Reply from DEFRA regarding problems with peat free compost.

[Nature's Babe]

A copy of the email I received today from DEFRA, i thought you might like to read and comment on the response.

Your query regarding peat to the Natural Environment mailbox has been passed to me for response. Many thanks for your thoughts and I have addressed your two queries below;

Under the European Union Renewables Directive, the United Kingdom (UK) has a commitment to derive 15% of its final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020. Government planning policy gives no special preference to wind turbines or other renewables on upland peat, nor does it direct wind energy developers to any specific area. Many peatland areas in England continue to enjoy high levels of legal protection because of their special landscape and or ecological featuresby being designated as sites of special scientific interest, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, National Parks and so on. That means any development proposal within or on the boundaries of such areas are scrutinised very carefully to ensure that the features for which they were designated are not likely to be compromised by the development.


For the majority of wind farm proposals, developers have to submit an environmental impact assessment (EIA) to planning authorities. Planning authorities (local or national) make the decision of whether or not to grant planning permission in light of the information in the EIA. The first priority for any project is to try and avoid causing environmental damage, including in sensitive areas like peatland. There is a lot that can be done through clever project design to minimise and mitigate impacts. However, if there is damage that cannot be avoided, it is down to the planning authorities to judge whether the benefits of the wind farm development outweigh those impacts. On average, after weighing up those impacts and benefits, planning authorities reject about 40% of wind farm proposals each year in Scotland, and a little more than that in England.

With regards to the quality of peat free compost, as you know Defra published its plans for phasing out the horticultural use of peat in the Natural Environment White Paper. As part of these plans Defra has committed to, and is in the process of, setting up a Sustainable Growing Media Task Force. This task force will foster a partnership approach focusing on identifying and addressing supply chain issues that need to be overcome to achieve the required peat replacement; which will include the issues of compost quality, safety and effectiveness. I am sorry to hear of the poor experience you and your fellow gardeners have had of some peat-free composts and I do hope that this will not deter you from trying them again. There are a range of peat-free composts available on the market and new and innovative products continue to be launched. Only some of these products will contain composted green waste and the majority of these source their composted green waste very carefully to overcome some of the issues that you have highlighted. The consumer group Which? Gardening has recognised the quality of a range of products in awarding “Best Buy” awards to three peat-free container composts for the first time in March 2010.

Many thanks for your continued interest and we hope you continue to see improvements in the availability and quality of peat free composts.

Kind regards,

David Devaney



Dr. David Devaney

Soils & Agri-Environment Policy Specialist

Defra.

[snooky]

Thankfully,these proposals do not apply in Wales-at the moment.No doubt sooner or later someone in the Welsh Assembly will jump on this Bandwagon and try and introduce it here.

When this Sustainable Growing Media Task Force is set up with equal consideration given to lobbyists from the pro-peat lobby as well as from the anti-peat lobby,but,reading between the lines of this e-mail no matter how it is debated this idea will pass on to the statute book.

As for the comment about peat free compost,reading the comments on this Forum and other gardening Forums on which I lurk,then Which?Gardening best buys should be re-named "Best Buys of a Bad Lot".

[Nature's Babe]

Hi Snooky, as promised I have shared their reply. Does anyone know which three Which recomend?

[snooky]

Yes,N.B.and I was remiss in not thanking you for it.Thank you.

[Nature's Babe]

It looks like any future problems with peat free should be for the attention of the Sustainable Growing Media Task Force.

[Tony Hague]

I think it is important to keep a clear head here. Defra have performed a consultation, and as part of that have heard from professional growers of plug plants in particular, who have concerns about suitable alternatives. Their plan, which is a voluntary phase out, for amateur use by 2020 and professional by 2030, seems to me quite measured and reflects that concern. A voluntary phase out can and will fail if, despite the help of the task force, better substitutes cannot be found. Which rather puts the pressure on them. Incidentally, the NFU take the view that it will fail because there simply aren't enough of the alternative materials available.

[MikA]

Hi NB,

I researched the Which report for you.

"Best compost for container plants 2011" - (Note not 2010 as in your mail)


There are only 2 Best Buys this year.

New Horizon Organic Peat Free multi-purpose scored 80% in the trials

Westland Multi- purpose Compost with Added John Innes (60% peat) - scored 80%

Worst was Miracle-gro Organic Choice All Purpose Peat-free.


The tests used were Potato yield in pots and Busy Lizzies.

NH and Westland had potato yields of 1.7Kg and 1.8Kg per pot MG had 1.3 Kg.

NH and Westland Busy Lizzies gave good display of flowers up to end of trial in late September
MG - Busy lizzies past best by mid August and deteriorated further by end of trial.


There is little more detail on the tests but they give a list of all the composts tested and their scores.


Guess which one I bought for my greenhouse.

[Nature's Babe]

That's interesting,that peat and peat free came equal, thank you, though unfortunate for you buying the worst one this year MikA. I guess you will choose one of the top two next year with some gel, I suppose another option might be to add some of your homemade compost to the mix if you have any spare. I wonder if they looked at the seed composts too.

[Nature's Babe]

The NFU believes that all growing media for the amateur market needs to be fit for purpose. By picking up any bag of compost, an amateur gardener should be able to grow with relative ease what the images and information on the bag leads them to believe. In terms of the composts ability to germinate seeds and grow vigorous plants, they need to be fool-proof, and perform consistently to a high standard from bag to bag, and from year to year. There is a real danger the garden supply industry could be seen as exploiting consumers who think they are ‘inexperienced’ or ‘just don’t have green fingers’ to palm off inferior and inconsistent product that is not up to the job. And the very real risk of this is that those consumers, after only maybe one failure, will switch their spending to another hobby or interest.

On Which trials all the peat free seed composts scored poorly for seeds and it might be worth writing to them stating they were not fit for purpose and asking for your money back, by law products should be fit for purpose. Which also discovered a lot of variability between bags. I think their testing is pretty robust.