Peat v moss

Hort101

Im sstuying horticulture in collage and they keep talking about using peat for this and moss for this and other growing mediums.. What is the difference between all of these?? where do they come from, whats in it? what type of plants grow in what??

Any help would be great..

bmaxi

Hort101 wrote: »

Im sstuying horticulture in collage and they keep talking about using peat for this and moss for this and other growing mediums.. What is the difference between all of these?? where do they come from, whats in it? what type of plants grow in what??

Any help would be great..

Not wishing to be unhelpful but if I was studying in college I'd be asking my lecturer, not on an internet forum,you're not going to do very well if you can't grasp the basics.
There are a myriad of different growing mediums depending on the plant and the stage it's at in it's growth.

Hort101

Suppose i could ask them sometime.. thanks

planetX

Peat-moss? they're probably talking about the one thing. Hopefully are also suggesting alternatives to using up our depleted peatlands:(

muckyhands

Hort101 wrote: »

Im sstuying horticulture in collage and they keep talking about using peat for this and moss for this and other growing mediums.. What is the difference between all of these?? where do they come from, whats in it? what type of plants grow in what??

Any help would be great..

Growing mediums are used for seed/ plants in pots because garden soil doesn' t give great results in the restricted conditions of a pot.

Growing mediums can be soil based or soilless.

There are seed composts- for growing seed and can be made up of equal parts of a bulky material (such as coir) and sand with little added nutrients, cutting composts- for growing from cuttings and similar to seed compost but might have grit instead of sand so the mix is more 'open' (so cuttings don' t rot), potting composts- to pot on rooted cuttings or young plants is like seed compost but with more in the way of nutrients and multipurpose compost- can be used for seed/ cuttings/ potting on etc with moderate levels of nutrients.

What makes each of them different is the different mediums that have been used and mixed together to make them.

For example mediums can be- composted bark, coir, leafmould, loam, grit, sand, perlite, vermiculite, garden compost, mushroom compost, manures, worm compost etc

' Compost' describes two different things that can cause confusion- garden compost is recycled kitchen waste used to improve soil and seed/ potting etc composts are those specially formulated growing mediums such as the examples described above.

As PlanetX pointed out, 'peat' 'moss' and 'peatmoss' describe one and the same thing. This uses the decayed remains of spaghum moss, hence 'moss' and other bog plants. It is responsible for the destruction of rare habitats and home gardeners can do without.

Peat free products are widely available now, that use bulky materials such as coir instead of peat.

Hope this helps.

paddy147

bmaxi wrote: »

Not wishing to be unhelpful but if I was studying in college I'd be asking my lecturer, not on an internet forum,you're not going to do very well if you can't grasp the basics.
There are a myriad of different growing mediums depending on the plant and the stage it's at in it's growth.

Well,isnt the gardening section of boards.ie a place where anyone can come in and ask a question about gardening matters??

So thats what the OP has done.

He shouldnt be knocked back for posting here and asking.

Infact,credit to the OP for taking the time to post and ask (and he has been given helpfull/informative advice by 2 other members too)



Now,as I was recently told by a leading marine biologist who built my marine tank for me,and who has saved the seahorse population form near extinction and now breeds them,and who also owns an aquariam shop..........

"Theres no such thing as a stupid question,only stupid answers".

TooManyDogs

muckyhands wrote: »

Peat free products are widely available now, that use bulky materials such as coir instead of peat.

Peat free compost isn't as widely available as you might think. I recently went looking for about 6 bags of compost and between Woodies, B&Q, and 2 local garden centres I couldnt' find a single bag of peat/moss free compost. Woodies actually told me that they dont' stock it anymore because last year they only sold 1 bag!!! Lidl recently did some in one of their specials so I got 2 bags but it's hard enough to find peat free.

Hort101

Love the quote..

Hort101

Great help.. Thanks a million.. Appreciate the time and effort

muckyhands

TooManyDogs wrote: »

Peat free compost isn't as widely available as you might think. I recently went looking for about 6 bags of compost and between Woodies, B&Q, and 2 local garden centres I couldnt' find a single bag of peat/moss free compost. Woodies actually told me that they dont' stock it anymore because last year they only sold 1 bag!!! Lidl recently did some in one of their specials so I got 2 bags but it's hard enough to find peat free.

Have a look for GroWise peat- free composts- launched 2010 so far as I know or Wests + peat free and just checked Homebase stores- Nutgrove, Drogheda and Navan all have peat free in stock.

Aldi also use it from time to time I think and Homebase have it listed on their website. B&Q too I think.

Always the way- when you set out to buy a particular thing none of the places you normally go to have it. Happens to me all the time too.

muckyhands

If a particular Woodies store only managed to sell one bag of peat- free compost and as a result have decided to not stock it anymore-

I would seriously have to wonder what time/effort was put into marketing/ awareness and making sales of the product to the general public because environmental awareness has been high up the agenda for some time now and will continue to be.

bmaxi

paddy147 wrote: »

Well,isnt the gardening section of boards.ie a place where anyone can come in and ask a question about gardening matters??

So thats what the OP has done.

He shouldnt be knocked back for posting here and asking.

Infact,credit to the OP for taking the time to post and ask (and he has been given helpfull/informative advice by 2 other members too)



Now,as I was recently told by a leading marine biologist who built my marine tank for me,and who has saved the seahorse population form near extinction and now breeds them,and who also owns an aquariam shop..........

"Theres no such thing as a stupid question,only stupid answers".

If you'd bothered to read my reply you'd see that I referred to the OPs position as a student. As such, he would be following a certain syllabus in which there would be definitions of those questions he posed. The suggestion was that he enquire from whomever is lecturing in the course as to what the interpretation should be as the interpretations given on here, however valid they might be in their own right, cannot presume to duplicate the context in which the original interpretation was given and as such, when it comes to examination, would be wrong.
Personally, I think it is better to go back to the source of the information and establish what exactly was meant, than to go on to an internet forum where any amount of different opinions may be given. Will you guarantee the OP, when it comes to his tests, that whatever you interpret from the vague references given in the op that the answers you give will be the right ones.

TooManyDogs

muckyhands wrote: »

Have a look for GroWise peat- free composts- launched 2010 so far as I know or Wests + peat free and just checked Homebase stores- Nutgrove, Drogheda and Navan all have peat free in stock.

Aldi also use it from time to time I think and Homebase have it listed on their website. B&Q too I think.

Always the way- when you set out to buy a particular thing none of the places you normally go to have it. Happens to me all the time too.

Thanks for that, I'll check that out. I was horrified to discover how difficult it was to find, I have a B&Q local and 2 Woodies as well as smaller garden centres and not a single one had any. I'll be stocking up when I come across a place that has some

paddy147

bmaxi wrote: »

If you'd bothered to read my reply you'd see that I referred to the OPs position as a student. As such, he would be following a certain syllabus in which there would be definitions of those questions he posed. The suggestion was that he enquire from whomever is lecturing in the course as to what the interpretation should be as the interpretations given on here, however valid they might be in their own right, cannot presume to duplicate the context in which the original interpretation was given and as such, when it comes to examination, would be wrong.
Personally, I think it is better to go back to the source of the information and establish what exactly was meant, than to go on to an internet forum where any amount of different opinions may be given. Will you guarantee the OP, when it comes to his tests, that whatever you interpret from the vague references given in the op that the answers you give will be the right ones.

Ok so thats a fair enough point.
But surely if you are able to post all this,then you could have at least given the OP an idea of the various types of gowing mediums,ontop of just advizing him to ask his lecturer instead.
Also I dont think it was very nice or fair of you to tell the OP that he wont do very well in his exams either.Its not your place to say something like that.

The OP is perfectly entitled to ask on this forum,aswell as studying it in college.He shouldnt be knocked back for asking.

There are a few fuilly qualified professional horticulturalists here on the forum,who have done their time in college,done the exams and got their degrees/BSC/diplomas too.
So they would be in a very good position to give their 1st hand experience and advice to the OP,from their time as students.

Afterall,knowledge is a very powerfull resource.

Best regards.

bmaxi

paddy147 wrote: »

Ok so thats a fair enough point.
But surely if you are able to post all this,then you could have at least given the OP an idea of the various types of gowing mediums,ontop of just advizing him to ask his lecturer instead.
Also I dont think it was very nice or fair of you to tell the OP that he wont do very well in his exams either.Its not your place to say something like that.

The OP is perfectly entitled to ask on this forum,aswell as studying it in college.He shouldnt be knocked back for asking.

There are a few fuilly qualified professional horticulturalists here on the forum,who have done their time in college,done the exams and got their degrees/BSC/diplomas too.
So they would be in a very good position to give their 1st hand experience and advice to the OP,from their time as students.



Afterall,knowledge is a very powerfull resource.

Best regards.

I gave what was, in my opinion, good advice. The OP has access, presumably on a daily basis, to a qualified horticulturalist and it seems superfluous at least to be posting up lists of growing media when we don't even know what exactly he needs to know.
Once again you have managed to misquote me. I didn't tell the OP he would not do well in his exams and hopefully he will have solved his problem by then. What I did imply was, that having chosen a career, he would not do very well if he couldn't grasp the basics, I think that's fair comment.

Cardinal Richelieu

bmaxi wrote: »

I gave what was, in my opinion, good advice. The OP has access, presumably on a daily basis, to a qualified horticulturalist and it seems superfluous at least to be posting up lists of growing media when we don't even know what exactly he needs to know.
Once again you have managed to misquote me. I didn't tell the OP he would not do well in his exams and hopefully he will have solved his problem by then. What I did imply was, that having chosen a career, he would not do very well if he couldn't grasp the basics, I think that's fair comment.

I have to say I totally agree with your original response to the OP, if the OP has to resort to an online boards for answers when they could have simply asked the lecturer for clarification it doesn't bode well, after all that's what the lecturer is there for. Its a two way interaction between student and lecturer and other students in the class might appreciate the clarification of understanding. Talking about other media is just going to confuse the OP more.

paddy147

I wonder if the 2 posters/members in question are fully qualified horticulturalists themselves??



I feel that insulting the OP in the manner that the 2 members here have done so,with the crude comments about posting here,not passing exams and "resorting" to posting here,is not a very nice way to treat the OP.



OP dont be put off by these very harsh and crude comments.

There are fully qualified professional horticulturalists here on this forum,who will gladly help you out with any other future questions you may have or threads that you may want to post here in the gardening forum.

Dont be put off by the poor posting and actions of a few.



Im going to bow out of this now.

Best of luck,you will get there and you will feel ontop of the world when you are recieving your horticultral diploma in a few years time from now..:)

Cardinal Richelieu

paddy147 wrote: »

I wonder if the 2 posters/members in question are fully qualified horticulturalists themselves??



I feel that insulting the OP in the manner that the 2 members here have done so,with the crude comments about posting here,not passing exams and "resorting" to posting here,is not a very nice way to treat the OP.



OP dont be put off by these very harsh and crude comments.

There are fully qualified professional horticulturalists here on this forum,who will gladly help you out with any other future questions you may have or threads that you may want to post here in the gardening forum.

Dont be put off by the poor posting and actions of a few.



Im going to bow out of this now.

Best of luck,you will get there and you will feel ontop of the world when you are recieving your horticultral diploma in a few years time from now..:)

Is this forum an extension of Linkedin these days? That's two threads you have questioned posters horticulture credentials, what is yours? No hang on, you have informed us many times about your gf credentials so perhaps you don't have any yourself. As with the other poster you have taken your own interpretation of what we have said and turned it into an insult of the OP, while throwing a couple of sly insults back in your post above. Well if you feel that way you could have reported my post rather than twisting words. Is it insulting to suggest that the OP should ask there lecturer for clarification before asking advice online? Cause that basically what was said.