Say more? I've heard coconut coir can sometimes contain salt and has less nutrients but that can be fixed by buying properly processed coir and mixing in something like finished compost. What's irreplaceable about peat?
My observation: Some starts just seem to need peat during germination, and that's sort of a hard requirement. While a lot of things just need better-draining soil (Coir, perlite, etc.), some very slow-germinating but delicate things just don't work well at all without peat. By the time they're starting to sprout, the peat-free alternatives are full of algae and basically rotting.
Thankfully, the use cases are small - I have 20lbs of peat, and it's seen me through about four years and is still half full.
Comments
Say more? I've heard coconut coir can sometimes contain salt and has less nutrients but that can be fixed by buying properly processed coir and mixing in something like finished compost. What's irreplaceable about peat?
My observation: Some starts just seem to need peat during germination, and that's sort of a hard requirement. While a lot of things just need better-draining soil (Coir, perlite, etc.), some very slow-germinating but delicate things just don't work well at all without peat. By the time they're starting to sprout, the peat-free alternatives are full of algae and basically rotting.
Thankfully, the use cases are small - I have 20lbs of peat, and it's seen me through about four years and is still half full.