Yeah it’s a real thing. He was really on shark tank. Mark Cuban bought into it
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Yeah, the dude ended up selling the company and the new people are trying. I think their best advertisement right now is BuildASoil doing a side by side with PittMoss and his regular coot mix.
I wonder how it changes over time though, as I’d imagine a living soil would eat through the cellulose as fast as any other plant matter.
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Washington Post. One News group worth following!
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Well, I have been using peat for a very long time now with nary a second thought.
Primarily, ProMix, peat pellets and Jiffy Mix seed starter
Blissfully ignorant as to any controversy regarding the use of peat.
This is quite an interesting thread.
I did a little bit of research via google, and as is the case with many issues, I found loads of conflicting information.
Not sure what to believe.
I liked the post by @Worcestershire_Farms
Garden Myths has some follow up blogs which I found interesting and somewhat compelling.
Although, I may very well be forced to admit to being a rodent, because I will probably continue to use peat.
I therefore will have to endure any qualms or pangs of guilt as a result of my continued use of peat.
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Considering I recycle everything, I’m not too worried about my couple of bales of canadian spangum peat. Yes the coir is a byproduct of the coconut industry but it is still being chopped, washed, bagged, and shipped around the world.
Now hemp pitmoss I could probably get behind. I can see it aldo being a byproduct of seed or flower production. Aparently fiber production is more difficult and cotton will likely remain king.
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I work at a company that processes organic coconut hulls for various products and I can say there’s a lot of energy going into getting the product to that consistancy. The mills that run them have 480 volt 80 amp motors and it kicks out about 100 lbs an hour. They burn through 25 lbs of stainless steel blades like toilet paper.
30 hp sifters then sort the material at about the same rate.
Great thing about coco fibre is that there is no waste and every grade is used. From spices to soil amendments.
I’ve used peat instances where I want more water retention but with the super soil recipe I’ve put together, that is remedied with natural humus (decayed and shredded fruit tree leaves, sagebrush root and bark, alfalfa hay, kitchen scraps)
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interesting - what is the consensus - does coir hold more moisture or does peat hold more? You read conflicting information. I suspect they’re pretty much equivalent. Peat comes in different grades from coarse to fine also, the 'high porosity" mixes use more coarse peat that holds less water and more air in a given area.
The bottom layers of peat in the bog are more like compost or hummus, while the top layers are more coarse. It all depends on the quality and type of peat. The typical retail bale of Promix they sell at Home Depot is inferior to the professional grade mixes from Promix. I’m trying a bale of this company’s organic 111 mix, they offer every possible type of peat moss. In general you want a “professional” product from these companies, not the “retail” class product.
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@Muleskinner I use promix is there any way to tell if I got the consumer quality or the professional quality
Is it one of these? These are all the professional mixes.
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I hope Monsanto doesn’t decide to partner or worse yet buy Pro mix or some of their connected companies… would be shameful to have to black list them… pure evil… what happened to GH… I’m not buying all this jive put out talking how easy the Canadian peat moss harvesting is to the environment. encouraging all that water plant growth is causing more harmful effects on atmosphere than fossil fuels.
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@Muleskinner yes it is.
@Grower13 if GH or a subsidiary bought them out I would switch to a different medium. There’s tons of choices.
I’m real skeptical of whether the land is ever really the same, too. You know how bureaucrats work, if there is grass and bugs, maybe a bird or two it is effectively the wilderness again. I can’t imagine they do legitimate surveys of the natural populations before and after.
My attitude though, is since it’s such a small percentage of the available lands, it’s not worse than any of the other terrible practices I inevitably support.
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My vote goes to perlite. It’s reusable, easy to find, pest free/pest resistant, ph neutral, great water to air ratio, cheap, comes in dif sizes.
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An old friend and long time grower suggested that I use “Growstones” in my soil mix. I did, and I’m pleased with the results. I mix Fert-i-lome Ultimate Potting Mix (fine Canadian peat) & GS2 70/30. It doesn’t float up or change colors, and holds H2O & O2 very well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growstones.
If you are really worried about using peat, make a leaf mold pile. In a year or so you will have a replacement for your peat.
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agree! Perlite and cannabis seem to be made for each other. It is a miracle ingredient for growing cannabis in small containers
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It’s just so diverse, hand water to fogphonics. Anything will work with it. Practically impossible to over water and you’ll always know when you need to water again. Never had root rot with it even in 85+ degree temps.
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yes i think growstones are recycled glass? so they’re very sustainable 
i like perlite myself though, with coco coir 50/50… i don’t think they have coco chips are my hydro store or i’d run 5 of each to compare. now that i know what perlite is i may start trying to avoid breathing so much in
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