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List your favorite brand of Canadian Peat Moss?

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Toes.

Lambert's Peat moss is what I get... $10 for 3 cuft.

I can find premier... it goes for $12 for 2.8 cuft... it's much less of a bargain.
 
C

ClackamasCootz

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rrog

RE: Contacting Alaska Peat

Couldn't hurt - they answer their emails the same day.

In fact, about 2 years ago I contacted MM and asked him about Alaska Peat, per se, because of the tests that he ran and posted on his web site comparing Premier Peat vs. Alaska Magic (aka Alaska Humus, GO Ancient Forest, Denali Gold, Alaska Bull-Sh*t) and the specific pack of Premier Peat that he used comes out of northern Alberta - same as Alaska Peat.

MM contacted them and they got him samples within a couple of days so that he could test this one as well - incredible customer service but again that's all they do - Sphagnum peat moss.

CC
 
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ClackamasCootz

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rrog

THE worst cycle I have had in years and years was using 'Alaska Humus' from Elaine Ingham's group - SFI down in Corvallis.

What a friggin' joke.....

CC
 
C

ClackamasCootz

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moses wellfleet said:
could you elaborate on this please?
Click to expand...
You bet - complete with microbial analysis on the videos provided comparing 'Alaska Humus' (or whatever name they're scamming with this week) vs. Premier Peat (straight Sphagnum peat moss)

Alaska Humus was $25.00 per 1 c.f. and Premier Peat is $14.00 for 3.8 c.f. at Home Depot, Lowe's, et al. And that's the 'blow me' price - far less at wholesale nursery supply houses......

HTH

CC
 
S

slausongardens

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it seems like the prices in socal are far more then anywhere else or at least compared to the PNW.

the cheapest 3.8 cf bale of peat moss ive found is $17.. i used to think the nursery that had alaska peat for $22 was cheap.. another good nursery i go to sells premiere for $35 a bale which is stupid expensive. i mean not as bad as the hydro stores asking $50 for a bale of promix but still a lot.

i found a place with bales for $17 and im not looking back.. but you guys are always on here talking about bales should be about $13 on average and i havent seen any that cheap, if i did i would buy 5.

and basically youre saying that those alaska humus products like denali gold and go ancient forest and the one from bountea are all a rip off and arent much better then peat moss in the microlife dept? gosh i love peat moss. haha i always mix it with coco at 4 cf peat moss and 2 cf coco. does anybody else do this or do most people just do straight peat moss?

and CC, you mentioned that machine that you can actually pick the density of the bale with, do certain brand sell denser bales then others?? cuz like i said before it seems like alaska peats bales are a hell of a lot denser and heavier then the other companys and im still curious to how many cubic feet they actually come out to.

cool thread.
 
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ClackamasCootz

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slausongardens

You would need to go to Sun Gro Horticulture's web site and dig through their professional products of which the (in)famous Sunshine Mix #1 thru #4 is a small segment of what they offer in various forms of 'peat moss' to kinda grasp how many variables there are in peat moss products. It's pretty amazing.

Sun Gro does sell bales (and much larger packs) of straight Sphagnum peat moss and even within that category they have several different styles - long-cut, short-cut, this, that and whatever.

Depending on what you're growing will determine the density of the potting soil mix. If you're growing saplings in a container then you'd want a heavier soil vs. if you're growing annuals that you find at DIY stows in the spring for home owners. If your contract are for plants that are destined for professional landscape companies then you'd use a different soil mix (peat moss : pumice)

So to answer your question, Sunshine Mix is a mix and it is not very dense which is why it is not a popular medium for professional nurseries. The cost is too high for one thing and just like you're experiencing, this bale of mix will give you more and sometimes less then the last one or the next one.

Straight Sphagnum peat moss packs are pretty consistent because it's just raw material that has been screened and then packed. So if you were to take the time and energy required to bust up the Alaska Peat or Premier Peat to the consistency that most cannabis growers want to see then you could expect to get at least 4.5 c.f. of material.

If you were growing fruit tree saplings and you would be working with a denser strata then you might get as little as 3.0 c.f.

Does that make any sense? LOL

CC
 
B

BlueJayWay

By alaska peat, are we talking Alaska Peat Inc.? I just picked up some 2.2cuf compressed bale for $20 @ armstrong garden center, was surprised to see it there (way in the back next to a pallet of big perlite bags, coincidence? ;) ) Anyways, harvested in northern alberta, pure canadian sphagnum peat moss packaged in edmonton , very dense bale.
 
Microbeman

Microbeman

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BlueJayWay said:
By alaska peat, are we talking Alaska Peat Inc.? I just picked up some 2.2cuf compressed bale for $20 @ armstrong garden center, was surprised to see it there (way in the back next to a pallet of big perlite bags, coincidence? ;) ) Anyways, harvested in northern alberta, pure canadian sphagnum peat moss packaged in edmonton , very dense bale.
Click to expand...

That's it.
 
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ClackamasCootz

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BlueJayWay said:
By alaska peat, are we talking Alaska Peat Inc.? I just picked up some 2.2cuf compressed bale for $20 @ armstrong garden center, was surprised to see it there (way in the back next to a pallet of big perlite bags, coincidence? ;) ) Anyways, harvested in northern alberta, pure canadian sphagnum peat moss packaged in edmonton , very dense bale.
Click to expand...
Definitely a solid product for doing your own soil mixing......
 
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ClackamasCootz

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A couple of years ago Microbeman posted the results from comparing Premier Peat (from Premier Horticulture - the Pro-Mix company) against Alaska Magic (aka Alaska Humus, Denali Gold, GO Ancient Forest, et al.) here and he provided videos showing the various microbes and explains what you are looking at.

Recently MM completed another round of tests using Premier Peat (specifically) and the new video is here at YouTube.com for you to watch and learn.

So yes, the choice of Sphagnum peat moss does make a difference for organic gardeners. No question about that.

On a related note, I have a postulation on using straight Sphagnum peat moss vs. one of the potting soil blank mixes like Sunshine Mix (any one of their line) or Pro-Mix (again any one of their line) and these products are mixed at 60/65% Sphagnum and 35/40% of some aeration material which is more often than not is going to be Perlite

These mixes are designed to pop open the bale and use it as a base to add your humus and other amendments. In order to accomplish that the Sphagnum is beat to a pulp (literally) sprayed with some kind of wetting agent.

Why would they do that? Because 'moist' = 'freshness' to the ill-informed. Straight Sphagnum is minimally processed and therefore it doesn't feel or look 'fresh' - that's up to you the user. When you look closely at straight Sphagnum vs. the Sphagnum in a good base mix (like Sunshine or Pro-Mix) you'll see that consistency of the material is a primary goal - again if it's consistent and 'moist' then it must be really, really better, right?

Watch the videos and then ask Microbeman the level of differences between a raw material vs. one that has been beaten, hit with cold water vapors, cheap (i.e. piss-poor) wetting agents (surfactants) to appease the end user.

Same difference in the 'goodies' when using straight Alfalfa vs, Alfalfa pellets from PetSmart - ain't the same thing.

Watch. Learn. Ask Microbeman for a deeper explanation. He was kind enough 2 summers ago to test out Alaska Peat (the brand) after I noticed that the Premier Peat was harvested in North Alberta like Alaska Peat. I don't want to put misrepresent his testing but it's my clear recollection that he found Alaska Peat to be a good choice for a Sphagnum source.

HTH

CC
 
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ClackamasCootz

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BTW - this will be a pretty funny story for MM specifically.

EarthFort had their 'Alaska Humus' and fish hydrolysate put on the Oregon Department of Agriculture's "Stop Sale List" - improper registration - LMAO

"If they can't get the 2 page application right then how much confidence should I have on their lab work?"

I'm thinking 'Not too much'

Wee!
 
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ClackamasCootz

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Here's a very small soil mixer - handles enough materials to fill 1/2 of a standard dry van (11 pallets) per 8 minute cycle (eight minute).

Once the potting soil is mixed, sprayed, etc. it is then shoved to another machine that bags the material to whatever specification is required - bales, tubes, bags, etc.

8 minutes

Think that raw Sphagnum doesn't degrade in this process?

Stabilized-Soil-Mixing-Plants-WBC-Series-.jpg
 
S

slausongardens

Member
dang that looks like a serious machine.. thanks for the breakdown earlier on this machine and the process, it makes sense.

8 minutes is no joke.. it would be cool to do a test with the straight peat moss like premiere and alaska peat vs the premixes like sunshine and promix.. glad i took your advice on getting the straight sphagnum peat moss instead of the pro mixes.. definitely saved a ton of money, especially over time with all the soil ive been making. i dont know why people still get the sunshine mixes or even use ffof as their base. nothing beats getting the sphagnum peat moss by itself and going from there.
 
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