Yes ..... But ...... which is a good NON PEAT COMPOST?

Have read ALL the excellent words written here regarding the NON use of peat! I've used peat and low peat compost ALL my gardening life. HOWEVER .. can any experienced gardener, or similarly experienced to myself, who have regularly used a PEAT FREE, and had some success SEED SOWING ?
In my experience making a peat free potting compost has not been difficult using a mixture of home produced garden compost, various sand and gravel mixture, and shop bought peat free composts, AND OF COURSE slow release fertilisers, plus some lime where needed for particular species.

Ideally it will be a nursery person who will have his/her own recipe, thoughI doubt they would want to reveal and share an important part of their income! BUT you never know.

 

Hi Glynne, I have for the last few years mixed 50% own compost & 50% Coir with Perlite added to use for seeds, never had any problems.

For plants just add feed.

 

Cheers for your responses! Curiously I've had both experiences as well. My 'trial' was with a Miracle Gro peat free and I just forgot and didn't do a comparison. Yes most seeds germinated but it was expensive. Thanks John558 have thought about a Coir body with perlite and fine sand so perhaps I must consider Coir. Geoff Hamilton used it and I can remember putting it in potting compost. My memory is that it dried far quicker than peat and loam mixture. Wonder if that would happen with seeds?

 

My experience with coir is that it dries out on the surface but retains water underneath .
I think as long as you bear that in mind it should be fine.

 

If you are using coir instead of peat for environment reasons remember where coir comes from india / sri lanka / Caribbean etc , coconut husks / coir is shipped 1000's of miles on a container ship using 10,000's some even 100,000's of fuel every day . Not as environmentally friendly as you think when you break it down , I suppose you could say that about a lot of things really .

 

So true.... thanks! Peat-free seems to be becoming more interesting these days and, as a result, more recipes! However, I've noticed that, unlike peat perhaps, my own garden compost is becoming very variable!!! A main reason has been my use of wood chips from trees that I had felled (3 smallish seedlings allowed to grow for 15 years, I don't have an estate!) The 'good' stuff has to be sieved away from the wood chip residue otherwise it'll be sucking the Nitrogen from the compost! OK the residue goes back in the heap for next year but it was so simple to just pour the peat out of a sack! NO I'm not against using peat-free! But it is more effort! Haven't found the 'perfect' peat substitute ...... yet!

 

Hi Glynne, Using Peat or Coir is not the perfect solution. Now if we could use just our own garden compost without anything added, that would be the answer, but we can't.
We have to do our best to help the environment, but I don't know the answer.

 

There are councils all over the country collecting garden waste.
If it was approached properly I'm sure this stuff could be turned into potting compost.
But they stop short of that and i think it mostly goes as soil improver or around here I don't know where it goes, as I've never seen any council soil improver for sale.
They must sell it off to companies who rot it down.
After that it's a mystery.

 

Neither do these environmentalist. They tell you there is millions of tonnes of coconuts and when all is extracted you are left with 40% which can be used to make compost. Yes, there is millions of tonnes of coconuts harvested annually, but of the 40% that is left, only 5% is used to make a growing media, they call it either coir pith or cocopeat. The other 35% is fibre, used in rugs, mattresses, packing etc etc. It is used to make rope and fishing nets due to its strong resistance to salt water. Also due to the fibres strong strength it is also widely used in concrete to add strength.

Yet none of this is ever mentioned, they don't tell you that for every 1000 litres of coir, between 300 and 600 litres of water is needed to wash out the salts, before it is dried and compressed in to blocks for export, which then needs rehydrating at point of destination.

Then you have working conditions, the exporters most likely will be operating with a general good health and safety protocol, don't think you can say the same for the farmer.

Then you have fossil fuels that are used in the process and shipping to take in to account.

I read the in depth report by Defra some years ago about coir, if anyone is interested, then click on the link below, then click the link where it says "Defra final report".

Defra, UK - Science Search

These environmentalists are hell bent on meeting national targets to reduce emissions, it defeats the whole process when your creating carbon leakage by importing.

 

Well if it still has active weedkiller I'm not sure I would describe it as soil improver either.

 

Garden waste needs a common form of composting probably by one firm/ council ( there's probably only one form I hear you say!!) Then you'd need it composted in this way locally to cut down on transporting problems! Agree regarding 'contents' Human sewage used by farmers round here (midlands) and could perhaps be included ?? Imagine the fuss if it was! We'd get it cheaper then though!

Mind you I don't know how uniform sold compost is. Certainly not year on year though John Innes was I suppose. Coir seems to be quite uniform, but with all the extra problems there are with it! My garden compost works from time to time, AND KEEPS ME ACTIVE!!

 

It is not all straightforward, grass cuttings, leaves and general prunings can be composted outside, with most ending up on farmland. When it comes to waste veg peelings and waste food in general, then the composting has to be done in an enclosed environment due to strict regulations. They all have to be shredded and screened, mainly with fossil fuels, hence why it can not be branded as green compost only peat free.

Garden Waste and Composting FAQs | Nottinghamshire County Council

 

Its a bit difficult to work out what exactly you can put in the bin, I often chuck old spuds in my garden bin, but you cant put potato peelings in there?
Then they wonder why people give up on recycling.