Peat free compost WARNING

[Johnboy]

It would appear that between 2008 and 2013 there were 16 cases of Legionnaires' Disease and very sadly there were two deaths directly contributed to the use of peat free compost composed of green waste*
In 2013 a study compiled by the University of Strathclyde into 22 different composts marketed in the UK containing green waste found that 14 were found to be carrying a variety of Legionella and 4 contained the Legionella longbeachae.
*This is the use of municipal green waste and not home made green compost.
A call has been made that such composts should carry a hazard warning by the widow of one of the deceased.
The trade, being the manufactures of the composts, disagree because the risk factor being so extremely low. (I wonder why they disagree!)
All these events occurred in Scotland and beyond the reach of DEFRA but the Scottish Parliament and the Health Protection Scotland agree with the manufacturers and both are against hazard labelling.
IMHO this is a total disgrace!
What say you?
JB

[alan refail]

I have always been wary of peat-free compost and unhappy with the sort of rubbish that is in it, ranging from glass shards, through uncomposted wood, to plastic debris.
When I did some trials in 2011 I was far from impressed with its performance either.*
In the light of deaths it seems totally unacceptable that there is not a strong series of health warnings on the packaging; not just wear gloves and wash hands.

* search my posts for "peat-free compost trial"

[Geoff]

Disgusting! Rather like much of the product.
Washing hands etc. is pretty irrelevant when the problem is almost certainly inhaling dust.
One feels for the people operating the plants both doing the composting and blending the potting composts.

[Motherwoman]

I had a problem using municipal green waste last year when I lost my glasshouse tomatoes to what was obviously hormone damage. It just highlights the problem that municipal waste has no control over its inward ingredients. This would be unacceptable in any other product, and in a purchased commercial compost is not what the consumer is expecting.

People dying from using compost is appalling.

MW

[Monika]

I have never used peat free compost (not least in view of opinions expressed on this forum) but I do use peat-reduced stuff. Occasionally and particularly when first opening the bag, there is a strong smell of sewage and I have often wondered whether some firms use sewage sludge as part of the mixture. However, I have assured myself that all composts are heat sterilised so there should be no problem. Would that not also kill Legionnaires Disease germs? Or is potting compost not sterilised?

[Cider Boys]

Thanks for the warning Johnboy it is a shame the media do not enlighten the public about this danger.

Living within the Sedgemoor area of the Somerset Levels and Moors I have always used sedge peat since it is abundantly available but I also recognise that the peat free alternatives are regretfully pretty poor substitutes. Those that are concerned about peat extraction may give their cause more respect if they were honest enough to accept that peat free alternatives are at best poor and in some cases dangerous.

It always annoys me when some (most) popular gardening programme presenters (i.e. MD) state with great emphasis to (of course) "always make sure to use a peat free compost" suggesting to the inexperienced gardener that to use peat is harmful to their plants.

I am afraid that the Thought Police only give their side of the argument.

Happy gardening

Barney

[Tony Hague]

This is not a new story. I presume the renewed hysteria is down to this BBC story:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-g ... t-32920396

The only substantial content in that story, the Strathyde article of 2013, you can read for your self here:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... .12381/pdf

If you do so, you will find that of the 24 composts tested, only four were peat free composts, one was homemade and one was green waste (which tested negative). So unless you insist on growing in pure peat, avoiding peat free composts may not help.

Whilst labelling might be an idea, you cannot avoid all risks in life. People have died from inhaling fungal spores when turning compost. Some have been infected by E. Coli, some tetanus, from handling muck. Toxoplasmosis and toxocara and from cat and dog c**p. One contracted an awful flesh eating disease after being scratched gardening. Life can be risky.

[Johnboy]

Hi Tony,
To me HUMAN LIFE IS SACROSANCT!
This is not renewed hysteria or hysteria of any kind but an honest attempt to bring to the notice of all members of this forum the pitfalls of using any preparation containing municipal green waste.
Municipal green waste is rubbish (pun intended) and apart from the study undertaken by the University of Strathclyde what measures are being taken to do rectify the contamination which is obviously inherent in Municipal Green Waste.
I feel that your approach to the subject to be rather crass and an attempt to want to sweep it all under the carpet which I for one to not appreciate.
I feel that a mention of the use of Municipal Waste should be mentioned
on a bag of compost marketed in the UK and then people at least know what they are dealing with.
JB.

[Tony Hague]

The sanctity of human life is getting a bit of a heavy topic for a gardening forum, but without wishing to devalue it there are a great many humans alive now, more than ever and all dependent upon our environment and its finite resources. What might have been acceptable use of resources once isn't necessarily ok now. And re-using rubbish like green waste is important.

[Johnboy]

Hi Tony,

The sanctity of human life is getting a bit of a heavy topic for a gardening forum

I agree with your quote and regret that I felt compelled to write about human life on the gardening forum but if there are problems with one of the most basic commodities used by most gardeners being hazardous then I feel that they should be informed especially when they are being actively encouraged to use such products.
This begs the question.
What is being done to make municipal green waste less hazardous?
What proposals do the growing medium producers have for cleaning up their act?
There are a whole host of questions because none of us have the foggiest idea as to what is being done.
JB.

[Tony Hague]

I suspect it is quite difficult to guarantee complete safety of any composted product, because legionella seems to thrive in warm moist conditions. Of course it could be heat sterilised, but the energy to do that might undermine the environmental benefit.

I don't use any peat products, and manage to grow stuff. I have little doubt it would do better in peat. I use some New Horizons, but do worry a bit about the rubbish in it - shredded melamine finished chipboard from kitchen units is easy to see, and who knows what else is in there - I presume things like lead content are monitored (?) Because of this I've moved towards making my own - it is composted greenwaste and wood waste after all, and as a gardener and woodworker I have both, and a compost heap. At least I lnow what goes in ... but the Strathclyde study found legionella in homemade compost too. And then therr is tge vermiculite I mix in with it - which probably also isn't environmentally very friendly. Sometimes feels you can't win !

[Geoff]

I grow most of my stuff in a JI style compost of garden soil, leaf mould and sharp sand but buy peat based compost for the very earliest sowings.

[peter]

.....
What is being done to make municipal green waste less hazardous?
,.......
JB.

The people much derided by the media, especially the tabloid division!

Local council "bin police" fining idiots who put glass or plastic in. Sadly they have not yet cottoned on to domestic weedkiller use on lawns!

[Johnboy]

Hi Tony,
Not too long ago I was driving in North Wales and took the wrong turning,
the one before I should have, and ended up at the back of a Municipal Composting Plant where there were massive piles of finished composted material and I was appalled at what detritus I could see on the surface and dread to think what was lurking unseen. Had that material been properly screen most of the foreign bodies could have been eliminated but it would appear that the growing medium producers have to do this at their expense and not the councils. I really think that the government should have a hand in this and some strict regulations should be laid down for particle size before this waste should be released to the medium producers.
How to eliminate any Legionella or any other unwanted toxic substance from such a mass of product is totally beyond my scope of knowledge.
I too make my own composts based on Comfrey and other herbs and are composted with pulverized straw. When straw is pulverized it becomes exceedingly absorbent. I have enough Peat in stock to last out my gardening days but I only use it very occasionally when my own compost is rather wet and mixing with peat dries it out to a very workable consistency.
Over the years I have spent a fortune on so-called peat free compost.
Viewing samples and ordering two pallets at a time to find that what I end up with is nothing like the samples. I even tried suing one manufacturer but was advised not to by my legal advisor. In the end I gave up and returned to the use of peat and concentrated on my own compost.
By the way should anybody be interested my compost is composed of
Comfrey, Borage, Nettle, Valerian officinalis and Pot Marigold bound up in the pulverized straw base.
JB.