What is the difference between peat you buy,and compost?

Answer 1

Peat comes from peat bogs in Northern USA and Canada and typically take up to a 1000 years for each yard of depth that nature develops. So it is a long process and in terms of our life span - not renewable. Compost is organic matter (leaves, grass clippings, kitchen scraps etc (no meat or fat) mixed in certian ratios to become decomposed matter which is added is added to soil to enrich nutrient content to plants. A properly prepared compost is one of the best additives you can put in a garden. For the suburban gardener, compost tumblers and similar products are available (if you don't have room for a compost bin)

In response the the post below - it is somewhat arrogant to slam others (Duh!) - not every one knows that there is even such a thing as peat bogs. People are here to see answers - not to be ridiculed by one who is arrogant enough to make a comment like this.

Answer 2

Peat usually comes from peat bogs (duh!) which is a non renewable resource and a valuable habitat for wild life. When you use peat, although good for the garden, you are actually causing probably more environmental damage than the the you are doing for your garden.

Compost on the other hand is made from well rotted vegetation and is very good for the garden. If you make it yourself using clippings and trimmings from your garden and vegetable scraps from the kitchen, it is totally free. It just takes some patience to get it breaking down properly. Remember to mix it up every couple of weeks with a fork to aerate it and in a couple of months it should start looking like compost. NB< if the compost heap is set up right and mixed round to get some air into it , it shouldsmell sort of rich earthy and quite pleasant .

A third alternative is a wormery, which works on veg scaps and pealings and produces lots of free liquid plant food.

Answer 3

Hello =)

Peat is a wonderful product, that improves soil structure immensely, as well as water retention in the soil. It also lowers soil Ph, making alkaline soils more acid. This is very important when you consider making beds around concrete or masonry foundations, which frequently have the problem of high soil Ph, due to lime leaching, from the concrete. Unfortunately, Peat contains almost no nutrients, however.

Compost has many of the properties of peat, however, it does not improve moisture retention as well as peat, and it does not affect soil Ph much. It does, however, contain a decent quantity of nutrients, reducing the need of other fertilizer sources. This is very important.

Peat is now considered ecologically unfriendly, because we are near to exhausting the "peat bogs" where peat is grown. Other similar substances are being used now, such as the fibre from Coconut hulls, frequently marketed as "cocopeat".

If you live anywhere near Pennsylvania or California, you should be able to buy compost as a bi-product of the commercial mushroom growers. It is frequently called "mushroom soil" and is the compost of horse waste, straw, and newspaper. Unfortunately, it is a good way to import weed seeds into your garden, as they pass through a horse intact, usually. It is usually very high in potash and nitrogen, plus many "micronutrients".....

Namaste, and Happy New Year,

--Tom

Answer 4

Peat is a natural produce taken from bogs, compost is man made from all sorts of vegative material.

Answer 5

peat is undiluted bog ,usually very acid.+ very enviormently un friendly to use .save our bogland. compost has an mix of organic matter