The use of peat in gardening

Peat is a good breeding ground for plants. It is customary to divide peat into high and low peat.

Horse peat

High peat is the undecomposed remains of marsh plants and moss. Such peat is used to fertilize the soil in the trunk circle fruit trees and old shrubs.

Peat alcohol is made from high-moor peat. In this tincture, seeds of pumpkin and cereal crops are soaked to get rid of bugs and microorganisms that can infect young roots. Also, peat alcohol prevents the development of some fungal diseases of plants, for example, top rot. High-moor peat tincture is used for spraying against aphids and weevils.

You can make your own high peat tincture. The active ingredient in it will be weaker than in factory fungicides, but if you need to treat a small area or several plants, then there is no need to buy chemicals.

High-moor peat is sold in garden shops, both in crushed form and in the form of coarse plant fibers.

This mineral can be obtained independently. High peat is found on the soil surface and at the roots of trees in swamps. To get it, you need to lower the water level using a discharge channel. High-moor peat occurs at a depth of up to 3 m. It can be mined in lumps. This requires uprooting several trees. The largest deposits of high-moor peat will be located under their roots. The compressed high-moor peat can be dug up with a shovel. After the peat dries in the sun, it can be dissolved in alcohol. The chemical reaction takes place within a week. The alcohol will turn brown in a week. For spraying and watering plants with peat alcohol, you need to prepare a solution at the rate of one tablespoon of tincture per 10 liters of water.

Crushed high-moor peat cannot be used to make a soil mixture and to fertilize young shrubs, as well as herbaceous plants due to the increased acidity of this mineral.

Bottom peat

Bottom peat is used for the production of vermicompost and in the manufacture of soil mixture for seedlings. This mineral is found at a depth of 3 m to 12 m. In structure, low peat is similar to black soil. Because of this, it is often confused with black soil. It is home to beneficial microorganisms that form bioactive fertilizer from the remains of marsh plants.