Some environmentalists in Britain are concerned about the loss of their peat resources. As garden centres stock up for the season, bags of an "irreplaceable biological deposit" will be bought for potting compost, mulch or soil conditioner. Yet the impoverishment, if not disappearance, of Britain's wet places might be checked, or saved by the use, for the same purpose, of a compost made from that perniciou weed, bracken. So writes Gareth Hue Davies in the Times of London.
There have been warning about the carcinogenic effects of this plant but, apparently, the process of composting kills the toxins and harmful organisms. The British Forestry Commission has been working on this for some time, under the advice of an environmental consultant, Dr Ronal Pitman. Bracken covers about seven per cent of the land area of Britain (nearly the percentage of tree cover) and in some hill farms in Wales, up to forty per cent of potential grazing is infested with it. The New Forest is where the experimentation is going on. The bracken is mechanically harvested in September, as it begins to die back, then left in heaps for about ten months, being turned several times. Inside temperatures, it is said, reach 70 C, which is enough to kill the dangerous substances.
The Commission produces about 1,000 cubic metres and sells it locally for £12 a cubic metre. Dr Pitman says it compares favourably with all other composts. But the bracken compost can compete in price only if sold within 50 miles of production. And bracken in other parts of Britain, due to different soil and conditions, might not be as effective. Anyway, production on a big scale is a long way off, says the article.
How do we in Ireland stand on peat resources, long-term? Is there a danger of it running out? Does it take 1,000 years to make the stuff? Official sources appear not to be too worried on this score.