Government consultation on phasing out peat use

[John Walker]

The government have launched a consultation: Reducing the horticultural use of peat in England

Anyone can contribute to this process, including gardeners. The deadline for responses is 11 March 2011.

Headline proposals are that the government is proposing to end peat use by gardeners by 2020, with an end to its use by commercial growers by 2030.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consu ... /index.htm

[alan refail]

Comments on the article in Horticulture Week are worth reading.

http://www.hortweek.com/news/1047177/De ... ILC-SEARCH

[peter]

Alan, very much so especially the gentleman with twelve years research behind him.

[Cider Boys]

Peat extraction is an important rural industry that has taken place locally to me for years on Sedgemoor and I for one will continue using it no matter what any facist quango dictates. In fact it is the old peat workings in Somerset that now form such an important part in the preservation of wildlife in this country. I have fond memories in the early seventies of hauling peat up to the city of Bath, there is no substitute for good old peat and long may it be used and dug from the Somerset Moors .

Barney

[alan refail]

In fact it is the old peat workings in Somerset that now form such an important part in the preservation of wildlife in this country.

A very valid point, Barney. The Norfolk Broads were the result of peat extraction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broads

[Primrose]

I have mixed feelings about this because I've tried peat free compost on occasions in the past and have been very disssatisfied with some of the results, especially for germinating seedlings. I don't know whether there's a Kite standard or similar for compost but some of it is distinctly dodgy. Even compost purchased under well known brand names like Levingtons is sometimes of very mixed standard, whatever is included in it.

If peat is abolished, what are we going to use when we need to plant azaleas, rhododrendrons, etc? Is there a satisfactory substitute?

[John Walker]

@Peter

Perhaps the person with 'twelve years research' behind him should try talking to commercial growers who are making a healthy living from growing plants without the use of peat. They have been at the game for many years; Chelsea Gold medal-winning Jekka McVicar is just one of them. When I last checked she was still running a successful business growing herbs to strict organic standards...

If we're going to stick with the 'nobody else is doing it [ending peat use]' argument then any progress will be at the usual snails' pace. Why can't the UK take a lead in this and show Europe (and the rest of the world) that going peat-free makes economic and environmental sense? The peat industry has no vested interest in ending peat use, just as the tobacco industry (add other examples as you wish) has no interest in encouraging people to stop smoking.

The horticultural industry was given 10 years to end peat use (i.e. up until 2010) and it has failed. It has now been given another 10 years to end its use in gardening, and another 20 years to end it for commercial use. This is simply a joke, but unfortunately there's no funny side: science tells us that peat extraction releases carbon dioxide and so is a direct contributor to climate change. Of course it also destroys natural habitats that have taken aeons to evolve but which the pro-peat advocates seem to care not a jot about.

Sadly gardeners have had the misleading idea that peat is 'renewable' and 'sustainable' dripped into their brains over many years, so it's now an uphill struggle to reverse that and give them accurate, science-led information. But I do sense a new alliance building - of growers, scientists, gardening writers and informed home and professional gardeners - who are motivated by a growing sense of ecological urgency, and the knowledge that gardeners are key to ending peat use.

@Cider Boys

Why are you looking for a 'facist [sic] quango' to defy rather than nature itself? (What quango are you referring to, by the way?).

This is surely the perfect catch 22: we willingly destroy natural habitat (i.e. the peat deposits in Somerset or elsewhere) to help in the 'preservation of wildlife'. Are you serious?

Common sense tells us that digging up peat in minutes destroys natural habitat that has been tens of thousands of years in the making, and science tells us that peat deposits act as carbon 'sinks', helping to keep carbon safely locked away in the ground.

I don't think anyone would doubt that some of the scars of our industrial past (the Norfolk Broads is a good example) have indeed become good homes for wildlife, but peat extraction is a known contributor to global ecological imbalance for the reasons given above. There's some irony here in that low-lying areas of Somerset are likely to be one of the areas of the UK worst hit by rising sea levels as ice melts due to a warming climate.

[jethrotattydrill]

I am siding with Primrose on this. I have tried several brands of peat free compost and have yet to find one that is half as good as peat. Sorry,I have yet to find a suitable alternative and will continue to use peat for raising seedlings.

[Johnboy]

John Walker,
To name the compost that Jekka Mcvicar uses would be worth a thousand words and would be far more helpful than most of your rhetoric.
Jekka McVicar is wealthy enough to have her compost made especially for her and probably no-one else.
When will you begin to understand the dilemma home gardeners are in?
The anti peat campaign began long before global warming became a real issue and you are using global warming as an excuse to campaign for stopping the use of peat extraction which is an altogether different thing.
I suggest it is time you revealed the truth to us all.
JB.

[alan refail]

John Walker

To name the compost that Jekka Mcvicar uses would be worth a thousand words and would be far more helpful than most of your rhetoric.

Johnboy makes a good point, but it might be easier for you to name the compost you use, together with a list of its contents, price and effectiveness (some pictures of it in use could help to convince peat users).

It is a frequent complaint on this forum that many multi-purpose composts on the market recently are of poor quality and unstated content. There is little point in Defra banning peat until the government/Defra make a detailed statement of content mandatory - as is the case for processed foods.

Until this happens amateurs and commercial growers will continue to use peat for its reliability - unless, of course, there is a simple ban on peat use with appropriate penalties for "offenders".

[Johnboy]

Hi Alan,
I make my own seeding and potting composts based on pulverized straw and Comfrey but occasionally my mix has not got the right consistency and then I do use the odd handfull of Peat to improve it.
A few years back I had to close my nursery due to heart attack but I had just ordered and paid for 8 pallets of Peat based MP compost which is still with me or about 7.5 pallets are. It will get used but probably not by me the way things are going.
One of the people who have allotments on my plot bought 4 different bags of non peat compost and even though normally he is strictly organic he ended up blending every bag he used of non peat with some of my peat before he got what he was after, a seed/potting on mixture.
Things he grew in the tunnel simply did not grow properly with two of the bags of compost he had bought. He even had trouble with growing runner beans in pots and they simply didn't like the compost. Beans rotted off although the compost had never been watered because it was wet enough when opened.
He has made some Comfrey based compost for himself this year.
As regards names and prices I cannot tell you. The unwanted bags were spread on the flowerbeds here and the bags recycled.
What I can tell you that my Organic friend will not be buying any more non peat products in future.
It is possible with that with recent events, of which you are aware, that my own brand might just find it's way onto the market. Who knows!
JB.

[alan refail]

Hi Johnboy

Interesting reply. My questions were addressed to John Walker so I await his reply with interest.

Alan

[Primrose]

Hi Alan,

One of the people who have allotments on my plot bought 4 different bags of non peat compost and even though normally he is strictly organic he ended up blending every bag he used of non peat with some of my peat before he got what he was after, a seed/potting on mixture.
Things he grew in the tunnel simply did not grow properly with two of the bags of compost he had bought. He even had trouble with growing runner beans in pots and they simply didn't like the compost. Beans rotted off although the compost had never been watered because it was wet enough when opened.

JB.

I think this is the experience of many of us, and the sad thing is that many new gardeners trying to grow their own from seed are put off by the process, thinking that it is their fault. It's all very well having a consultation about halting the use of peat as a growing medium, but what we need in tandem is a focussed programme on trying to develop an effective alternative. It's rather like the current programme being developed by the banks to abolish the use of chequebooks. You've got to have an effective alternative process in place before simply pulling the pliug.

[Elle's Garden]

I realise I am displaying my complete ignorance here, but do all countries have peat areas to use for compost? I am wondering what gardeners around the world use for these purposes? Are there any success stories that we can look to elsewhere?

[Tony Hague]

The only use I've ever made of peat is as part of a John Innes seed compost. The quantities involved are not enough to trouble my conscience ! Otherwise I've used New Horizons with success, and recently found perfectly adequate performance for tomatoes and peppers using two buckets of sifted garden compost mixed with one of vermiculite and a handful of seaweed meal. I'm hoping to try out a leafmold blend for seeds soon.

Can't say I've had a lot of luck with other compost blends though - often too much inadequately composted forestry waste; I can imagine that things might rot off in that.