Alternatives to peat-based compost
Peat has many good properties as a growing substrate. But the use of peat leads to large emissions of greenhouse gases. Therefore, the Botanical Garden has started a project to test different alternatives to peat.
What is peat?
Peat consists of incompletely decomposed plant remains that have formed over thousands of years in wetlands.
What is peat used for?
Peat is a good growing substrate for several reasons. It is good at keeping moisture, free from pathogens that can cause disease in the plants, has a good structure that the plants' roots like, is easy to adapt to the needs of different plants, and weighs little. The latter is important in a botanical garden where large quantities of pots and seeds must be handled and moved around.
Why is it problematic to use peat?
The peat in, for example, a bag of purchased "soil" is taken from excavated wetlands. Wetlands store large amounts of carbon, while an excavated peatland releases carbon dioxide. When the water level is lowered, so that the oxygen in the air comes into contact with the peat, it breaks down and carbon dioxide is formed. Even if the cultivated peat comes from wetlands that were dug up a long time ago, the carbon dioxide emission continues both in the peat extraction and in the garden or the pot where we use it as a growing substrate.
What does the Botanical Garden do?
The botanical garden has received support from Lund University's Sustainability Fund to be able to test different alternatives to peat in the garden and investigate ways to work to reduce the need for peat.
In May 2024, a workshop was held together with researchers from different universities. Possible alternatives to peat and the respective environmental impact of the alternatives were discussed.
Several trials with different soil recipes are ongoing, and also work with, for example, using different compost materials in the plant beds.