For decades gardeners
have recognized the benefits of adding peat moss to potting soil. Peat moss
lightens the soil, allows air to enter and generally improves soil structure.
However, these benefits come at a price.
Peat bogs are areas
of great natural beauty, containing plants and wildlife,
some of which are unique to these environments. They are home to
thousands of insects including butterflies, dragonflies and spiders. Nearly a thousand
different flowering plants grow in these, including carnivorous plants such as
the Great Sundew as well as mosses, fungi and lichens. Nevertheless, this
environment is slowly being destroyed to satisfy the greed of man.
Wetland ecologists say that peat moss is being
harvested at unsustainable rates. Over 10 million
cubic yards of
peat moss are harvested each year from bogs in Canada, plus another million or
so from bogs in the northern United States. Peat moss comes from slow growing
rotting plants and it typically takes 1000
years for a bog
to add one yard to its depth. Destroying peat bogs contributes to global
warming as well. Peat bogs cover just
3% of the world’s
surface but they store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests
combined. Some ecologists say that “Destroying peat bogs is even more
disastrous than destroying the Amazonian rainforest!”
The environmental
costs of harvesting peat moss is huge. Fuel is needed to dig drainage ditches, harrow the peat,
vacuum and then bale it. This adds up to a lot of greenhouse gasses in order to
create an organic soil improver. Even the peat industry, while stating that
peatlands can be managed at sustainable levels, acknowledge that alternatives
to peat moss must be developed in order to meet environmental concerns of
consumers.
CoirGreen™ coco peat is
a viable alternative to peat moss. Unlike peat moss, coir is a waste product of
the coconut harvest and is always available. In the past coir was left to
accumulate in large piles. Nevertheless it did not take long for
horticulturists to recognize the benefits of coir.
Apart from being an
environmentally friendly product, CoirGreen™ coco peat has been proven to hold
moisture well, wet more easily than peat, drain well, decompose more slowly and
withstand compression better. Plus coir dust does not have the small sticks and
possible seeds that peat has.
Peat Moss is an
acidic substance
which makes it difficult for plants to grow. CoirGreen™ coco peat, on the other hand, has
a neutral pH level which facilitates healthy plant growth. The acidic nature of
peat moss makes it possible for fungi and other plant-based diseases to take
root However, coconut coir is free of
bacteria, plant disease, fungi, weeds, and pathogens and thus provides the same
benefits of peat moss without damaging the environment.
The advantages of using CoirGreen™ Coco Peat can be summarized as
below
● 100% natural, organic and
biodegradable
● An eco-friendly renewable resource
● A perfect multi purpose growing
medium
● Has high aeration (air porosity)
● Absorbs water easily but not too
much
● Ensures a strong and healthy root
system
● A very stable product that can be
used for many years without decomposition affecting its physical make-up
For more details on our
natural, environmentally friendly coir products, their usages and how CoirGreen™
work, please visit – http://www.coirgreen.com or simply email us
at info(AT)coirgreen.com
