What is the difference between peat based compost and peat free compost?

Answer 1

Peat adds acid. So, if you need to add acid to your soil, you want to use something with peat. We added peat to our blueberry plantings. If you don't need the acid, then get the peat-free stuff.

Peat based compost,as the name suggests, contains peat. Peat free compost does not contain peat but some other organic matter. This excercise is driven by the Green lobby who fear that the planet will run out of peat and implode.

Answer 2

Organic matter formed aerobically versus organic matter formed anaerobically is the difference between compost and peat moss. Alkaline or neutral, dark-colored, fresh-smelling, nutrient-rich organic matter called compost or humus represents the natural breakdown of carbon- and nitrogen-rich recyclables through consumption and excretion by macro- and micro-organisms in the presence of appropriate levels of air, heat and moisture. Peat moss retains acidity from the anaerobic decomposition of mosses in oxygen-poor, water-logged bogs.