08/03/2024
While growing plants is beautiful, incredible, and brings so much to our life and mental state- it’s important to remember how to keep the hobby the most effective when it comes to our earth.
As we all know, deforestation is extremely hard on our environment. Especially when it comes to harvesting sphagnum moss/peat moss (which is the main component of potting mixes). While they are looking at ways to decrease the harm it causes, it still doesn’t fix the issue at hand.
There are other ways to minimize the impact your hobby has on our world. Here are a few:
-Using coco coir is ideal compared to peat. It does not destroy our forests to like peat/spag does.
*However, the palm industry is always questionable.
-Reuse your soil! (Unless you know you have a pest issue)
*You can add mycorrhiza to your soil to bring it back to life, and other dry amendments.
-Going soilless by using leca, pon, perlite, etc since it is reusable by just boiling it between uses!
-If your only option is potting mixes; make sure you add extra amendments to make it last longer. Add in perlite, coco chunks, vermiculite, etc. it’s better for your plant anyway as it adds pockets to the soil so your roots can breathe! (They need oxygen!)
-Creating a compost to use the soil you make from your waste! Your plants will LOVE it too!
While there will never be a way to Reduce all of our waste in this hobby or the impact we have on the environment, there are definitely ways to make an impact on growing more responsibly!
Also, reuse your pots! That’s why you’ll sometimes get plants from me in yogurt containers, pudding cups, etc so it’s reducing my waste in general!
As always; keep growing! 🌱
