All sales of peat to amateur gardeners in England will be banned by 2024, the British Government has announced on 27th August. Indian coir pith exports are likely to benefit further from the proposed move by England.
What is Peat moss?
- Peat moss is the dark brown fibrous product of sphagnum moss and other organic materials that decompose in peat bogs over thousands of years. It doesn’t really decompose because peat moss is so anaerobic and this process takes very slowly.
- Peat moss and sphagnum moss are closely related, but the two terms are not synonymous.
- Sphagnum moss can refer to a living plant. There are 120 species of this type of moss plant. Sphagnum moss is native to many countries across the globe, but it is especially prevalent in the Northern Hemisphere. Peat moss, by contrast, does not refer to something living; it refers to something long dead.
- Peatlands are the UK’s largest carbon store but only approximately 13% of peatlands are in a near-natural state. This degradation has occurred due to drainage for agricultural use, overgrazing and burning, as well as extraction for use in growing media.
- Bagged retail growing media accounts for 70% of the peat sold in the UK and is frequently misused, for example being used as a soil improver rather than a medium in which to propagate plants.
- It is used to tighten the soil, increasing its moisture-retaining capabilities. But peat is harvested from bogs that contain almost a third of the world’s carbon. Therefore, the continued strip-mining of peat moss is likely to release carbon into the atmosphere, contributing to the effects of climate change.
- When this extraction takes place, the carbon stored inside the bog is released as carbon dioxide, contributing to climate change.
- Peat moss has been a primary ingredient used in seed starting and potting mixes as well as a popular amendments to garden soil.
