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RE: Peat Questions



Its worth noting that sphagnum is about as renewable a resource as old
growth forest, whatever the industry wants to say. It takes most shpagnum
bogs close to 100 yrs to produce just 2 inches of harvestable peat moss.
There is some debate on how quickly the bogs bounce back after being
harvested as well. I hear in Europe they have stopped harvesting peat in
most countries due to the overharvesting of this 'renewable' resource. In
hydroponix there is a lot of talk about using coir, the processed outer
husks of coconuts, sometimes referred to as 'coco-peat' here in the states.
Has anyone tried it in an aquarium? It has much the same consistency as
milled sphagnum, though in soiless mixes does not acidify the soil as much
or compact as quickly as milled shphagnum. Since it evolved to wick water to
the growing portions of the seed, it does have a similar water holding
capacity, but that may not be important for an aquarium.

Brett Johnson
Green Man Gardens
bnbjohns at home_com

>
> Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 08:11:05 -0500
> From: "James Purchase" <jpurch at interlog_com>
> Subject: RE: Peat Questions
>
> Sphagnum peat is the most commonly available type (commercially),
> purely due to the fact that countries like Canada (especially) and the
United States
> have enormous acerages of Sphagnum moss bogs which are harvested as
> renewable resources.