.