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Re: [SHADEGARDENS] Unfinished Compost

On Thu, 29 Jan 1998, Alex Waterhouse-Hayward wrote:

> If peat moss is popularized even more the result of the combination of 1 & 2
> is self evident. I am originally from Argentina (population similar to
> Canada's) ( Kate says South America is another source of the stuff) I have
> equal reservations about the popularization of peat moss. Only now are we

Thanks, Alex.  Rereading my post, I guess I wasn't clear about the South
American peat deposits.  There are quite a few, and they're in the Andes
for the most part.  I don't know that they're commercially exploited, but
they do exist.   Does anyone know?

Besides concerns about species diversity in mined wetlands, peats are
a good "sink" of fixed carbon, just as standing timber is a good
sink of fixed carbon.  When we add organic matter to the soil, it
gradually oxidizes/decays, releasing carbon dioxide, one of the major
worries for global climate change.  Because the conditions under which
peat forms inhibits total decay of vegetation, peat bogs represent
a tremendous reservoir of fixed carbon that it's not in our best
interests to turn into CO2.

Can you use sphagnum moss responsibly?  Yes, I think you can.
Germinating seeds of oddball plants is one of my hobbies, and I tend
to use milled sphagnum as a topping for any seed I suspect will be
"difficult" (which includes most of the wildings)..  I'm
still working on half a bale of sphagnum (2 cu ft) that I bought
with a friend back in 1979; I've probably got 1.5 cu ft left.
I don't know anything better for the purpose, and at the rate I'm
using it, I could probably grow more than enough for my year's
depredations in a 10 gallon terrarium.  Which I'll do as soon as
I know I don't have to move the thing again.

Kay Lancaster    kay@fern.com
just west of Portland, OR; USDA zone 8
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