Peat-free compost is an amendment used on soil that has increased popularity over the past few years due to worries over peat bashing and how it affects the environment.
Why must we employ fewer peat-based composts?
Peat is the name for broken-down parts of old plants and animals in the world's bogs, fens, and marshes. It develops over thousands of years and is not suitable for gardens, but the environmental price tag is huge. Peatlands are the largest single carbon store in soils globally so each time we uncover it, we're putting carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere, which is contributing to climate change.
There has to be a different alternative that does not damage the environment as much, and with more diversity in peat-free organic compost products on the market now, it is an easy change.
What is peat-free compost?
Besides being compost not made with peat, what are peat-free composts made up of? They changed over time and originally consisted of quite an indiscriminate mixture of any waste product varying from food processing wastes to manure and clippings from trees. The peat-free composts available nowadays use a more effective combination of ingredients to ensure that they perform a reliable job and can be used effectively as multipurpose compost for plants indoors and outdoors. A peat-free multipurpose compost may include a range of materials including composted bark, wood and coconut fibres, which offer a much more stable result for gardeners.
The benefits of peat-free compost
Switching to peat-free compost is simple and there are high-quality products out there that will continue to make your plants grow and develop. Peat-free products are ideal as a soil improver since they can easily and quickly bulk up the organic content of your soil.
Peat-free compost is the environmentally friendly option as well, something that will be attractive to the overwhelming majority of gardeners. In order to be sustainable in your composting, peat-free products are the only way you can go and it is a way of actively minimizing the environmental impact of your garden without sacrificing on the health and success of the garden.
Peat-free compost is very flexible, suitable for potting-on seedlings and repotting in general, although you may wish to sieve peat-free composts when sowing seeds since this will separate clumps of material that could impact early seed growth.
Using Peat Free Compost
Westland has been leading the way in peat free technology for over 20 years for home gardeners. We have been at the forefront of R&D for the last decade in order to make the transition to peat free and low peat compost easy, safe and hassle free for every gardener.
Westland composts are produced to the highest specifications to deliver the optimum performance each and every time you garden, be it peat free or low peat. We believe that whichever compost you buy from Westland, it is of the finest quality and consistency, for the optimal growing results.
The Appearance and Feel of Peat Free Compost
Peat free compost will also appear, feel and even smell somewhat different from peat and you will probably see a difference as well in how your plants respond to peat free compost too. There are numerous various methods that you can adapt the way that you currently do things to utilize peat free composts.
Key Differences You Might Observe:
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Lighter, less dense form
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Locking fibres together with fine particles, thus the product will not crumble so easily and will flow well.
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Lighter in colour
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Changed odour
Westland commits to using 0% green waste within our mixes, although many other manufacturers do use green waste, so you might reasonably expect stones, twigs, weeds, metal, and plastic in your compost.
Water Management
Peat-free products vary from peat products concerning water management.
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They are more open, porous in texture, so they can tolerate more frequent watering, but not more water.
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The top of the compost can become dry, but further down it is lovely and moist.
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Peat is hard to rewet after being dried out. You will notice it extremely easy to rewet your peat free mixes after being dried out.
How to Treat your Peat Free Compost Differently:
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Watch out for usual symptoms of nutrient lack (yellowing leaves, dead leaves, spindly growth), and inspect your plants regularly
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Feed regularly with Westland Boost, designed to promote plant growth in peat-free compost.
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Water with westland boost liquid plant food. Boost's Plantsense technology enables maximum distribution of water to be retained in the compost.
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To prevent over-watering, dig below the surface layer that is dry before you water your pots. You can do this by:
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Pushing your finger into the compost to check the moisture level
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Picking up the pot to feel the weight
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With a soil moisture meter such as a Gradman Digital Moisture
Nutrition
Peat is biologically inactive, whereas peat-free material is biologically active, presenting a more natural environment to root in for your plants. This therefore increases plant nutrient exchange between the plant and the compost as well as aiding natural disease prevention. Microbes in the soil can, nevertheless, "lock up" certain essential plant nutrients, especially when woody contents contained in peat-free growing media are the case. Westland raw materials are highly processed to avoid locking up nutrients. You can find that your plants are susceptible to nutrient imbalances and deficiencies.
Prepare before Pot:
Synthetic wood fibres like West+ are light-open structures that give plants a lot of space to allow air to breathe. They will pack down, though. Fluff out compost in your hands before planting up, restoring the compost to its original size.
Water thoroughly until water begins to leak from the bottom of the pot. Pre-wetting the compost at potting or the first watering will activate the plant food in the compost, and nutrients will be available to your plants sooner. It will also make it simpler to rewet the compost in the future.
FAQs
What is a peat-free compost?
Peat-free compost is a conditioner of soil that has become trendy in the modern era because peat digging affects the environment. It is made up of broken-down organic waste in the shape of wood shaving, bark, coconut husk, garden waste, and green waste.
What are the environmental benefits of peat-free compost?
Organic peat-free compost is made up of organic waste otherwise destined for landfill or incineration.Organic composting reduces your carbon footprint and does its bit for the environment and climate change.
What are the differences between compost and peat soil?
Peat moss will stay in soils for years since it won't compact and it provides a lot of aeration and water holding. Compost will compact and also lose its nutrient value after some time and hence will need to be replenished each year. Both mediums hold water, although peat moss holds water more.
Why should gardeners reduce peat-based compost?
There are many reasons against peat, first because peat renews at a rate of approximately 1mm per year, so it is not a renewable resource. Second, peat bogs contain carbon, lots of carbon. The equivalent of 20 years' industrial carbon is stored in British peat bogs alone.
What are the disadvantages of peat-free compost?
The drawbacks of peat-free compost may involve:
It will retain water differently, and the occasional check should be made for its soil moisture. Nutrient Content: Peat-free composts may contain organic fertilisers that are released more slowly compared to peat compost.
