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When washing peat moss...

  • Thread starter gill_za
  • Start date
  • #21
Here's a practical demonstration: Mix started 5 days ago. Peat moss was wet down and sat overnight. Then sand and perlite added. Sand and Perlite was previously rinsed with tap water until the water ran clear. 2 parts peat moss, 1 each of sand & perlite.

RO water from vending machine at 4 ppm
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mixture put into a 2 x 2 x 3 inch pot. 2 ounces of water flushed through measures @
194 ppm
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second flush of 2 oz measured at 57ppm, no picture of runoff taken (appeared the same as the first to the naked eye). Total water used 4 oz.
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3rd flush (2 oz water each flush) 17 ppm total water used 6 oz
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4 more flushes later 5ppm at this point I would have considered the water clear by sight only. Total water used 14 oz.
Normally I use tap water to wet and mix the peat moss and to flush until clear by sight and then two flushes of RO water and let to sit overnight before seeds or plants go in. In this case RO water was used throughout.
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  • #22
Thanks, so you just flushed the medium (you did not let the peat soak,) I probably overdo my rinses then. Can we see a picture of the relative size of the pot please?

Also on the point of the stuff the "is on the bottom" its sort of brown and very fine, I also put that on top of the sowing, but only below a layer of silica sand, so I havn't noticed much difference, if any I merely thought it was like a sifting thing, it still consists of about the same stuff, the stuff that sinks is more broken down and a bit "finer"
 
  • #23
Sorry if I misunderstood but from what you wrote you did not wash Peat moss prior to mixing with washed sand and perlite? Instead you washed the mixture while in the pot?
 
  • #24
Update: I was wrong about the quality of the peat moss. It is not the premium "stuff". It is just some Canadian Sphagnum peat moss:

peat-moss.jpg


I checked today and the bottom layer of peat is thicker than I thought first. It consists of very fine peat, branches, sand, gravel, mud and other junk. When I squeeze it the water runs black. I'm scooping the top layer with sieve to make soil mix and leaving the bottom for future.
 
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  • #25
Dang wish i had time to wash my peat moss. not easy when I'm going thru a bale every
3 weeks or so i would never get anything else accomplished
 
  • #26
Dang wish i had time to wash my peat moss. not easy when I'm going thru a bale every
3 weeks or so i would never get anything else accomplished

That is why the peat I got is so dirty.. you have used up all the good one.... JK :)
 
  • #27
Hey!! you live closer to canada than i do. some of the good stuff has to come
to PA too
 
  • #28
For what it's worth,
peat moss used to be a wonderful, fluffy & very fiberous media that was very clean of sticks, stones, sand, dirt & visible plant parts & roots. A bale used to be 4 cu. ft (not 3.8 as it is now, like a half-gallon of ice cream that is no longer a half-gallon!) & weighed a ton, as it was so compressed into a bale that it felt nearly solid! (I used to sell it back in my early teens, and one bale lasted forever! And that was using it to mix up media to plant dozens of plants every day, for a small old-fashioned plant shop.)

About 12-15+ years ago (or so), the peat industry began to worry about making more money, depleting their resources, destroying the land, etc. and so the quality took a few steps downward, and over time eventually came to what we have today. :lac:

Not only was a bale of peat clean and fibered, it was packed so tightly, it nearly exploded out when you cut the bale open! Large hunks would break away, & when broken up it would easily double in size. :-O
I used to buy Sunshine brand (along with a couple others), which used to be one of the higher grades, only found in nurseries. (It was more expensive, but worth it!)
Then quality dropped a few times over a number of years & it could eventually be found all over. But by then it wasn't packed tight at all, quality was poorer and it regularly contained sticks and powdered clumps.
(The powdery stuff that seems to be standard now, wasn't even to be found except in small remnant quantities. Freaked me out when I first encountered it in large quantity, being sold as peat! Disgusting!) Peat is a fiberous material, NOT dust! :thumbdown:

I have since tried nearly every brand available locally, & they are all like this in varying degrees.
Indeed, most people today don't realize what good quality peat is! And sad to say, it is something most people have never seen (or felt!), and likely never will again. :crap:
While there are currently semi-decent "premium" types/brands around compared to the really poor "garbage" that is also being sold, I have not seen really good high quality peat for sale in many years. Even the "premium" type (which is what I normally get) is a far cry from what used to be available. But indeed, as was suggested, don't bother buying the "garbage" quality stuff. It isn't worth the money at all, and once you remove all the sticks and garbage and dust, you won't have much left!

I occasionally rinse the peat I am using, but it especially depends on what I will be using it for.

Oh yea, while it may be a waste to see people using peat in their gardens & such, however it wouldn't be as cheap as it is, if it were only sold to CP & orchid growers! The peat business would have "dried up" (so to speak) years & years ago, had it not been for their ability to make a quick buck marketing to all the nurseries and garden centers for landscape use. (While it is bad for the peat bogs, it has been good for the hobbyists.)

In fact in some places, peat has been used as a source of energy, by burning it! So really compared to that, using it to grow plants better isn't that bad!

Good growing all!
:water:
 
  • #29
(The powdery stuff that seems to be standard now, wasn't even to be found except in small remnant quantities. Freaked me out when I first encountered it in large quantity, being sold as peat! Disgusting!) Peat is a fiberous material, NOT dust! :thumbdown:
That powdered junky stuff is 2/3 of the total peat in the 1 cu that I have purchased... It falls straight to the bottom of the bucket when in water. The part that floats is fibrous and light-colored. It actually looks rather pretty.

While there are currently semi-decent "premium" types/brands around compared to the really poor "garbage" that is also being sold, I have not seen really good high quality peat for sale in many years. Even the "premium" type (which is what I normally get) is a far cry from what used to be available. But indeed, as was suggested, don't bother buying the "garbage" quality stuff. It isn't worth the money at all, and once you remove all the sticks and garbage and dust, you won't have much left!

I have purchased 1cu of that peat for 6.99. Prior to that I have purchased Hoffman 10qt Peat Moss bag for the same price plus shipping. And that moss was also not the greatest quality. That 10qt bag (which is 1/3 of 1cu) when washed and all the dusty and chunky stuff was removed was reduced to half its size ...

So what brand of Peat moss in your experience has the best quality these days?
Have you tried alternative substrate (coconut husk i think was mentioned here previously)?

Thank you!
 
  • #30
Lol let necro-threading commence :)

Anyway just wanted to mention something interesting IMO.
One week ago I purchased some Canadian "premier" moss from Lowes (not the one that shows up in their online catalog). It was a different brand than the one purchased last year from a nursery near work.

Well I subjected it to the usual procedure: filled the 5g bucket half way, added tap water to the brim and let stay for a week. Yesterday was the time to collect the top floating "good" layer of peat and wash it several times with RO water.
Well I was very surprised to see that that floating top layer was very thin and mostly contained twigs, dry grass, tree leaves and other junk. Hardly any peat in it at all. And the bottom layer was very thick. It contained very very fine particles of peat, sand and looked like mud (I don't use that layer because it tends to make an easily compacting soil even with bunch coarse sand added, learned the hard way).

Can't believe I was complaining about previously bought brand of peat, which formed a very nice light brown colored layer of peat when washed. Ehh....
 
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  • #31
Huh... when I was my peat- ALL of it sinks. Only the twigs float to the surface... :scratch:
 
  • #32
In my experience the only portion of peat that sinks after some time in water is made up of very fine peat particles. If I try using it for CP's (peat:sand) the soil absorbs too much water, becomes too wet and does not drain at all. After a while if left alone that portion of the peat also starts to smell like rotten eggs.

http://www.growsundews.com/rinsing_peat_and_sand_for_carnivorous_plants.html
 
  • #33
Yea,
I learned the hard way too.... that what we think is bad is often not as bad as things can catually get!
It's a sad situation.
I have spent years watching LFS, peat & many other things deteriorate in quality until what they sell now is a far cry from what was once readily available.

In this case, even within one brand, large variations in quality can be found. But to be on the safe side, I would advise avoiding the brand you got. Usually a more expensive "brand name" product is better quality (in this instance), however that too is not always the case.
I believe they are hitting the "bottom of the barrel" when they packaged your bag of peat. (If it was a 4 cubic foot ...er...a... 3.8 cu. foot bale, I would return it! Thats too much garbage to simply "write off"!)
The powdered peat is still useable for a garden, but not very good for CP's, especially the sticks & debris!

I have learned to buy as much material as I can store, when I find a product that is good.
The stuff we call peat now-a-days is not nearly as fiberous and not packed even half as tight as what we had available in times past. And back then if you got a bale full of sticks & debris, you could exchange it for another.

While the changing times have allowed us to be able to purchase plants that were never before available, & for prices that nearly anyone can afford, but at the same time the cost for that is things like this... a diminishing supply & availability of quality peat & other materials.
That is one reason I keep an eye out & am willing to experiment with things like Coir & Turface.
Out with the old, in with the new... like it or not!

Sorry to hear about your lousey peat purchase Gil... But do keep an eye out for something better, and when you find it, buy a ton of it!
Well, back to work!
Good luck all!
:water:
 
  • #34
Man.. I've always used the Sunshine peat, and I get nothing you guys have been describing.. no sticks, leaves, rocks, sand etc.. At all.. Just peat.. i'd say about half of it floats and half sinks.. I usually use a fishnet(for aquarium fish) to skim off what I can from the bottom.. I dont use Tamlin's method of letting the peat soak though.. And I use no tap water, only RO.. I use 10-15gals of RO, filling my peat bucket up then taking scoops out with the fish net, using it to hold the peat while I ring it out, and do that 2-3 times.. the finished product is nice stuff, usually a more golden color and much fluffier.. but I do still keep as much as the darker "bottom stuff" as possible...
 
  • #35
Man.. I've always used the Sunshine peat, and I get nothing you guys have been describing.. no sticks, leaves, rocks, sand etc.. At all.. Just peat.. i'd say about half of it floats and half sinks.. I usually use a fishnet(for aquarium fish) to skim off what I can from the bottom.. I dont use Tamlin's method of letting the peat soak though.. And I use no tap water, only RO.. I use 10-15gals of RO, filling my peat bucket up then taking scoops out with the fish net, using it to hold the peat while I ring it out, and do that 2-3 times.. the finished product is nice stuff, usually a more golden color and much fluffier.. but I do still keep as much as the darker "bottom stuff" as possible...

Heh well I am setting on a long journey to find this stuff (sunshine brand of Peat moss) in my area. Suspect it will be an even longer quest than that of finding coarse sand.
 
  • #36
Yea,
Sunshine has always been pretty good quality (it did go down a number of years back, but is still at the top of the heap... so to speak!)
but finding it has become more difficult.
It used to be the only kind we could get (of quality brands), but now there are so many off-brands around, that it is sometimes near impossible to find anything good... especially at a decent price.
It is certainly not an item to ship!

Gil,
I would suggest trying the landscape supply companies & other places that carry a more "professional" line.
ALSO, don't forget to go in to a few hydroponics stores! They often carry brands that mainstream nurseries don't. (You will also find a ton of other interesting grow items you can use for CP's.) Hydroponics Stores are NOT just for the "higher" trade!

Good luck!
 
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