PEAT, PRO'S AND CONS

[galina]

i am so glad there is no problems using peat in north America since the peat we use is harvested in more friendly and  responsible manner. 

you think!

[galina]

[Robert_Brenchley]

How's it harvested over there? Whereabouts is the industry based?

[davejg]

I think a lot of peat used in europe comes from russai ( peat bogs the size of the UK). However i think that a lot of the supposed problems concerning peat extraction are overplayed to some extent by the green goblins, abit like global warming etc.

[plainleaf]

peat in Canada is not harvest below waterline.

[goodlife]

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I think a lot of peat used in europe comes from russai ..and Finland..cousin of mine works in one of these places..and it ain't pretty sight.
My uncle who does veg growing on my granparents old place showed me other year his potato patch..and :o....it was just black peat...sea of it..the whole field was just black peat! Ohhh..I wish I could bag it up and ship it over ::)
But my uncle is not too happy as growing in peat does have its own problems....but it did look beautiful 'soil' ::)

[Robert_Brenchley]

Harvesting peat above the water table may not create lakes (our Norfolk Broads originated like this), but it still removes a resource which only renews at a slow rate, and it breaks down a carbon sink; once in the soil, the peat decomposes, and the CO2 is returned to the atmosphere. So it's not true to say that there are no environmental problems.

[goodlife]

Wether above or bellow waterlevel..the harvesting itself distroy whole ecosystem on the surface ..all plant growth, insects, fungi etc is all scraped away...and the food source & homes for various living things gone..from tiny things to big bears. And the scars from the peat harvest will be visible for years and years before new plant growth is able to take over again.
Like I said...not pretty sight.

[valmarg]

The January edition of the RHS magazine The Garden gives the results of a trial they conducted using peat-based, loam-based, green waste, wood fibre and coir.

The trial included the germination rates of lobelia, lettuce and beans.

The peat-based results were by far the best, second was green waste.  The worst was coir.

valmarg