Photo credit: AlyssssylA
Just last week, the UK announced plans to ban gardeners from using peat based compost. It created a bit of brouhaha.
Some gardeners are concerned about the uniformity and reliability of peat free alternatives. If the compost doesn’t suit a particular crop, the financial loss could be severe for commercial growers.
Peat based compost retains water well without soaking plant roots, it is usually free of weed seeds and pest, and provides good support for little plants.
While the alternatives are improving in being pest free, they struggle to match the water retention properties of peat. Having to water more often increases cost and exposes seedlings to rot diseases such as Pythium.
Although peat based compost give plants a good start and is popular among gardeners, it is not without disadvantages. You have to apply fungicides which sometimes occur due to the soil nutrients being too rich.
Research from Warwick HRI showed that the “cleanliness” of peat actually makes plants susceptible to diseases.
They advocated adding green and recycled paper composts to peat in order to suppress plant diseases. This approach yields environmental benefits like using less fungicide, less peat (which lead to preservation of peat bogs), and recycling of green waste and paper waste that would otherwise be land-filled.
Despite some disadvantages, I doubt gardeners are going to replace peat compost with peat free alternatives in a hurry.
