Peat Moss Alternatives

Gardeners have enjoyed a long love affair with peat moss, but there’s a problem

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The fact that gardeners have enjoyed a foresighted honey matter with peat moss is completely intelligible . It ’s been among the potting mix / soiladditive favorites for what seems like forever . It ’s some exceptional stuff .

After all , peat can engage 10 to 20 times its weight unit in H2O , and it lightens the dirt , which allows for good drain . Those thing away , it ’s probably best loved for the good bacterium and natural fungicide that battles disease including the dread damping - off that terrorizedseedlingseverywhere .

Here ’s the trouble : Peat use is being discouraged , as it ’s not view an environmentally sound practice . The fact is that although peat moss istechnicallyrenewable , it takes about 1,000 years for one yard to be grown in a peat peat bog . When you look at it that direction , peat is closer to a nonrenewable imagination — at least in our lifespan ( and our grandchildren ’s lifespan and so on ) .

Manygardenersare choosing to apply less peat and turn to other alternatives . One caution : neither of these things has the disease - fight capacity that peat moss has . However , using more of the following natural resources in your potting premix will allow you to utilise less peat .

It ’s worth advert that none of these dirt additive ( peat moss included ) offer much nutritionary economic value to plants . They always need to be combine with another soil ( or soil - type medium ) or compost for nutriment .

Rice hulls

Rice metric grain are dried and hulled before being prepared for human consumption by being parboiled ( converted ) and then polished . Usually the hull would be considered waste and dispose of . But some canny person decided to apply them as a potting stain additive .

Elmer Rice hull are quite lean and well-nigh weightless . They offer lighter grunge , good drainage , and unspoilt water absorption . They ’re cheaper than peat by far and an obvious renewable resource . What ’s not to love ?

Coir

Coir ( pronouncedkoy - er ) is also cite to as coconut - peat or coir - peat . It ’s literally the hirsute , outside level of the husk on cocoanut shell . It ’s my favorite .

There are two types of coir : that which is harvested from vernal coconuts and that which is harvested from ripe coconut . The coir used for twine , Mexican valium , sacque , and flatness is collected from young ( loose - colored ) coconuts and referred to as “ white-hot fiber . ” While the coir used as a potting dirt linear is harvested from matured coconuts and is very slow to violate down .

Many time you ’ll buy the coir in “ blocks , ” which expand like sick when soaked in body of water for a while . Like rice Hull , coir lightens soil and retains H2O like a boss . It ’s also more expensive than peat .

Some will debate that coir is n’t close to being “ the pure green alternative ” when you factor in processing and shipping , which adds to defilement . I will concede that . But in my Bible , since coconuts are mature and reap for their meat anyway , coir is still more ecofriendly than its peat opposite number .

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