Peat

**J* B* <j*@usol.com>**

I have been a supporter of Canadian sphagnum peat moss for over 20  
years.  I have visited the bogs in Alberta and I have spoken to the  
peat moss association on several occasions - just so my bias is out  
in front.

Anything written about peat in England is apples and oranges to  
Canadian sphagnum peat.  European and much of eastern European peat  
is not renewable; it is not from the sphagnum plant.  So to worry  
about peat being a non-renewable resource in England is a legitimate  
concern.

Sphagnum peat is renewable, although the industry did not start to  
get into the renewing business until about ten years ago.  Now all  
the bogs harvested in Canada go into a renewing mode.  Yes, it takes  
100 years for a sphagnum bog to renew.  But it renews.  Canada is  
larger than the U.S. and about half of the land is spagnum peat  
bogs.  The Co2 released in the harvesting and processing and shipping  
of peat is miniscule compared to the CO2 produced by cars in just one  
American city.

Coir is touted to be better than Canadian peat because it comes from  
coconut trees and they are clearly renewable.  What is not observed  
is that now most new coconut groves are created by clearing even more  
of the rain forest.  Is that a reasonable trade off?  Coir happens to  
be superior to peat in some professional green house applications  
because it resists the development of algea better.  After that,  
Canadian peat is just as effective as a potting mix or soil amendment  
as is coir.

At the current rate of harvest, it would take several hundred years  
to use up all the available peat in Canada.  In 100 years, the  
renewed bogs come into play and we have a truly renewable garden  
product.

In the next month or two yet another national gardening magazine or  
newspaper story will again moan about the use of Canadian sphagnum  
peat moss not being a renewable resource.  That story will never die  
and it is a bad story.

Jeff Ball
jeffball@usol.com
810-724-8581
Check out my daily blog at www.gardeneryardener.blogspot.com
Check out my extensive web site at www.yardener.com

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