by Guest RanterKen Druse
“ Do you bonk what sphagnum moss peat moss is ? Do you know what it ’s used for ? ”
I asked several gardeners these motion after a lecturing I gave in Connecticut a while back . Here are the results of my informal pate . Fifteen out of 20 people did not get it on what peat moss was , admit the director of a garden center . ( He thought it was the same as homemade compost . ) Perhaps more amazingly , seven out of the 20 masses did not know what peat moss is supposed to be used for ( although they all bought it ) . One somebody said her husband spread it on their lawn . Most of the gardener paint a picture that peat moss was a mulch to put on top of the soil .
Peat moss is the partially decomposed remains of formerly living sphagnum moss from bogs . Because it ’s nearly inconceivable to rewet once it ’s dry , it disgust water and cause a dreadful surface mulch . As a territory amendment , which is what the bale mathematical product is mostly sold for , peat moss is also a poor choice . It break off down too fast , compact and squeezing air out of the soil , create an unhealthy condition for plant roots . Peat moss can be a utile growing medium for containers , however , when lightened with a drain material like perlite .
The braggart job with peat moss is that it ’s environmentally bankrupt .
Peat moss is mined , which involve scraping off the top stratum of living sphagnum moss . The sphagnum peat bog above the mined product is a home ground for plant like sundew , butterwort and peat bog rosemary , as well as rare and endangered animals like dragonflies , frogs and birds , not to cite the live moss itself . Despite manufacturer ’ claim that the bogs are easy to restore , the delicate residential area that dwell the bog can not be quickly re - established . Yes , peat moss is a renewable resource , but it can take hundreds to thousands of years to form .
Like all valued wetlands , peat bog make pure fresh air and even mitigate flood damage .
And there are archaeologic ground to preserve peat peat bog . In the acidic moss below the live stratum , wooden artifacts of people who lived long ago survive , even the remains of the people themselves . CO2 is also preserved – trapped in the moss , but released into the aviation when mined . In fact , peat bogs computer memory about 10 % of all fixed carbon .
In the U.S. , peat moss is almost exclusively used by the horticulture diligence . 40,000 acres of peat moss are presently being harvested in Canada , with 90 % of the product destined for garden in the U.S. In the U.K. , where peat moss is burn off as fuel , as well , nigh 94 % of the lowland peat bog have been falsify or completely destroyed due to harvesting . And most of our peat is ship 100 of miles , often when it ’s wet and heavy , which adds further to the fuel require for shipping .
Many environmentalist , gardeners , and wetlands scientists in these countries have recommended a boycott of peat . The Royal Horticultural Society hopes for a 90 % reducing by 2010 . Areas in Ireland have already banned the harvesting of peat moss altogether .
Producers in both Canada and the United States maintain that they never slew sphagnum moss quicker than it rise , and leave behind enough peat to ensure positive feedback . The Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association claims that peat - moss functioning keep the bogs from being drain for maturation , that five to ten years after harvesting , the peat bog will be a “ functioning wetland ” again , and that after 25 years , 90 per centum of the original flora will rise back . I have my doubts . Some wetlands scientists point out that a managed bog miss the biodiversity of the original bog .
In a development at the center of the horticulture world , Monrovia Growers has just preface a young personal line of credit of bagged “ grunge ” which arrest peat moss . That ’s harmonise to their press outlet about the products ; the Word of God “ peat ” never look on their website .
Though gardeners seem to have been programmed to buy peat and are as fast to the product as some car - buyers used to be about their beloved Pontiacs , there ’s simply no need to use it . Chopped farewell make a much well and more attractive mulch , and compost is superscript as a soil amendment .
If only more Americans could be encouraged to compost . If only tummy started their own compost facilities , and if only more municipalities stupefy serious about composting .
In addition to homemade compost , I apply coir , a by-product of the coconut processing industry . ( Here’sone dependable author . ) This formerly discarded stuff can be shipped completely dehydrated – very lightweight – which repress its vim requirement for transporting .
What do other organic gardeners consider about peat moss , coir , or about Monrovia ’s new products ?
Peat bog exposure credit .
