The myth of the peat ...
In millenary wetlands, filled with plant material that generally protrudes from the water table, a biologically active surface layer is formed, formed by associations of plants among which the sphagnum, also called peat moss, or peat moss, predominates in English.
It is a fact that the modality of cultivating out of soil has spread for multiple reasons. Planting in pots or bags with substrates is no longer a novelty in industrial crops and management is becoming increasingly fluid and proprietary.
Among the reasons for adopting this method of cultivation is the need for greater control over the industrial management of production, due to the fight against pests, the low quality of the soils and the lack of water, among many other reasons.
Regarding substrates there is a lot of information, but at the same time there are some myths, such as one that ensures that the use of peat is not sustainable because it is a non-renewable resource and therefore, its exploitation depredates the natural environment.
First it must be said that what we use as a substrate in agricultural crops is not peat, is pon pon…
Therefore, one thing is to use the peat and quite another to use the pon pon, which is the superficial part of the peat.
There are three elements that must be handled in order to understand it better: peat, pon pon and peat bogs.
The peat bogs are millenary wetlands formed by the accumulation of peat. In these wetlands, once filled with plant material that generally protrudes from the water table, a biologically active surface layer is formed, made up of plant associations, among which the sphagnum, also called peat moss, or pedestrian predominates. moss, in English.
This moss exists mainly in the Northern Hemisphere, and has between 200 and 300 varieties, there are only a few of these existing in the Southern Hemisphere, mainly in New Zealand and southern Chile and Argentina. There are some species of sphagnum that inhabit the heights of the tropical Andes, as well as others in the Amazon basin and the shores of the Caribbean Sea.
The plant consists of a species of main stem with groups of branches, usually two to three extended and two to four hanging branches. The upper part of the plant contains dense clusters of young branches. We call this part Pon Pon, and it is actually the one that is harvested on the Isla Grande de Chiloé, and other regions, to be used as a substrate for the plants.
El sphagnum (esfango), is a hydrophyte plant with great capacity to retain moisture, absorb basic ions and selectively release hydrogen ions, thus increasing the acidity of the medium. This acidity, combined with a low availability of oxygen, inhibits the survival of several organisms, including decomposers, so that this organic matter tends to accumulate, thus forming the peat, that is, the peat is the accumulated plant material and sedimented in the peat bog, which in Chile is exploited under the regulation of the Mining Law, although it is not a fossil.
The peat then, is dead organic matter, which has been formed in a place under conditions where the plant material is conserved for thousands of years, due to the permanent saturation of water, low levels of oxygen and high levels of acidity.
So, one thing is the exploitation of the peat, under the parameters of the Mining Law, which effectively depredates the natural environment, since the deep excavations that are made for their extraction end up damaging the millenary wetlands, which when drying also cause serious damage to the human population by depriving it of the largest reservoir of fresh water, but quite another is the extraction or harvesting of pon pon, which is the upper part of the plant, which is on the surface, and which is perfectly renewable if the peat is not damaged, that is who produces it.
Currently in Chile, specifically on the Isla Grande de Chiloé, there are ongoing management projects to regulate the pon pon harvest and turn it into a sustainable activity over time with the objective of providing agriculture in its industrial format.
Source: Blueberrieschile.cl - Blueberriesconsulting.com
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