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  David Cox February 19, 2011 at 10:33pm

  TBH im quite surprised we still use peat? I remember 15 years ago at school it was used as an example of exceedingly destructive practise, being phased out.

  Im also aware of no actual benefit of it? To my understanding (correct if wrong), its rather lacking in nutrients are needs treating with fert anyway?

   
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  Lawncare-4u.co.uk February 20, 2011 at 12:11am

  where is Peat Bogs now ?
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  Fenlandphil February 20, 2011 at 9:21am

  How does peat use effect carbon emmisions?

  Round here in the fens there is quite a lot of peat about.
• PRO

  Phil Voice February 20, 2011 at 9:37am

  I have to admit that I've never been convinced of the anti-peat argument.

   

  "According to the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association (CSPMA), Canada possesses 423 million acres of peatlands, of which only 42,000 acres is harvested – far less than 1 percent of what’s available."

   

  http://www.landscapejuice.com/2010/12/will-peat-ever-be-phased-out....
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  Richard Loader February 20, 2011 at 10:35am

  Try visiting a quality peat-bog with someone who understands the ecology and complexities of management, listen, feel and you might begin to understand how similar peat bogs are to primary forest and just as important.

   

  I'm sure it was once thought that the UK had plenty of peat-bogs to exploit, but look at the situation now just a few sorry remnants. Now we are working our way through Eastern European bogs then Canada if things don't change.

   

  I'll let John Walker go into the carbon locked into peat and the oil squandering craziness of unnecessarily transporting a bulky material across a continent and then across an ocean.

   

  Perhaps part of a levy on peat based compost could go towards the further development of alternatives because I accept that peat is still easier to use that the peat substitutes.

   

   

  
  Philip Voice said:

  I have to admit that I've never been convinced of the anti-peat argument.

   

  "According to the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association (CSPMA), Canada possesses 423 million acres of peatlands, of which only 42,000 acres is harvested – far less than 1 percent of what’s available."

   

  http://www.landscapejuice.com/2010/12/will-peat-ever-be-phased-out....
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  Richard Loader February 20, 2011 at 10:40am

  Carbon is locked up in peat, when it is extracted and open to air it oxidises and the carbon is released into the atmosphere. The cultivated fenland soils are gradually oxidising and adding to the atmospheric CO2  - relatively small scale though compared to the wholesale mining of moss peat bogs.
  
  Fenlandphil said:
  

  How does peat use effect carbon emmisions?

  Round here in the fens there is quite a lot of peat about.
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  Fenlandphil February 20, 2011 at 10:43am

  The drainage of the fens is a fascinating subject you could probably fill several shelves with books on the subject.

  I have one, the fens are one large arable peat bog with probably some of the most rich and productive soil in the country, the depth of this resource in places has been up to six metres. Fen drainage has been a story of a struggle with nature, the area is crossed with large rivers or drains dug largely by hand with huge pumping stations lifting the water from the land often as much by six or more metres.

  Little attention it seems to me to have been given to soil errosion, fen blows are common this time of year with the light soil being picked up and blown away by high winds. There are few trees and hedges to form wind breaks. 
• PRO

  Phil Voice February 20, 2011 at 10:48am

   

  Richard

   

  Many of the vast peat bogs the world has today were once vast pine and mixed forests now completely changed forever. This is a natural evolution which we'd never let happen today.

   

  The facts are out there somewhere and I suspect it is pitched somewhere in between what you and I believe to be the truth.

  
  

   

  Richard Loader said:

  Try visiting a quality peat-bog with someone who understands the ecology and complexities of management, listen, feel and you might begin to understand how similar peat bogs are to primary forest and just as important.

   

  I'm sure it was once thought that the UK had plenty of peat-bogs to exploit, but look at the situation now just a few sorry remnants. Now we are working our way through Eastern European bogs then Canada if things don't change.

   

  I'll let John Walker go into the carbon locked into peat and the oil squandering craziness of unnecessarily transporting a bulky material across a continent and then across an ocean.

   

  Perhaps part of a levy on peat based compost could go towards the further development of alternatives because I accept that peat is still easier to use that the peat substitutes.

   

   

  
  Philip Voice said:

  I have to admit that I've never been convinced of the anti-peat argument.

   

  "According to the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association (CSPMA), Canada possesses 423 million acres of peatlands, of which only 42,000 acres is harvested – far less than 1 percent of what’s available."

   

  http://www.landscapejuice.com/2010/12/will-peat-ever-be-phased-out....
• PRO

  Geoffrey King February 20, 2011 at 12:37pm

  Like antibiotics, clean water, waste treatment, pain killers, etc Colin?
  
  colin said:
  

  greenies want to stop mass production of everything its the same as smoking. the only reason that the last 100yrs has seen an increase in cancer is because the diagnosis and medical skills to diagnose have made huge leaps.

   if it was such a killer then people 200 years ago would have all lived till they were a hundredinstead of dying of untreatable diseases, that was until simple medicines were discovered