I find once peat dries out you can't get it moist again without sopping it and squeezing it like a sponge. Plus it is very acidic. I would worry that peat alone won't quite do the trick. I no longer even use a soil base with peat in it (besides for the ethical reasons you mention) because I hate when it dries out and gets dusty!

I wouldn't want to risk my seeds in it but I've successfully rooted rose cuttings in 1/2 peat and 1/2 perlite.

It is doubtful peat alone would work but mixing it as above might work as a seed starter if for one reason or another you can't get your regular soil. But even if it worked, I'd want to transplant my seedlings out of it ASAP into something where they would get more nutrients. Maybe peat has some; that I don't know.

I'm looking for ideas how to use up 2 large bags I've got. I bought them when I hired a guy to till a strip, and he didn't use them all. Now I don't have any plans to till or amend the soil for awhile other than dressing with compost and mulching with leaves.

Buy a couple large bags of potting mix and add the peat to it. About 1/2 and 1/2 is what I did last year. It worked fine. If you're worried about the acidity, place a spoonful of garden lime into the hole when you plant out. Or, blackboard chalk. :)

I think "peat pots" are pure peat. They work but I hear not great because of the drying out too fast thing.
Last year, my 1st year winter sowing I bought a bag of seed starting mix that was almost pure peat, and my jugs got a green slime thing all over the surface. A couple of those jugs didn't sprout. It could have been the seeds were too deep or bad seeds or not enough drainage, or?...
I make my own mix now. 70% or so peat, 30% or so perlite. I eyeball it.lol
good luck
:)Laura

Hi, everyone,

Thanks for all of the feedback -this helps a lot!

Melissa

Token, thanks. Will try to use it up that way. I just won't use it for some special seeds. Acidity, not particularly worried about it. My soil is acidic overall, and plants seem ok.

In the meantime, the utility company's contractor did some tree trimming here, and ended up taking out my gnarled apricot tree, was kind of sad to see it go because I planted it and had wonderful apricots when the frost didn't get them. Years it did bear, they were too high for me to pick and had to use what fell on the ground. One year my gdaughter's bf shook the tree, I gathered them up and canned them, have one jar left.

But if I can get the stump ground, I can amend the soil back there and use at least one bag of the peat. Even if I do get the stump ground, it will take a couple years for the rest of it and roots to rot out. Maybe I could layer it lasagna style and work around the stump? I don't know, it might make a mess, best to till it in like I've done before along with compost.

If it worked for you, I'm not going to worry about acidity for starting, and they'll be transplanted that season into who knows what and where?

I'm really sad about my apricot tree but it was crooked. I'll post a photo as I practiced with a lens while the guys were in the bucket and cutting down the tree, plus it didn't cost me anything, and they ground it up and hauled it away, saved a couple logs.

But I lost all that fruitwood mulch! They couldn't back the truck into my alley and get it aligned right to dump a pile of it in my driveway, sure missed an opportunity there. Need work done on the soft maple which will result in more grinding, so maybe I can save some of that.

The tree was shaded by a lilac bush to the south of it I had cut to the ground last fall, and poor thing must have struggled to get enough sun, don't know why else it would have grown in such an odd manner. Otherwise it was a perfectly sturdy, healthy tree and never dropped any branches in storms, just made a mess when there were apricots, but the squirrels carried some away to eat.

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Sob, all gone now. Caught the last log toppling before it hit the ground.

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