Growing media and retail

This is a technically demanding market for compost.

Survey of peat and alternatives for soil improvement and in growing media

Defra have funded a project to survey the industry over 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010 to be carried out by Enviros and ADAS. The 2005 results are available from http://www.defra.gov.uk/science/documents/publications/Peat.pdf.

The growing media industry is aiming to reduce the proportion of peat usage to assist with the Biodiversity Actions Plans set by Defra.

Phil Wallace and colleagues of Enviros, assisted by ADAS, also completed the survey of peat and alternatives, including composted materials, used in growing media and landscaping for 2001.
Details were published in the Composting Association News Vol 7 Issue 3 Summer 2003.

Other projects

I am assisting Warwick University in 2008 with a project on carbon footprint of growing media products.

A project started in 2003 funded by WRAP was on the specification of compost for use in growing media. Phil supported Paul Waller in this project and the report was launched on 16th June 2004. Paul conducted a survey on growing media for the HDC in 2005/06.

Enviros worked with WRAP on a project on the use of compost in growing media led by Peatering Out Ltd and it was also reported in 2004. Additional work was done assisting growers with funding from Remade Essex and the Clean Merseyside Centre (now Remade NorthWest). These projects demonstrated that green compost and wood based materials can be used to replace peat in growing media.

To maximise the use of green compost in growing media it is probably best to mix with peat, until further work is completed, at 10 to 33% compost inclusion rate.

A fact sheet on the use of compost in growing media, written by Phil, is available from the WRAP website http://www.wrap.org.uk/