Compost - Peat vs Peat Free

Although currently without a garden, so not an active user of either alternative, I do feel that the true cost of peat based compost is too high to make it a viable option

I use my own homemade compost and leaf mould as much as possible. I also have a wormery which supplies a little compost but also a good liquid feed.

I have used a lot of peat based compost in the past, (sorry). The peat-free I bought several years ago was awful, I agree it was like shredded bark.

I would always try to find peat free nowadays though and I am very grateful to all the recommendations on this thread. Thanks for starting it KatTai, it is a very important issue.

My guess is that Ham Wall RSPB defies logic as a ex peat digging place and is now home to Bitterns,Great White Egrets and even rare birds not seen anywhere else in U K plus of course hundreds of more common waders,Starling spectaculars and Otters.

Must be thousands of us get lots of pleasure from this place and doubt any of us would even think of going there unless the peat had been extracted so although RSPB may say they are against peat extraction I bet lots of us members have a different view.

Not saying I am for it but it has given us some amazing places for wildlife.As a gardener do not use much peat compost but the peat free ones I  have used have been rubbish.  

I bought some of the New Horizon Compost - I must say looks wise it looks way better than any other peat free compost I've seen!  It doesn't have loads of big bits in it or anything like that.  I'm trying it with some seeds at the moment so I will see how well it does (yes, I know you're supposed to use seed compost but I couldn't find any peat free potting compost that looked good!).  Plus I don't know what the difference is lol  I'm experimenting with the Miracle Grow I've had left over (not a seed compost either!) to see if seeds grow better in one than the other, but with me chances are nothing will grow in either! lol

Ian H said:

Thats interesting, earlier in the year i read about a trial that found the reverse to be true, see the link here.

For the RSPB's take on things have a look here.

Ian H said:

Thats interesting, earlier in the year i read about a trial that found the reverse to be true, see the link here.

For the RSPB's take on things have a look here.

Ian H said:

Thats interesting, earlier in the year i read about a trial that found the reverse to be true, see the link here.

For the RSPB's take on things have a look here.

I've tried just about every sort of peat free - and always come back to B&Q's grobags (with peat) for everything - seeds/plants/cannas etc.  About the only thing that actually works, and best of all IT'S CHEAPER.

KatTai said:

What are your opinions?  We are all (probably) aware of the impact of peat harvesting but in the paper the other day in the gardening bit there was mention of some kind of study comparing peat and peat-free, and the peat compost was found to be the better for growing plants.  So which do you use and why?  Are there any peat-free composts you have found that rival the ones with peat in them? 

You could of course use a mix of peat and peat free.  At least you'd be half way there.  Also, you could mix the peat free with some pelleted chicken manure to give it a bit of bulk.

KatTai said:

What are your opinions?  We are all (probably) aware of the impact of peat harvesting but in the paper the other day in the gardening bit there was mention of some kind of study comparing peat and peat-free, and the peat compost was found to be the better for growing plants.  So which do you use and why?  Are there any peat-free composts you have found that rival the ones with peat in them? 

 

Hello KatTai

I've not posted on any forum before but the issue you raise really interests me. I've gardened for more than 25 years, mostly growing vegetables, and a few years ago I took this further by doing a part time college course to gain my National Certificate in Horticulture.

I've used New Horizon peat-free for years and it has got better over time. In the "Gardening Which?" annual test of seed composts it is regularly the peat-free Best Buy. But you're right, the best peat-based growing media out-perform even the best peat-free by quite a long way, so I can understand why many commercial growers and nurseries use peat. After all, if the survival of your business depends on achieving as near to 100% propagation success as possible you'll use the compost that gives you the best chance of that.

However I garden for fun and I don't think it matters if I "only" achieve, say, 70% success. In fact using New Horizon peat-free for sowing I usually do a bit better than that, all other things being equal. For instance last year I planted 8 courgette seeds, 7 germinated, 3 of the plants went in my garden and I gave the rest away. I get the same sort of results with all the larger seeds, from beans down to lettuce and brassicas. I recently started  experimenting with cuttings of ornamental plants. Last autumn I took some cuttings from my Penstemons  and, following the advice in a gardening magazine, mixed perlite with the compost to give better drainage. It seems to have worked pretty well. I also use NH peat-free (with some added controlled release fertiliser) in my containers of summer bedding and, again, that works OK.

Where I have found difficulties with New Horizon is with germinating very tiny seeds; there the rather coarse texture of the compost is a problem. I buy a small bag of John Innes seed compost, just for those species, and I'd also use it for seed that was very expensive or hard to obtain. One idea I read about, but haven't tried myself, is to put a layer of the coarser peat-free in the bottom of the seed tray and then a centimetre of the JI seed compost on top, so cutting down even further the amount of peat-based compost you use.

I hope this adds to the debate.

Dee the Gardener

 

Hi Dee, welcome to the world of forums and thank you very much for your response.  I can fully understand why nurseries stick to peat composts to ensure they have a good success rate, but like yourself I'm a hobby gardener - and my own success rate is probably down to blind luck more than anything else as I rarely stay on top of things in the garden area!  I'm using new New Horizon for pretty much everything at the moment and have some seeds planted in it that seem too be doing well, though there did seem to be quite a bit of fungi growing in the plant raising kit, however this doesn't seem to have been detrimental to the seedlings!  Still, it is early in the year yet!  Looking forward to getting some more seeds planted up, but have to wait another month for that! 

Kat

Mark Avery has posted a blog about the use of peat in composts - you can read it here - http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/markavery/archive/2011/02/07/for-peat-s-sake.aspx

:-)