ALTERNATIVES TO PEAT AS CONTAINER MEDIA ; ORGANIC RESOURCES IN THE UK.

Since 1977 a number of organic waste materials have been tested at Bath as alternatives to peat as container media.
Work on digested sewage sludge and separated animal fibre is presented.

Nine large-scale bulky organic wastes in the UK are reviewed.
Their physico-chemical properties and ‘economic’ properties, such as cost, availability, location of supplies, uniformity and competitive demand, are examined.
Not one stands out as the alternative to peat in the UK; substrates will gradually diversify to encompass a number of materials as pure substrates (bark, leaf mould, separated animal fibre), or as ingredients in mixtures (sewage sludge, municipal compost, spent mushroom compost).

Symposium on Substrates in Horticulture other than Soils In Situ

D.C. Cull

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1982.126.10