13 replies to this topic

[Kryptonite]

Hello,
I'm fairly new to this hobby and i have a number of plants--venus fly traps and sarracenia--which i need to repot. I am thinking about using moorland gold instead of the regular peat moss and have a couple of questions:

1) Is this suitable as a peat substitute for vfts, sarracenia and drosera?

2) Do you treat it as you would peat--mixing it with varying amounts of perlite/sand depending on what i am potting?

3) Other than the cost, is there any downside?

Many thanks :)

[mobile]

Hi and welcome to the forum. You might find this article useful: http://www.thecps.or...ent/view/53/40/

The article was written by forum member gardenofeden

[myself]

Moorland gold is peat . If I remember correct it's is peat that's run off the moors and collected and expensive to buy .

[gardenofeden]

myself, on 3rd February 2011 - 14:07 PM, said:

and expensive to buy .

not if your local farm shop stocks it! Half the price of multipurpose

[mobile]

gardenofeden, on 3rd February 2011 - 22:07 PM, said:

not if your local farm shop stocks it! Half the price of multipurpose

I wish I could get it locally here but last time I enquired with West Riding Organics it wasn't available anywhere nearby, which is a shame as I would like to try it.

[JohnP]

I used Moorland Gold for the first time last autumn on a batch of Cephalotus divisions. I have found it to be just as good as ordinary peat. The only downside is that I have had to weed out a lot of grass seedlings from the pots.

Edited by JohnP, 07 February 2011 - 16:56 PM.

[Kryptonite]

JohnP, on 7th February 2011 - 16:56 PM, said:

I used Moorland Gold for the first time last autumn on a batch of Cephalotus divisions. I have found it to be just as good as ordinary peat. The only downside is that I have had to weed out a lot of grass seedlings from the pots.

Thanks for the replies and advice. I made a 50:50 mix with sand and sowed some D Capensis seeds and am now just waiting for them to hatch. I have noticed that the grass seedling hatch faster!

I know "germinate" is the correct terminology, but i think "hatch" sounds cooler :)

[petesredtraps]

It's really dark almost black, some CP growers would suggest that that extra darkness is due to higher levels of Tannic acid in the stuff ,thus helpfull with colouration of your plants.

[mobile]

My local hydroponics shop are going to start stocking Moorland Gold, so I will be able to obtain it at last without having to pay high shipping costs

[mobile]

mobile, on 3rd February 2011 - 22:19 PM, said:

I wish I could get it locally here but last time I enquired with West Riding Organics it wasn't available anywhere nearby, which is a shame as I would like to try it.

At last I can get this locally. My local Organics and Hydroponics Centre, Gavsgrow now stocks it, so I'll be repotting some of my plants in it this year

Edited by mobile, 14 April 2011 - 12:24 PM.

[Vic2]

JohnP, on 07 February 2011 - 16:56 PM, said:

I used Moorland Gold ... I have found it to be just as good as ordinary peat. The only downside is that I have had to weed out a lot of grass seedlings from the pots.

If it's only a few pots-worth at a time, try microwaving the Moorland Gold first.
Add a bit of rainwater and keep it loosely covered to stop it drying out (and spattering your microwave with 'humus').  

I got the idea from Adrian Slack's method of boiling up peat for Aldrovanda;
Besides releasing the necessary humic acids, I found it took care of the algae for a while.

Cheers,

Vic

Edited by Vic2, 15 April 2011 - 23:27 PM.

[ewjlamb]

hi I am currently involved with a cactus collective in East Anglia, where we are trying to make the effort and go peat free.
Last year we obtained some Moorland Gold and the initial results - tested on my CP collection seems promising.
I have just done my second round of Sarracenia repotting, this one I think better then the first round primarliy because I had some fresh experience and decided to sift the compost through a riddle before use, in order to improve the consistency.

Now I have a question, if  anyone knows about the soil or soilless status of this stuff as compared with bog-extracted peat?
Thank you.
Jon

[gardenofeden]

What do you mean, a compositional analysis?

[ewjlamb]

Scientifically this would be a possible step in terms of defining the suitability of MG-based substrate as DEFRA-compliant , say, if one had to move suddenly to Lichtenstein?