Should savvy gardeners rethink their devotion to peat moss?
If environmentalists have any say in the matter, the answer is a resounding yes.
Canadian peat moss is used worldwide for amending or replacing soil and is the number one ingredient in potting soils.
So what exactly is peat?
Peat is made of incompletely decomposed plant remains, which accumulate in waterlogged soils over thousands of years.
It occurs because the natural processes of decay are prevented by the acidic water logging and depleted oxygen.
Peat has a very slow growth rate of no more than 1 mm per year.
And consumption of peat globally has skyrocketed over the last decade.
In the U.K., for example, 94% of its raised bogs have been destroyed in the last century. There are less than 9,500 acres of natural raised bog left.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) -- one of the most respected green organizations on Earth -- has mandated 90% of its own growing media requirements to be peat-free by 2010.
Further, they "consider the purchase of peat to be unacceptable for the primary use of soil incorporation and ground mulching."
Canada is the most responsible country in the world when it comes to peat bog restoration.
However, the fact remains a typical peat extractor removes up to 23 cm a year. And one year's extraction takes 220 years to replace! Peat, then, is hardly what one could call renewable.
So what is the alternative?
One is coconut coir (pronounced "koi'er"), the waste product from coconut shells. It is the 3- to 5-mm thick fibrous layer between the green skin and the hard brown shell of a coconut.
American rose enthusiasts are raving about coir while Dutch farmers have used it for years.
Coir, which wets and rewets almost instantly, absorbs water at a rate of about seven times its dry weight. Peat, on the other hand, absorbs 30% less.
Coir is much more compact and lightweight than peat and is pH neutral. Peat is acidic.
And coir is readily available in products the likes of PeatEliminator and SoilSponge, available at all major garden retailers.
