White peat as medium

[spinnermaltese]

I bought some White peat, and I suppose that this is of sphagnum origin as parent material. Is white peat the same as peat or sphangum peat moss? A particular website is indicating that it is of sphangum bog origin. What is most important is that the product I bought is free from added fertiliser. The brand name is Stender.

Link showing info on white peat:

www.fargro.co.uk/growingmedia/Tref%20EGO%20Leaflet.pdf

According to this information I think I'm on the right track.

Thanking you in advance for any comments

[Aidan]

Should be suitable. The 'colour' simply indicates the depth from which it has been cut.

[jesser]

Dec 31, 2010 16:46:35 GMT spinnermaltese said:

I bought some White peat, and I suppose that this is of sphagnum origin as parent material. Is white peat the same as peat or sphangum peat moss? A particular website is indicating that it is of sphangum bog origin. What is most important is that the product I bought is free from added fertiliser. The brand name is Stender.

Stender like www.stender.de/engl/produkte/torfe/index.htm ?

If yes, then your product is absolutely correct for most carnivorous plants.

White peat is typically sphagnum peat moss. The word "peat" alone stands for different things:

"White peat" means young peat from the top layers of a bog, only a little degraded and a lighter colour when dry. This type of peat is low in nutrients.

"Black peat" means old peat from the very deep layers of a bog, very much degraded and a darker colour when dry. The contained nutrients are much higher than in white peat.

In Germany there exists a peat quality numbering system using H-Numbers such like H2, H5 oder combined such like H2-H5. The number stands for the decomposition of the peat: The higher the H-number, the higher the peat is degraded. H1 up to H6 is typically called "white peat" (smaller H-numbers are better) and H7 and up is "black peat" quality.

If your product is from a German company, perhaps you can find the H-number declared somewhere on the bale. I always use peat with a H2-H5 or H2-H6 declaration. Peat with such H-numbers is available almost everywhere here, but if you want peat with smaller H-numbers (very little degraded) this can become complicated. But differences among the brands exist. Personally I don't know the "Stender" peat, but declaration of peat is regulated by law in Germany: Only if a product is pure peat it may be called peat. If something is added, then the name of the product changes and the ingredients declaration must tell what else is added.

So if the product is from a German company, watch out for labels that tell something about "Ingredients", "Declaration" or "H-numbers" and you know what you got.

[spinnermaltese]

Wow guys, Thank you for the very useful help

Infact the brand is a German one it's name is Stender and I can clearly read the H numbers mine is H3-H5, so it should be good, besides that it is declared that no fertiliser has been added to the mixture. It also has an EU logo on specifications of composition (in English). Then I'm on the right track.

What mixture can I make together with this one will perlite do fine?

And what about Vermiculite?

Thank you very much

[Joseph Clemens]

For media recommendations it should be helpful to know what kind(s) of plants you intend to cultivate.

[spinnermaltese]

I intend to use it either as mixture with perlite or vermiculite or alone. The main intended species are Dionea and Drosera. For Pinguicula I think perlite should predominate more including some vermiculite. For Nepenthes I use a peat moss/coconut coir/perlite mixture. I only have one Nepenthes up to now and it's doing fine.

[Joseph Clemens]

It sounds like your intended media mixtures should work fine. If you would please report your results, it would be appreciated.

[Dave Evans]

I do not believe Drosera and Dionea would like vermiculite; but Pinguicula sure do

White peat is basically what a large majority of CP's grow in naturally; except for most Pinguicula which tend to grow on limestone.

[spinnermaltese]

Then do Pinguicula like an alkaline substrate just like drosophyllum?

And by any chance would drosophyllum lusitanicum like calcareuos mediterreanean soils?