Growing in peatmoss

[Thai Stick]

Ok so i need some help settling a debate here.

 

A friend of mine is growing in only peatmoss with chemical nutrients and claims ridiculous yields with his technique.

He believes peatmoss with chemical nutrients achieved higher yields then my technique of a fully organic medium grow using my super soil mix.

If he said he was in coco or similar using chemical nutes watering multiple times daily then sure i could believe it, but to me using straight peat with chemical nutrients doesnt sound the best route to take.
Debate would easily be settled if he just tried my super soil but las that is not the case.

 

To me it doesnt add up and goes against everything i know about living soil and the way everything works at ground level.

 

[SmokeTester]

You can certainly use chemical nutrients with regular peat.

I use chemical nutrients with peat\perlite mix, getting good results.

Not saying my results are any better or worse than anyone else's, there are more different ways of growing than there are growers.

[Larry Badgeley]

Horses for courses. I saw weed growing on a beach in Thailand (under our bungalow as it happens) though I wouldn't recommend any one germinate seeds in sand and sea water.

[BilgePump]

I can fully believe that.

 

The best performing compost we sell at work is pure Irish moss peat based, literally pisses all over the rest (we keep about 20 varieties) and it's the cheapest.

 

Tbh bagged compost is going down hill with the push towards peat free so if yer mates UK based he'll be wanting to stock up because it's clearly working for him.

 

Personally I've always done better with peat based media and high quality mineral nutes , tried Coco a few times but for me there was/is no comparison to peat , especially given the level of accuracy minerals allow with the aid of ec/tds meters compared to organic feeds.

 

As Larry says though it's horses for courses and what works well for one person may not for another.

 

Sounds like your friend and you ought settle it with a grow off 

 

 

 

 

 

[Thai Stick]

I would have thought straight peat would hold too much water and turn anaerobic creating other problems.

 

And yes, many ways to grow, horses for courses and all that jazz or whatever the saying is.

 

Oh forgot to mention the only other thing he uses is mychorizzae which is what originally led me to question what he says he is doing as i have never seen it personally.

What would be the point of the myco if using chemical nutes?

[BilgePump]

I've often wondered about how chemical nutes interact with inoculants , I've always assumed that the mycorrhizal will have helped me enough in the couple of weeks I rely on feeds within the compost itself and am just giving plants straight tap.

 

Moss peat behaves much better than sedge peat.

The sphagnum moss peat formulation compost I use is a light tobacco brown when dry and it's actually fairly airy , more so than coco to the touch.

Sedge moss peat however is very claggy and almost black when dry and makes for terrible media unless you are cultivating gunnera and the likes because it holds so much water.

 

 

 

[blackpoolbouncer]

Absolute bollocks when people claim hydro yields more Imo

 

That just tell me they were shite at growing organically or in soil. 

 

 

There's only so much weed you can fit in a room and you can fill a room with organic weed. It's a bit like asking saying a ton of bricks weighs more than a ton of feathers.

 

Fwiw. My pervious set up was peat fed with blumats and chemical feed in peat so essentially a hydro set up(also run same peat compost with organic feeds with same result). I'm currently using living soil pots with no fertilisers at all other than what the soil generates and smashed my pb by a chunk. 

 

Show me a hydro set up and I'll show you an organic one that will match it.

 

Irish moss peat is fantastic medium and amazing results can be had using chemical feed but the same can absolutely be achieved organically and even rate of growth. 

 

I personally think my living soil outperforms even the best peat compost on the market but achieving that wasn't easy

 

 

E2a. He might be getting better yield but that's not to say his poorer yeild was the mediums fault. You can max a room with any set up 

Edited January 29, 2022 by blackpoolbouncer

[inceywinceyspider]

I've found that peat compost can be very unforgiving, if everything is spot on its excellent but if over watered it can be boggy and under watered can shrink back quickly and not really recover. 

[blackpoolbouncer]

If your compost is shrinking back you should have watered a day earlier. You should never let that happen because it causes damage to the roots as they fracture when contracting. 

 

If the pots still heavy don't water. It "should" actually be pretty forgiving but you must understand your medium your using, I do understand that can take time for some but once you've got your head around it I really is unbeatable as far as growth medium goes. 

 

Can be matched though just not super easily 

Edited January 29, 2022 by blackpoolbouncer