Peat compost – should it come at a higher price?

‘Taxing’ peat compost in the UK would be pretty pointless while every Irish cottage burns peat briquettes that can be bought at the nearest shop.

My own personal practical experience of using both peat free & peat based compost for potting-on over a number of years has shown peat free to be a complete & utter waste of time & cost. In winter, once soaked it takes ages to dry out, frosts come along & kill the plants. In summer it dries out so fast plants die off unless you have the means & time to constantly water them. That is the reality.
(The latest one being Westland Earth Matters)
Basic retail costs for both are around 10p per litre. Not only does it cost you the compost but also the cost of the lost potted-on plant.
I use Westland MP with added John Innes (60% peat) & find this to be excellent for seeds, potting-on young plants & also container plants ie all three catagories “Which” monitor.
The RSPB write-up states “Which? in March showed that peat-free composts out performed the best peat-based counterparts” but this is only what they want you to read, not the whole story.
Yes, New Horizon did come top for Container Plants (joint with the above Westland product) but the majority of peat-free products occupied the lower part of the list. Reverting then to the results for Sowing Seeds & Growing on young plants, surprise, surprise, peat-free composts dominate the lower charts & “Don’t Buy”s. They don’t tell you this!!!
If they are to publish something then let’s have all the facts & figures so we can then make a balanced judgement on which compost to use.

A peat tax will only deal with the symptoms it will not address the causes. We need more taxes in this country like a hole in the head. The cost of collecting this small amount of tax will not be acceptable to the Treasury so it’s a non starter. Why not turn the idea on it’s head and reduce the 20% tax we already pay for peat free compost – collection cost zero, but the impact will be the same.

It`s all very well to say add an extra £2.40…but not everyone can afford this in the present climate. People are watching there pennies let alone pounds as it is. Some people are growing their own to save money so by adding to extra almost defeats the object, as you`d need more than just one bag. I for one would NOT pay the extra.

wavechange said, “A more sensible approach would be to decide that something will be banned in ten years, giving manufacturers time to research and develop good alternatives. If this had been done, peat and peat-based products could have been phased out by now.”

I seem to remember reading that the peat industry were given a target by the UK Government back in the twilight years of the 20th century to become 90% peat free by 2010:

http://www.landscapejuice.com/2009/11/growing-media-association-working-government-peat-reduction-targets.html

So they’ve had plenty of warning… time to get serious with them I think.

Looking at the correspondence published since my offering on the 1st April, I suggest those interested take a look at http://www.glendoick.com/index.php?page=faq-peat & then decide which side of the fence they are on.
To reiterate, the “do gooders” should tell us all the facts & figures so we can then make a balanced judgement on which compost to use.
PS I note that “my” Westland compost standard retail price is still £5.99 as it was earlier this year for 60L bags but these are now down to 50L, 10p per L up to 12p, a 20% increase.
The RSPB idea of £2.40 per 60L bag tax = 4p per L 40% extra cost on top of this.
Virtually all my compost goes into potting up plants donated to four local charities for their plant sales, who then raise hundreds of pounds a year for their good causes.
Such a tax would almost certainly deny them these funds ’till such a time I felt confident there was a peat free alternative at a reasonable price to use as a substitute.

the whole facts on the issue of peat are not being given, plants from abroad will still come into this country potted in peat and nearly all nurseries.garden centers, DIY and such purchase these.
We are being fed hostile threats from those who need to push the peat free, beware and question them for the whole facts from both sides. What we really need on compost is best buy use dates as most stacked bags of compost are not fit for use. Beware!!!

Most comments here are are well over a year old and I guess this will be the latest being 2014.
I arrived here when searching on the WHICH website for advice on best soils etc for growing
seed and saw that most recommended peat based compost and the reasons why included
that peat free composts do not hold water as well as peat and is light for seeds.
Being new to producing plants from seed for the food table and starting out last year to have a little go at the veg/salad
production,>I purchased a variety of manufactured compost bags last year that were low or
exempt of peat and found that most were from recycled too much rubbish and not fine enough
and had to work at getting anything really worthwhile.Meanwhile I worked hard at recycling my
own and invested in further compost bins (had 2 but increased to 4) and this Spring found we had a ton of beautiful compost from just one large bin, so my advice is make your own, as last year
I had a little of the same from a smaller compost bin and everything put to it grew and grew well.
So, perhaps the answer is do it yourself for this way everyone is a winner and there is plenty of help on line and I hope now a little more.