Editor’s note: This article has been changed from how it appears in the Yolo County Master Gardener newsletter. Local nursery owner Don Shor has corrected the geographical scope of the ban and headings have been changed to reflect that correction. See more reading section at the end of the article for details. Thank you to Don Shor for his vigilance.

By Deborah Sorrill, UCCE Master Gardener, Yolo County

A part of our mission statement as Master Gardeners says that “The UCCE Master Gardener Programencourages improved environmental quality and sustainable gardening practices.” This clearly aligns us with programs designed to reduce global warming and the acceleration of climate disaster risks such as those developed by Nature Based Solutions (NBS) created under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for Climate Change.

While our Master Gardener mandate is to provide information and action locally, NBS issues need to be reviewed to understand how solutions can be applied locally. Among the issues that the UN recognizes as important are those that concern Peatland Bogs. These bogs need protection and restoration for all the following
reasons:

  • Peat moss is only 3% of the world’s land mass yet sequesters 25% of global carbon soil.
  • Peat soils contain more than 600 gigatons of carbon representing up to 44% of all soil carbon.
  • Peatlands store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests.
  • Peat moss is considered a fossil fuel that produces greenhouse gas (GHG).

Peat has been used since the 17th century for winter fuel. Both fire risks and harvesting practices emit the soil carbon into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and methane. Ireland completely banned any harvesting of its decimated peat bogs.

England and Wales will be banning peat moss sales

England and Wales will be banning the commercial sales of both peat and Sphagnum moss to gardeners by 2024. Commercial use for growers will be banned by 2030. Ireland banned sales of peat moss starting in 2018.

The sale of peat moss has been banned for these reasons:

  • Harvesting dries the peat moss emitting the stored CO2 (carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere where it persists for hundreds of years.
  • Harvesting destroys ecosystem plants and animals’ endemic to their geographic locations.
  • Only mitigation procedures recreating carbon sequestration through mechanical means or wetland restoration can reclaim the emitted GHGs.
  • Mechanical procedures for sequestration are new creations still being perfected.
  • Global build-out for factories will take to the beginning of the 21st century.
  • Peatland restoration takes thousands of years while our timeline for sustainable restoration is 2050.
  • Scientists worry about reaching a tipping point where sustained high heat will overpower photosynthesis resulting in global-scale crop failures.
  • Reaching this tipping point implies follow-on disaster risks such as global populations without food living in highly polluted areas from increased methane (NH4) flareups.
  • Only mitigation procedures recreating carbon sequestration through mechanical means or wetland restoration can reclaim the emitted GHGs.
  • Mechanical procedures for sequestration are new creations still being perfected.
  • Global build-out for factories will take to the beginning of the 21st century.
  • Peatland restoration takes thousands of years while our timeline for sustainable restoration is 2050.
  • Scientists worry about reaching a tipping point where sustained high heat will overpower photosynthesis resulting in global-scale crop failures.
  • Reaching this tipping point implies follow-on disaster risks such as global populations without food living in highly polluted areas from increased methane (NH4) flareups.

Main issues for gardeners and growers

Locally, both commercial growers and home gardeners use soil amendments to increase soil health, and crop yields. Peat and Sphagnum mosses have been mainstay recommendations for increasing soil health. Recipes list a range from one-third to two-thirds addition of Sphagnum moss, by volume, to improve soil tilth, pH, and water retention. Most gardening venues still publish soil recipes with Sphagnum moss as the base of the soil recipe without offering alternatives.

While environmentalists and ecosystem sustainability professionals identified these issues, political pledges like fossil fuel pledges have lacked follow through until now. The U.S. imports its peat and Sphagnum moss from Canada. Within Canada, commercial peat moss harvesters have begun some restoration but resist the idea of banning sales. Instead, their marketing campaigns only promote their restorations and rapid regrowth of the peat bogs. Rapid regrowth takes ten years. There is no mention of the gigatons of C02 released during their harvests. Further, it takes thousands of years to sequester the released carbon from their harvests. This quote in
Garden Culture Magazine is from the Compost Council of Canada:

More and more science is suggesting that peat isn’t a renewable resource. Technically, it grows back, but it does
so at a rate of just .04 inches per year – which in industrialized countries, can’t keep up with the rate at which it is
harvested. Therefore, peat is NOT a renewable resource. Add to that the reports suggesting that peat automatically
grows back in only about 30-40% of farmed peatlands. — Garden Culture Magazine, 2021

We have until 2050 to draw down CO2 from the atmosphere to mitigate accelerated disaster risks. In addition, the loss of unique biodiverse ecosystems is not mentioned in their sustainability discussions. This type of marketing is called “Green Washing”. To summarize, if you are reading about peat moss issues from
commercial sellers, you will not get the whole story. Beware!

Preparing for the 2024 ban

A Canadian Initiative on Peatlands has responded to the UN’s Global Peatland SDG with a 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan:

As Canada focuses on the value of conserving and protecting its peatlands, horticultural alternatives to peat, such
as compost, will need to be available. We need to harness the advances in organics recycling to build capacity at
the national scale to produce locally-made, renewable organic matter – compost – to substitute the use of peat in
horticulture. As well as preventing peatland degradation, this also has the co-benefits of reducing methane emissions
from food waste in landfill and the positive value of returning organic matter to the soil not only to sequester carbon
but also to create healthy soils for increased fertility, cleaner water, and enhanced biodiversity.

7 peat moss alternatives that are better for the planet

Coconut coir, also known as coco peat or coir peat, is rapidly gaining popularity and is the best-known alternative to peat moss. A longer list includes:

  • Coco Coir aka Coco Peat
  • Wood-Based Materials
  • Compost
  • Pine Needles
  • Rice Hulls
  • Leaf Mold
  • Composted Manure

Already, there are shortages in the supply chain for peat moss, due to poor yields and restricted harvesting. The price of Sphagnum moss is increasing. Figuring out the best solution for your soil will take some time.

For much more extremely interesting information about peatlands: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/19d24f59487b46f6a011dba140eddbe7

peat cycle
Peatland Carbon Sequestration Cycle, By permission – Wildlife Conservation Society of Canada: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/19d24f59487b46f6a011dba140eddbe7

Other articles in The Yolo Gardener Fall 2020 A Quarterly Publication by the UCCE Master Gardeners of Yolo County (Vol. XVI,
No. iii)

Growing Vegetables with Less Water……………………………………………..4
Trees are for the Birds……………………………………………………………..6
Trees to Plant for a Hotter, Drier Yolo County……………………………………7
The Wood Wide Web………………………………………………………………10
Zucchini – Fall in Love Again with the Love-Hate Cro of Summer…………….13
Fall Garden Tips 2022……………………………………………………………..16

Past publications and more from the master gardeners https://yolomg.ucanr.edu/Yolo_Gardener/

More reading about the peat moss ban

UK government announcement:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/sale-of-horticultural-peat-to-be-banned-in-move-to-protect-englands-precious-peatlands

The Guardian confirms England and Wales here:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/18/peat-sales-to-gardeners-in-england-and-wales-to-be-banned-by-2024

Scotland will not be banning peat at this time:

https://theferret.scot/scottish-government-refused-ban-peat-compost/

Northern Ireland is still discussing it:

https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/growers-warn-peat-ban-could-wipe-out-nis-46-million-mushroom-industry/

Ireland stopped harvesting peat in 2018 but there is pressure to resume:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/government-should-remove-ban-on-commercial-peat-harvesting-report-1.4737669