ISHS Acta Horticulturae 469: International Symposium on Composting & Use of Composted Material in Horticulture
THE COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF A SUSTAINABLE PEAT ALTERNATIVE SUBSTRATE FROM LOCALLY DERIVED INDUSTRIAL BY-PRODUCTS |
| Author: | Neil C. Bragg |
| Keywords: | Bark, Chipped wood waste, Composting, pH, Substrate stability, Storage |
| Abstract:
Over the last 10–15 years in the UK there has been increasing environmental group pressure put upon horticulture to audit its use of peat. This led to the Horticultural Development Council (HDC) commissioning a review of Peat and its alternatives, (Bragg, 1991). The review subsequently formed the basis for much of the R&D work in this area of alternative substrate development. The aim of any indigenous substrate manufacturing industry has to be to try to develop substrates from 'home' derived by-products; to try to keep the costs as reasonable as possible. Most of the 'home derived' UK alternative substrates have been centred around the use of Timber by-products after composting with a wide variety of nitrogen sources. Dickinson & Carlile (1995) reviewed their own work on such a development and the problems of stability of 'N' type and pH during long term storage of such substrates. In this paper the author reviews his own work on the development of a timber based substrate and the achievement of a stabilised pH and conductivity level during long term storage, by the addition of a simple buffering agent. | |
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