"La Puce" wrote in message
ups.com...
On 14 May, 14:15, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:
..

As for the no, not all peat free compost are based on coir. Coir was
used by gardeners before peat was and in 1951 it was said to be second
best to peat (Kew uses it for seeds). Some plants prefer it too, such
as fushias. The coconut fibres compost are imported from Sri Lanka, so
yes it has some transport issue - however you cannot compare its air
mile to the release of carbon.

You are kidding of course?
There is an issue with habitat destruction but a plant in peat probebly
reduces carbon not increases it, left where it is peat is stored carbon,
extracted its still stored carbon, put a plant in it and the plant grows and
absorbs some carbon!
Peat extraction only causes a rise in atmospheric carbon if its burnt in
power stations etc.



Well that is just brilliant. But don't for a moment think that the air
the green lobby breathes in is not the same as yours ;o)

and your computer pollutes as much as mine :~)


It doesn't lay down faster

Yes it does

point that peat in Finland is being used for energy since it releases
less carbon than fossil fuel.

So does Ireland but I think you will find in each case they do it because
they have lots and its cheap to extract!


Off course not, but when it's something that we don't need, like peat,
something that we can go without, why do damage to use it when it is
not really required?! That is the only point I'm trying to make.

There you have the problem, You personely do not need peat so you think its
ok to stop everyone using it, I bet you work in an office with light
heat/air conditioning and loads of electric equipment and synthetics, yet
thats ok because its your job, it doesn't matter to me if you freeze in
winter and roast in summer so I do not need you to have it and the
enviroment would be better if we turned you off, but you would hardly
consider it fair.


Hmmm... perhaps I was getting muddled there in my thoughts. I can see
lots of garden centres using peat because it produces a fast growing
plant, attractive to buyers and the buyers, if naive, would think they
have something good on their hands because the plant looks great and
it's in peat. Once the plant is moved into another medium, it
struggles. So many people have asked me why the plant they got at
Woolworth drooped and floped after planting in ordinary compost. Well,
the plant was saturated and at an early stage - the growing was faster
but that didn't produced a sturdy plant, it produced a quick plant. If
you're an amateur you just wouldn't know. In this way you produce lots
of good looking plants in peat, with very little failure, hence my
thoughts on profits to the loss of our environment.

The reason so many plants fail from garden centres and outlets like woolies
is not bad plants but that they come from the wholsale production nurseries
and are then abused and mistreated, they are never hardened off properly,
never watered properly, and in many cases are expected to be in low light
levels in a box or bag, and if they remain unsold are not repotted. If
people did it to any other living thing like a dog or cat they would be
prosecuted.
Many large scale producers put no food in the compost (often but not always
peat) but instead supply the plants regular liquid feed, the moment it
leaves them it starts to suffer unless looked after.

I don't expect to convert you, I just think you should be a bit more
thoughtful as to the consequences of what you say.

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collections of Clematis viticella (cvs) and
Lapageria rosea