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The Painful Truth About Peat Moss...

nwmnnaturalist

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Peat moss is considered an essential component in many fields, from captive animal hobbyists to gardeners to the natural sciences. It is considered an invaluable part of creating enclosed habitats for our animals and growing plants, but I've found very few people actually realize what a tremendous and potentially damaging industry peat harvesting is.

I live in Northwestern Minnesota, and near me are the massive Patterned Peatlands. It is a vast tract of peatland and peat bog systems that stretch across northern Minnesota. Similar formations can be found in northeastern Wisconsin, as well as much of Canada. Older, mostly overgrown formations can also be found in the UK and in Eurasia. Smaller peat bogs and peat forests can be found scattered around everywhere.

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Peatland in Minnesota

Firstly, 'peat moss' is a general term for acidic decomposed organic matter that has accumulated in acidic bogs and has been compressed over time. The heat of decomposition and the compression of the organic matter leaves a highly compact and rich organic material. Some peat formations can be many meters deep, and can be hundreds of miles in diameter. Typical formations can be anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 years old, and a few can be much more. The Sand Lake Peatlands in Minnesota, for example, are somewhere around 8,000 years old This material is very rich in organic nutrients, an acidic pH and is very absorbent. For that reason, it's very valuable to many of us.

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Cross-section of a typical peat formation...

However, to harvest this resource is a source of great controversy. I, personally, am trying to minimize my use of peat moss as much as possible, and hope to someday stop purchasing it all together. This is because I am very attached to peat bogs and forests, and I've seen first hand what happens in the harvest of this material. It is akin to the plowing of a prairie, clear-cutting of a forest, or bottom-dredging of the oceans. Hundreds if not thousands of years of natural history and organic materials (including seeds, pollen, organisms, and even human artifacts) are scraped off in layers and processed into saleable packaging. In a single 5 cubic foot package, you may have a portion of 1,000 years of life. What is left is a barren and devastated terrain.

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Peat being harvested...

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A large peat harvest operation in Ireland...


These peatlands CAN regenerate, but it takes quite a lot of effort and time to get a stable ecosystem in place. Ecological progress over thousands of years have effectively been scraped up, packaged and is gone forever. It would take thousands of years for this to return, and man doesn't have that kind of patience.

Peatlands contain a vast amount of biological diversity, and new species are being discovered all of the time. Consider the amount of biological diversity that is gone forever. Coir dust, sold as such brands as Coco Peat, is proving to be a sustainable alternative to peat moss and is being sold as a vivarium alternative. The sustainability will have to be proven over time, as coconut plantations may prove to be harmful too. But so far, coir dust has considerably less ecological impact than peat moss.

About peatlands - Wetlands International

The Problems With Peat - Natural Life Magazine - frugal, green family living

Garden Rant: The Real Dirt on Peat Moss
 

EasternNewtLove

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I personally have never used this but have heard of people using it quite often. After reading this though, I never plan on using it. Its like coral reefs in a way, they take such a long time to form and are being destroyed by humans in so many ways. I hate this industrialization of the world. Soon, there will be no space left in the world for life to flourish. Its truly upsetting.
 

nwmnnaturalist

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There is a possibility of producing a near-peat by replicating the process of compression, heat and organic matter, but it won't be as rich.

You can make something similar to peat by creating a leaf-mold mix. Mulching leaves of various species of trees (depending on the richness and pH you desire), keeping it moist and letting it break down works fairly well. Not as well as peat moss or coir moss, but it's a nice alternative and is pretty easy to make.
 

evut

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I am aware of this problem but I think the main culprit is the gardening industry. I doubt pet bedding contributes that much (I might be wrong, of course.). I don't use peat moss personally, just stuff I find in the forest.
 

Jesper

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I dont think a lot of people use it here in europe at least, in sweden a lot of the peat bogs, but not all, are protected, it seems to be the same way here in the uk. Some of the garden composts now seem to be peat free and proud. I found some very good compost with wood chippings that I use for my plants, it replaces peat very well as a substrate that retain water.

west plus peat free multi purpose compost I think it is.

The big culprit is the gardening industry for sure, many of those big compost bags are made from peat. If everybody could be made aware of this when they buy their compost and choose peat free that would change things quickly
 

Jennewt

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In the U.S., we are starting to see coir (coconut fiber) used in potting soil, but it's being sold at premium prices compared to peat-based mixes. I have never seen any media attention here about the evils of peat. It seems that, as usual, Europe has figured it out sooner.

For salamander care, coir is better in my opinion, both for the ecological reasons and because it is less acidic.
 

Jesper

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Yeah, there was much media attention on the matter in Sweden in the nineties. We have exploited our lands for so long here in Europe that we are running out of stuff, america is relatively unexploited in comparison I suspect.

Im using coco fiber here for substrate in sal setups as well, dont see any use for peat there anyway. It is just useful as a cheap water retainer and fertiliser, not pure but mixed in with ordinary soil. It is great for ferns etc that likes high humidity. I have seen quite a lot of use of synthetic stuff as well, perlite etc. There are so many options both for water retention and fertilising that it seems like a waste to use peat.
 

nwmnnaturalist

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Gardener's Supply Company has a pack of 10 Coir Dust bricks for $29.95, which would make about 20 gallons. It's not a bad price, compared to what I've seen. We may have to spend more money to get this stuff, but every bit of demand will boost the interest of companies selling it.

I cringe when I go to a local nursery and see massive rows of peat blocks. 5 cu. feet of peat moss could include 1,000 years of biological history.
 

Jennewt

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I buy it from Dr. Foster Smith, $7 for a 3-pack of bricks.
 

Azhael

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I had heard about this years ago but only superfitially. A botany professor was the one to call our attention to this problem in more detail, after he took us to a couple of protected bogs (all of them are, in Spain, as far as i know, even the smallest). I too get the impression that both peat moss and Sphagnum are much less used in europe and whatever is used i think comes from foreign sources (New Zealand?). I was tempted to buy Sphagnum in the past, even thought of culturing it, mostly because i love the plant itself, but never did and now i doubt it will ever happen (unless i found a source that is ecologically friendly, which is not likely).
 

nwmnnaturalist

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I am seriously thinking about harvesting native mosses to create cultures, rather than buying from stores. We have Sphagnum Moss growing near here, and it doesn't really take a lot to get a nice clump going. It would mean a more sustainable source of various species.

Another source of moss cultures are bonsai supply stores. They often have packets of spores for sale.
 
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I've never used peat moss as a substrate for my caudates. I've always used either coconut coir or topsoil. It's hard to find peat moss around here, and when you do find it, it's a component in potting mixes (which often contain man-made fertilizers, thus making them unsuitable for caudates). As far as cost, coconut coir is cheaper than peat moss here, and topsoil is free. Just as Jen said, peat moss is also more acidic, which makes me wary of it. I would agree that peat moss is used mostly in the gardening industry.
 
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