Search
Latest topics
» Soaking Seeds for Better Germinationby Soose Today at 4:38 am
» Johnson Su composting Bioreactor instructions for home, not the farm.
by sanderson Today at 4:27 am
» How do I source Mels Mix for 190 cu ft????
by sanderson Today at 4:15 am
» The SFG Journey-Johnson Su Bioreactor for composting, No turning
by has55 Today at 12:09 am
» N&C Midwest: January & February 2023
by Scorpio Rising Yesterday at 9:13 pm
» Microgreens Gardening
by Windsor.Parker Yesterday at 4:23 pm
» seed starting Mel's way
by plantoid Yesterday at 7:09 am
» Home Made Compost
by plantoid Yesterday at 6:18 am
» Kiwi's SFG Adventure
by KiwiSFGnewbie Yesterday at 2:46 am
» Back In The Saddle I Suppose
by Scorpio Rising 1/26/2023, 8:03 pm
» Garlic Chives in SFG?
by quincy47 1/25/2023, 9:29 am
» New but Old
by lovey 1/25/2023, 1:49 am
» Dani's Brand New SFG For 2023
by danieggert 1/24/2023, 6:24 pm
» Seed Exchange - January 2023
by sanderson 1/24/2023, 4:43 am
» Chicken Poop compost
by OhioGardener 1/22/2023, 5:28 pm
» Holy snow Batman!
by OhioGardener 1/22/2023, 10:27 am
» IRRIG8R NEW TO SFG
by Irrig8The916 1/21/2023, 10:51 pm
» Mel's mix for flower planters
by sanderson 1/21/2023, 7:05 pm
» Can I Use This Compost As One Of My Five Different Ones?
by sanderson 1/21/2023, 6:53 pm
» Clamps /clips for covering frames
by Soose 1/21/2023, 6:43 pm
» What DON'T I want in my 5 different composts
by sanderson 1/21/2023, 4:34 am
» New User from Chicago area - question about compost
by sanderson 1/21/2023, 4:15 am
» How to Make a Garden Tower From a Barrel?
by Soose 1/20/2023, 1:08 pm
» Spring Sales Starting Already?
by Soose 1/19/2023, 10:16 pm
» Happy Birthday!!
by yolos 1/18/2023, 8:16 pm
» National Seed Swap Day - January 30th
by sanderson 1/16/2023, 2:48 pm
» Storage of bean seeds
by sanderson 1/16/2023, 2:41 pm
» January: What to plant in Northern California and Central Valley areas
by Yardslave 1/16/2023, 11:17 am
» What are you eating from your garden today?
by Scorpio Rising 1/15/2023, 4:02 pm
» Aerogardening
by Scorpio Rising 1/15/2023, 4:01 pm
Google
Non "fluffy" peat...
4 posters
Non "fluffy" peat...
I finally managed to find the time to buy my MM ingredients recently, and took a first look at the peat. It seems that it's not as dried out as the stuff you folks talk about, since I had no problem wetting it. (I actually had an old bowl on the kitchen bench for about a week, adding water gradually and waiting to see what happened - hubby got a bit sick of it!
)
I was expecting the peat to be kind of like compressed moss, and that decompressing it would yield something that is kinda fluffy. But this stuff is just like dirt, very easy to crumble. Not at all like the solid blocks I've read about here and elsewhere. Here's my best attempt at a picture:

What do you folks think? Does this peat need fluffing and if so what should I do? Also, given that I had no problem increasing its moisture content, I'm wondering if it's not as dry as what you folks buy and therefore I need to buy more of it to get the volume right. The stuff in my test didn't really seem to increase in volume although it must have to some extent, since I was adding water. But it wasn't obvious.
If anyone needs any more details please ask away! I'm not sure what else I can say and this newbie is pretty stumped...

I was expecting the peat to be kind of like compressed moss, and that decompressing it would yield something that is kinda fluffy. But this stuff is just like dirt, very easy to crumble. Not at all like the solid blocks I've read about here and elsewhere. Here's my best attempt at a picture:

What do you folks think? Does this peat need fluffing and if so what should I do? Also, given that I had no problem increasing its moisture content, I'm wondering if it's not as dry as what you folks buy and therefore I need to buy more of it to get the volume right. The stuff in my test didn't really seem to increase in volume although it must have to some extent, since I was adding water. But it wasn't obvious.
If anyone needs any more details please ask away! I'm not sure what else I can say and this newbie is pretty stumped...

KiwiSFGnewbie- Posts : 123
Join date : 2022-09-25
Location : Auckland, New Zealand
Humidity, for Peat's sake
I don't know what everyone else does, but I count by volume after the material has been fluffed.
A quick glance at Auckland weather tells me that you've been having 80 to 95 percent humidity. Maybe the material had already wetted itself?
A quick glance at Auckland weather tells me that you've been having 80 to 95 percent humidity. Maybe the material had already wetted itself?
markqz
Forum Moderator- Posts : 752
Join date : 2019-09-02
Location : Lower left hand corner
Re: Non "fluffy" peat...
Thanks, Mark, but what is fluffing?? Is it simply the crumbling up that I've been doing? (to produce what's in the photo) This doesn't seem to be changing the volume at all, so I figure there's something else I should be doing. Or, it's not nearly as compressed as the stuff Stateside.markqz wrote:I don't know what everyone else does, but I count by volume after the material has been fluffed.
A quick glance at Auckland weather tells me that you've been having 80 to 95 percent humidity. Maybe the material had already wetted itself?
KiwiSFGnewbie- Posts : 123
Join date : 2022-09-25
Location : Auckland, New Zealand
Re: Non "fluffy" peat...
That's a distinct possibility. In the U.S., the peat is pretty solid. Kind of like a soft brick. It needs to be broken up in order to mix with the other materials. If your peat is sourced locally, they might not bother with the compression.KiwiSFGnewbie wrote: Or, it's not nearly as compressed as the stuff Stateside.
markqz
Forum Moderator- Posts : 752
Join date : 2019-09-02
Location : Lower left hand corner
Re: Non "fluffy" peat...
Hmmm, "soft brick" does sort of describe what I have here, but crumbling it is really easy. I don't need any implements at all to get pieces off it. What do you do to "fluff" it up? Do you simply crumble it in your hands, or something more than that? I'm really trying to understand what I need to do, esp since its state will determine whether I need more of it. I cannot imagine that what I have will expand to 80-100% its current volume.markqz wrote:That's a distinct possibility. In the U.S., the peat is pretty solid. Kind of like a soft brick. It needs to be broken up in order to mix with the other materials. If your peat is sourced locally, they might not bother with the compression.KiwiSFGnewbie wrote: Or, it's not nearly as compressed as the stuff Stateside.
KiwiSFGnewbie- Posts : 123
Join date : 2022-09-25
Location : Auckland, New Zealand
Re: Non "fluffy" peat...
KiwiSFGnewbie wrote:Hmmm, "soft brick" does sort of describe what I have here, but crumbling it is really easy. I don't need any implements at all to get pieces off it. What do you do to "fluff" it up? Do you simply crumble it in your hands, or something more than that? I'm really trying to understand what I need to do, esp since its state will determine whether I need more of it. I cannot imagine that what I have will expand to 80-100% its current volume.markqz wrote:That's a distinct possibility. In the U.S., the peat is pretty solid. Kind of like a soft brick. It needs to be broken up in order to mix with the other materials. If your peat is sourced locally, they might not bother with the compression.KiwiSFGnewbie wrote: Or, it's not nearly as compressed as the stuff Stateside.
The bulk bags of peat that I buy from the local big box store is 85L (2 cu ft) in the bag, and it expands to 3 cu ft when it is fluffed up. So, it expands approximately 50%.
It is easy to fluff up. As soon as the bag is opened and I start dumping the peat out onto a tarp, it started expanding. A simple toss or two with a fork fully fluffs it.
Never plant without a bucket of compost at your side.
Re: Non "fluffy" peat...
Kiwi, The peat moss in the photo looks perfect. Hand crumbling should be all it takes to "fluff" it.
Measure while dry and fluffed. You can wet it when mixing batches of MM or wet the measured-dry material separately. Either way. I soak it in a cement mixing pan along with the measure of coarse vermiculite to prevent breathing flying particles of either. Then I add the measure of blended composts. The result is quite wet (more than moist) but MM drains so well that I just wait a day after dumping and leveling in the beds to plant.
Expansion of compressed peat moss varies by brand. Somewhere between 50% to 70%. My last bale was good quality and it only expanded about 50%. And, it was really easy to fluff.
Measure while dry and fluffed. You can wet it when mixing batches of MM or wet the measured-dry material separately. Either way. I soak it in a cement mixing pan along with the measure of coarse vermiculite to prevent breathing flying particles of either. Then I add the measure of blended composts. The result is quite wet (more than moist) but MM drains so well that I just wait a day after dumping and leveling in the beds to plant.
Expansion of compressed peat moss varies by brand. Somewhere between 50% to 70%. My last bale was good quality and it only expanded about 50%. And, it was really easy to fluff.
Re: Non "fluffy" peat...
Awesome, thanks so much OG and sanderson, I feel confident I'm on the right track here
And indeed Mark, the peat is locally sourced so perhaps that's why it's not fully compressed. That bale of 100 litres (~3.5 cu ft) sure was heavy! I could only just get it into the car.

KiwiSFGnewbie- Posts : 123
Join date : 2022-09-25
Location : Auckland, New Zealand
sanderson likes this post

» Peat Question - Is quality variable (enough to matter) or is peat basically peat?
» Peat vs. Peat Moss
» Peat Humus in place of peat moss
» Peat Moss and Peat Humus
» Peat Pots and Peat Pellets
» Peat vs. Peat Moss
» Peat Humus in place of peat moss
» Peat Moss and Peat Humus
» Peat Pots and Peat Pellets
Page 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
|
|