The Importance of Using Peat Free Growing Media

At JPR, all our products have always been peat free. But why is being peat free important?

Peat has often been used as a component of potting composts because of its ability to retain nutrients and water. Its fibrous texture and high porosity made a good root environment, and it was seen as a cheap and plentiful material. But in May 2021, the UK Government said that it would take steps towards banning the sale of peat and products containing peat in garden centres by 2024.

What is Peat and what are the issues?

Sphagnum Moss – acts like a “giant sponge”

Peat is formed, incredibly slowly at a rate of 1-2mm per year, by the partial decomposition of plants such as sphagnum moss in the wet acidic conditions of bogs. Peat bogs are very important habitats for rare and often vulnerable plants and animals that are not found anywhere else.

Healthy peatlands store more carbon than they release

Healthy peatland

The water-logged and acidic conditions of a healthy peatland slow plant decomposition to such an extent that dead plants accumulate to form peat. This stores the carbon the plants absorbed from the atmosphere within peat soils and makes them important carbon sinks. ‘In the Peak District alone, 20 million tonnes of carbon is stored in the peat.’ (Moors For the Future Partnership – MFFP)

Peatlands in poor condition release more carbon than they take in

Eroded peatland

If the vegetation is removed, peatlands are less able to take in and store carbon. If the peat is exposed, it is susceptible to erosion and decomposition, sometimes at very rapid rates. Carbon previously stored in the peat is released into atmosphere and rivers. Damaged peatlands are contributing greatly to greenhouse gas emissions.

A local issue with global consequences

The Peak District National Park

Growing up and living in the Peak District, we are surrounded by high peat moorlands. We remember walking on some of these high moors such as Kinder and Black Hill and them being black barren landscapes – almost lunar. Years of industrial pollution from the surrounding cities as well as land management and recreational activities had eroded the vegetation, dried out the landscape and prevented the plants that grow in these normally wet conditions from being able to take hold. Over the last twenty years, a massive landscape restoration project has been taking place to revegetate the moors in order to halt the erosion of peat, reduce carbon loss, increase the amount of carbon absorption and turn the damaged carbon sources back into carbon sinks.

These photos demonstrate this. They belong to one of our employees and are both of the trig point on Black Hill – the first was taken in 1977 and shows the dark, exposed peat clearly visible all around. The second was taken in 2021 with the moorland revegetated.

Biodiversity

The restoration of peatland is also important for improving biodiversity. Blanket bog peatlands are a unique habitat which provide a home for a wide range of birds and wildlife. For example, a recent study has recorded five species of bats foraging over restored peatland on Kinder Scout in an area where there was no previous record of bats.

This indicates that there is an increase in invertebrates for the bats to forage on and is very good news for other endangered species living on the moors.

The moss acts like a ‘giant sponge’ helping to slow down water running off the hills and preventing flooding further downstream in populated areas. In addition, a wet moorland is less likely to catch fire and reduces the risk of the devastating damage caused by wildfires on moorland.

The restoration work taking place to reverse degraded blanket bogs has included installing thousands of dams on the moorlands to keep water in and planting vast numbers of sphagnum plug plants by hand.

So…….…back to peat being used for horticultural purposes

Defra estimates that 2.96 million cubic metres of peat is used in the UK annually, of which 99% is used as growing media and 69% of which is used by gardeners. Royal Horticultural Society

Peat harvesting

Much of the peat used for horticultural purposes is harvested from lowland peatlands and most is harvested overseas, predominantly the Baltic states. Within the UK, small amounts of peat are harvested from the Fens, Somerset, the North West and Scotland. Until recently, most peat used within the UK came from Ireland but the Irish government has now stopped all licenses for peat extraction. The important point is that wherever it is harvested, carbon dioxide is still released, making it a global issue.

The following is a Joint statement from National Trusts around the world to the Glasgow COP26 Summit:

‘Peatlands around the world hold twice as much carbon as the world’s forests, while offering precious habitats for vital wildlife and plant species, as well as preserving high quality archaeological sites. But extraction, drainage damage and other activities mean that carbon stored by peatlands is being released. This equates to more than 5% of all global human carbon emissions. We ask our supporters to make a change in their lives that will have a real impact in the fight against climate change and choose to be peat-free in their own gardening.’

At JPR, we have always believed that the horticultural use of peat is not sustainable, and all of our products have always been peat-free.

~ We are pleased to be able to offer a Peat Free compost

~ We always trial all our products in our own garden before putting them on sale

~ We have had very successful results with our Peat Free Compost as a potting compost and we have had excellent feedback about it from many of our customers