peat free compost

[Potstubsdustbins]

This is the problem I have never found a peat free compost that performs well and I have tried. Have yet to get hold of some New Horizons though. And of course the evidence is controversial with some eminent gardeners saying one thing and others taking the opposing view.

Another thing that sticks in the craw of many is the stance taken by the green lobby that they always know best and they are very vorciferous about they opinions.

Colin

[mrpaulbradley]

[QUOTE=Two_Sheds;938659
So there.
Now shoot me.[/QUOTE]
Shoot you??!!
Are you kidding?
And have the whole of the gardening world after me!?
No fear!
And just to be clear, I'm as fond of our wild habitat as anyone. I live in Scotland for goodness sakes!
God's country!! :-)

[solway cropper]

"Peat has only been in widespread use since the mid-Seventies. Before this, gardeners either made their own potting and seed compost or bought ready-made composts with loam (soil composed of sand, silt and clay in relatively even concentration), doing the job of peat. In the intervening years we have been fed the myth that peat is essential"

So why did the original John Innes formulae use peat?

And why, in the 1960s were we using large quantities of peat in the gardens of the large country house where I worked?

I agree that peat use has increased dramatically since the 70s but that's the triumph of advertising....getting us to buy something we neither need nor want. Peat is useful but not essential so all we need to do is think about when and why we are using peat.

That's going to be the hard part...getting people to think.

[Potstubsdustbins]

SC I think you will find that peat use as dropped since the 70s. Not sure but I think I read somewhere there had been a considerable drop.

I personally think the only true 'green' compost is the stuff you make yourself. From what I read everything else is a compromise.

Colin

[salome2001]

i personally think the only true 'green' compost is the stuff you make yourself. From what i read everything else is a compromise.

Colin

peat miles!!!!

[snuffer]

I have seen the peat bogs in Mayo in Ireland. Vast swathes of bogland ripped up by machines, as far as the eye can see.

A lot is used for fuel including the manufacture of peat briquettes for the domestic heating market.

Although using peat free won't make a massive change, it is at least a step in the right direction.

[Dynamo]

Although using peat free won't make a massive change, it is at least a step in the right direction.

I don't believe that anyone here is saying that using peat free compost "isn't" a step in the right direction. Anybody who says they are is twisting the argument. What they are saying is that firstly, if the peat is extracted ecologically and the land is returned to a wonderful wildlife habitat it can't be that bad a thing, and secondly, peat free compost needs to improve.

I spent an hour yesterday sieving a bag of peat free compost so I could get enough fine stuff for my spring seed planting. I haven't even finished doing one bag of the stuff yet so I've still got a lot of sieving to do. It works out about 50/50 in quantities between the woody stuff and the fine. I'll use the woody stuff as a mulch. The fact is though that I shouldn't need to be doing this, and lots of people are going to say they can't be bothered doing that just to save a couple of square yards of peat bog.

Oh, by the way. I also went to the bother of microwaving the peat free as well as one poster here suggested. Thats something else I shouldn't need to be doing.

[Alison]

I've never microwaved compost in my life and it's totally unnecessary also, as I've said before a million times, if you buy a decent variety of peat free then you don't need to sieve, I get a small handfull of sticky bits in New Horizon which I can pick out by hand and use in larger pots rather than sowings. It's great and doesn't need to improve but some of the others clearly do, basically you seem to get more variety with peat free but when you find a good variety you're sorted.

[Dynamo]

Hopefully your right Alison. I won't bother microwaving any more of the stuff and we'll see what happens. As for buying New Horizons, I would have done so, but none of my local shops stocked it. Maybe I should look further afield. In the meantime though, there's an awful lot of wood in the compost I did buy. That really shouldn't be the case.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Which ever compost you use 'peat in' or 'peat free' it is my belief that to some extent you will be destroying a natural environment somewhere. Its just a case of which one you choose to destroy and which one you choose to try and save.

If I could get everything I need from home made compost and I had the room to produce enough for my needs then that is all I would use. Unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world.

Colin

[Alison]

Would agree with that Colin, large heavy bags being transported round the country isn't the best idea at all. I use peat free for my seedlings as I don't want the competition but make my own (sometimes mixed with bought) for potting on. Have got 2 compost heaps at home plus a wormery and bokashi bins and 4 compost bins at the lottie so manage to make a fair bit.

[Potstubsdustbins]

No lottie just a medium sized back yard, I have two daleks so make what I can. Then I use old compost that I have revitalised for most things. For seed cutting I do use peat in 1 60ltr bag per year with is equal to 6trs of peat as I find this gives better results.

I have looked into this in some depth and if we are serious about our enviroment then I am afraid that peat free at this time is not much better when it comes to being eco friendly.

Colin

[cptncrackoff]

dI tend to look at the price and the results more than the ingredients.
That and reading a back issue of GYO with a panel of 'experts' saying that basically peat free atm is no where near as good as peat containing composts.
Personally I use a bale of peat here and there, IMO its good stuff, holds the water a treat as well.
I thought in the same back issue it said that gardeners use of peat only amounts to 5% or 8% of peat mining, I stand to be corrected but I'll not lose any sleep over that.

[Potstubsdustbins]

cptn, I have read the same figure.

What is a suprise to me is that people never mention lime, allotmenteers can use considerable amounts and if you want to see the detruction that causes google Tunstead Quarry Buxton.

However you then have to say that the amount of lime gardeners use is very small considering all the other use's it has.

Colin

[VirginVegGrower]

I'm sure that in Ireland and elsewhere they have been burning peat a lot longer than since 1970...something not quite right. I use both but am furiously churning my own this year with the chooks assistance - need more hens - I don't mind New Horizons but I still don't find it as fine as peat containing seed compost. It's a dilemma and a half...