How does compost compare with pre-mixed soil

I am wondering what some opinions are on compost versus a pre-mix soil or any other kind of medium such as peatmoss. The main factor I am thinking of is moisture holding ability, but also aeration and drainage. I am aware that peatmoss can hold 3 times its weight in water, but offers no nutrients and so how might a mixture say 70% compost and 30% perlite compare to a bag of sunshine mix or pro-mix. These 2 compost containers are in my backyard, all organic matter, grass, tree branches, leaves clippings. Its rather coarse but seems to break down just fine. I used about 15 gallons for my 60 gallon soil mix

Do you have your compost analyzed? It all depends on the breakdown of your compost. All in all you can't beat a good compost but when I use compost I use it in conjunction with bagged soil in my soil mix.

I've heard it takes like 6 weeks to break down completely, i mixed like 25% compost with 75 bag soil

i think your going to have relay good results, compost is like gold the more micro nute. it has the better

i took a closer look at that picture it looks like discharge from a tree shredder it needs time to decompose

yeah it's from a troy bilt shredder, just a bunch of stuff from the yard, we don't have a fine screen like we did in the past, its pretty chunky but it aerates better probably, this stuff is about a week old

give it more time add all the scrap from your kitchen no bones or fat and keep turning it add some grass clippings and you'll have some bad ass compost in a few weeks

yepppp has all of that in already just waiting for it to cook down

i also grab a cheap bag of corn meal and some molasses to mix into the pile it kick starts the process

Robert, how long from start to finish would you say a compost takes to break down, provided its stirred relatively often? obviously its going to vary greatly on contents, but just a ballpark... The one in question has a large variety from the parts of trees that were already dead and dry, hence why we chopped it down, also have been adding the regulars off coffee grinds, egg shells (go through alot off those here) leaves, the lawn after it was cut, some fruit, among other things, so I imagine its going to be a slow process, especially for the tree parts....

[video=youtube;DsUmmBaZUvI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsUmmBaZUvI[/video]here is a vid that kinda goes into the process yours is already starting to break down it, you could be ready in just a couple weeks

Rock on...thanks for the vid too.... god I love this site....

it takes around 6 weeks to completely break down, maybe longer if its course like mine

how does store bought compost compare to the homeade stuff? Buying it is pretty much the only way it will get in the garden at this point.
Is this worth it?

if its the only way to get it, probably would be.you do with what you can get...

yeah it says organic, and its got all the usual goodies in it. Think like a 50/50 blend with a base soil, then ammendents to taste. Is that too hot?

nah thats what you want, something mixed with partial potting soil. The nursery by my house sells bags of soil mixed with feather meal, blood meal, alfalfa meal and a bunch of other stuff, works great to just add some perlite

for an unrelated to mj grow outside I'm thinking about mixing compost. perlite, and sand...if it works I MIGHT try to hide a couple of babies out there, but I would have to crop them prematurely I'm sure....

you should get some peatmoss instead of sand or something that holds water better, like more compost. Pre mature sucks, i had it once i remember, an 8th looked like an ounce it was so fluffy and bouncy, i smoked like half the bag in one blunt

prob peat moss than...