Date: Fri, 28 May 99 02:19 EDT From: Dave Evans <T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1871$foo@default> Subject: Re: Re: Moss peat substitutes
Dear Fillipo,
> > I feel CP growers are the only people who should be using
> >peatmoss. Most gardeners use peatmoss as a soil conditioner.
> >However, compost from grass clipping and other garden leavings,
> >is just as good a soil conditioner for gardens. CP growers use
> >peatmoss (and we make-up only a small percentage of the peatmoss
> >market) because nothing else works for so many species. People,
> >use Coir in your gardens, save the peatmoss for your CP's.
>
> I agree with the fact that peat(moss)... is sort of rigt of them (cps)
>
> However, in the wild, many other carnivorous plants grow on a wide variety
> of soils, usually rich in organic stuff, but not necessarily on peat: often
> this organic stuff originates from tree or grass leaves.
I have two points to make: 1) In boggy and other most other these
environments I believe you are referring to, this is what peat, and
peatmoss is made of. It's the _Sphagnum_ moss species that sort of
pickle this organic debris, with the help of little or no oxygen,
and turn it into peat/peatmoss. Peat is covers a wider range of
material and pH, while peatmoss is strictly produced in bogs and is
much further along the "pickling" process. Still, it is made of the
materials you mentioned above.
> It would be nice if it would be possible to find substitutes for peat.
> Surely this would not influence the destruction rate of bogs for peat
> extraction, but in some cases the use of substitutes could be easier and
> maybe cheaper.
2) That's just the problem, Fillipo. Peatmoss is the cheaper and
often the cheapest option. I sure do hope we can find better ways to
take care what is left of nature. We all vote with our money and I
don't buy peatmoss for my garden. I have a compost pile into which
I place grass clippings, weeds, chopped leaves in the fall and even
small branches.
It produces quite a lot of peat and supplies the garden and all
of mother's flower beds each year. Of course, some things should
not be composted like tomato vines or other disease prone plants.
This peat isn't quite free, after all, I do have to work on the
compost pile a couple times a year. Most people would rather just
buy a couple bales of peatmoss.
Dave Evans
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