Sphagnum Peat from Home Depot

From: TED HADLEY (hadleyt@usa.net)
Date: Sun Feb 21 1999 - 16:27:36 PST 

Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 16:27:36 -0800
From: "TED HADLEY" <hadleyt@usa.net>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg522$foo@default>
Subject: Sphagnum Peat from Home Depot

Hi USA members,

I recently purchased a large block of "Compressed pure sphagnum peat" from
Home Depot, the popular low-budget home improvement & building supply
retailer. The source of the peat is Canada, and since the printing on the
bag is half-French, I would assume probably from... Quebec?

Well, the appearance is very much like Pete D'Amato's description in "The
Savage Garden": light brown, consistency of sawdust, etc. However, when I
grabbed a handfull and crumbled a bit, I found small chips of wood. Is this
normal? It really looks like it is at least in part really just sawdust. I
added it to water and let it soak. I though peat would sink, but this stuff
floats.

Does anyone have experience with this stuff? BTW: It was really cheap.
Something like a couple of dollars for about 2-3 cubic feet.

Thanks,

tedh.
--------
Ted A. Hadley, Senior Mineralogist hadleyt@usa.net
Mineralogical Investigation Services Sunnyvale, CA 94087 USA

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