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Peat Harvesting

theplantman

theplantman

Russian video showing the way humans industrially harvest peat, which is used in potting soils. The process in the US and Canada is similar. Not many people realize what it takes to obtain this material. The first step is draining the wetland so that large vacuums can get to the peat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIrUkr5F9aE
 
I have hard times looking videos like that.

In my opinion, they should just leave these areas alone.

Francois.
 
I wonder if it is true that the swamp is restored in 15 years like the comment on the first video says. What a depressing video.
 
Peat is also burned, and then claimed as the 'fuel of the future' because it is considered 'renewable'. It is no more renewable than coal is, and it takes hundreds of years to grow back in any significant quantity.
 
I have to ask the question. Do any of you not use peat in your mixes?
 
Bio said:
Peat is also burned, and then claimed as the 'fuel of the future' because it is considered 'renewable'. It is no more renewable than coal is, and it takes hundreds of years to grow back in any significant quantity.
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Considering the nature of the fossilization process, and the fact that coal is pretty much fossilized peat, you might want to walk back the assertion that peat is no more renewable than coal...........
 
fredg said:
I have to ask the question. Do any of you not use peat in your mixes?
Click to expand...

Nope! And I don't wear leather, and I don't eat meat, and I don't use plastics, and I don't heat my home, and it don't buy fruit out-of-season.

Oh yeah. And my cell phone is made 100% of wood.
 
fredg said:
I have to ask the question. Do any of you not use peat in your mixes?
Click to expand...
Nothing in what I posted was a judgment call. It was exclusively factual.

It's my personal belief that when you utilize any resource, you should understand where it comes from and what its production requires. That's all. It just happens to be that peat is one of the most pertinent ones to our hobby.
 
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  • #12
theplantman said:
Nothing in what I posted was a judgment call. It was exclusively factual.

It's my personal belief that when you utilize any resource, you should understand where it comes from and what its production requires. That's all. It just happens to be that peat is one of the most pertinent ones to our hobby.
Click to expand...

Nothing in what I posted was a judgement call either.

I asked a question.
 
  • #13
must say the amount of peat i have used in the last few years would be burned on a fire in one evening,so i sleep ok,and have a log fire
 
  • #14
I think it is precisely because we use peat moss for our plants that we should be informed on where the peat moss comes from. Many carnivorous plant growers have at one point or another used peat moss.
 
  • #15
SubRosa said:
Considering the nature of the fossilization process, and the fact that coal is pretty much fossilized peat, you might want to walk back the assertion that peat is no more renewable than coal...........
Click to expand...

Okay, peat is more renewable than coal, but with all of the reasons humans are using it, coupled with how critical bogs are to many ecosystems, peat doesn't need another reason to be ripped out of bogs around the world.

I'm not sure if there are any countries still burning peat anyway. It just makes me mad because the biology textbook that I read this in was praising the burning of peat, while not even considering the environmental issues it would cause.

As for peat alternatives, I would be more than happy to completely stop using peat if a suitable substitute were found.
 
  • #16
Bio said:
I'm not sure if there are any countries still burning peat anyway.
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In Ireland alone there are several million tonnes of peat burned annually to produce electricity Then add in another million tonnes plus for peat burned in private homes.
 
  • #17
Because a peat bog can regenerate itself several times on a time scale within the lifespan of a human being, it is in the interests of the humans harvesting it to do so sustainably. There is no reason peat can't be harvested sustainably just as timber is. It takes longer to grow a harvest sized tree than to allow a bog to regenerate. Burning peat, like burning wood is essentially carbon neutral, and likely the text book you read was written with that in mind.
 
  • #18
I've seen several hundred bags opened on a single lawn by a landscaping company. 50% of it scattered to the wind and never even hit the ground. Landscaping trucks full of peat bales are always cruising around the subdivisions in Georgia. I'm not so ridiculous that I shed tears about every one. However, I do wonder if education about it could make the difference when a company goes to buy it. Many plantspeople I've conversed with just put down peat "because they've heard it's the best."

I have no doubt that if you went and quantified peat usage, people in the CP and orchid hobbies would rank among the lowest. Fuel/power usage, soil amendment/landscaping, and commercial production probably greatly outweigh the small "drop in the pond" that CPers represent. I believe at the very least that this is a commodity that shouldn't be wasted frivolously. For plants that aren't picky about soil mixes, like annual bedding plants or veggie seedlings, there is absolutely no good reason to use peat when alternatives from coconut or pine plantations are readily available. And cheaper, in most cases!

I have grown hundreds of different plants very well in pine bark mixes. I've also had very good success cutting Nep and mexican Ping mixes with pine bark, too. Need to try Sarrs and Drosera.

This Nep is planted in a mix that has a substantial amount of pine bark--I ran out of other stuff that day.

 
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  • #19
SubRosa said:
Because a peat bog can regenerate itself several times on a time scale within the lifespan of a human being, it is in the interests of the humans harvesting it to do so sustainably. There is no reason peat can't be harvested sustainably just as timber is. It takes longer to grow a harvest sized tree than to allow a bog to regenerate. Burning peat, like burning wood is essentially carbon neutral, and likely the text book you read was written with that in mind.
Click to expand...

Ah, you meant sustainable harvesting. I have no problem with sustainable harvesting as long as it is done properly, with the knowledge of what overharvesting can do to the environment. And yes, bogs would regenerate faster this way.

However, a suitable alternative should still be found, to preserve as much of the peat as possible.

Edit: I just read what you wrote theplantman, and I agree that most peat that is used is not by us. There are dozens of peat bales available when I purchase one, and it lasts me a year or more, but every few months, they get in another few dozen, to be wasted by people who don't even need it for their plants.
 
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  • #20
Regrowth rate is about 1mm per year. See: Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Chapter 7.

We're talking peat moss, not Sphagnum moss. Peat is partially decomposed vegetable matter. It doesn't have to be Sphagnum. Peat moss or moss peat is partially decomposed (mainly) Sphagnum moss.

Not all coal comes from peat moss.
 
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