I don't think you'll get much help with finding peat on this forum, Chuck.

Pretty well all major horticultural associations are asking people not to use it, as over-extraction is damaging unique habitats which support many birds, invertebrates and plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wildlife Trust's page on peat

Also likely to be illegal to import it into the US, to prevent risks of introducing new pests or diseases

Resin

I am somewhat confused surely the US has plenty of peat. What is so special about Irish or Lithuanian?
As for Mirandas comment about it's use commercial hort in the UK is still very much a big user-but dont forget Irish powerstations burn masses.
We have Peat bog delivered to us in 300 ltr bales 18 on a pallet-get through loads of the stuff because it gives reliable results.
Infact this very issue cropped up at work today. My employer stated if they ever did start using composted green waste it would have to be steam steralised-who knows what junkies heroin needles could be lurking in it.

It's doesn't make sense to me that Irish power stations burn peat when gardeners are being discouraged from using it.

I tried using peat-free compost last year and was extremely disappointed with the results. The stuff I bought looked like poorly composted wood chips and none of my plants lived up to expectations, showing poor growth and low yields.

I agree, plantzzman, that composted green waste - the stuff that the councils sell, that is - could be dodgy. You have no idea what might be in it.

If I remember my facts correctly, about 90% of Irish peat is burnt to make electricity. When you don't have a lot of coal or gas, it makes financial sense I guess. Whatever you may think of the outcome.
North America and Asia has 1000's of square miles of peat, unlike the British Isles, although Scotland has quite a bit. Unfortunately trying to make commercial growers in the UK use peat free composts also makes them uneconomic, compared with say Dutch or Italian growers who still use it. The probable result is the UK nursery fails and we then import the plants, complete with the peat in the pot. Not very good for the UK economy or the peat resource.
Brian

Some interesting points Miranda and Brian.
From the compost point of view Miranda pre bagged stuff which is peat free can be pretty grim-I remember using New Horizon compost a number of years ago-looked like composted chipboard. Because we blend our own compost I guess with a certain amount of care fertiliser levels could be addressed but then you have other issues such as a standard grade-peat is in many ways peat-green compost could be anything upto a point which could lead to issues with batches of plants growing with mixed results.
It does annoy me when the government etc focus on gardeners and growers for using peat when as Brian indicates much is burnt in Ireland (no doubt causing global warming if you think global warming happens).
I think growers in places such as Holland do use more bio composts these days-judging by some of the shrubs we have imported but I dont like the look of the stuff.
Our compost at work is infact a blend of Peat, Steralised soil and steralised composted waste from the nursery (so we have control of what is composted). Many nurseries send such waste to landfill so in a way we are infact quite green. The down side being the soil/compost steamer has sprung a leak and has spent the last 5-6 weeks in Germany having major repairs. I just wish they would send it us back.

The Italians also use rice husks in their compost. I'm sure you've seen it Plantzzman?

our peat has gennerally been forming since the last ice age , so as a result its a habitat that can't be replaced, so find an alternative from the replies above, and enjoy the fruits to come forth.

Brian 2CV, your reply intrigues me, about the 90%, have you any info or sites i can look at to gain more info?

YewTree what alternatives were shown in the replies? I thought we generally concluded that green composts were not ideal as they seemed to produce poor crops. Yes peat has been forming since the last ice age and for a good part of this time man has used it-either to burn for heat or grow plants etc. It is no differnt to man stripping the seas of fish, the forests of timber, and everywhere else of gas and oil-thats what man does.
Pellie Grower we dont import from Italy-dont like to fund horticulture were they have better growing conditions than us.

Your comment "seemed' to produce poor crops??? Only seemed, tsk, that's really good.
peat free compost, peat free compost, peat free compost!
You cannot bring in the 'emotive' arguement saying stripping the seas of fish, it is an arguement i've been involved in for some years now. Back in the good ole days when we up half an hour before we went to bed the burning of peat kept people alive and was an essential fuel, today, however, it is not and does not need to be used, neither does it need to be used to grow your bedding plants, peat no longer needs to be used, and the above replies about composts are mere personal opinions with no proof, I find leaf-rot compost mixed with heavily rotted weeds makes a growing medium second to none. Peat is used out of tradition, not neccesity. I'm so, pitifully sorry that you didn't like your peat free compost, perhaps try more than one???
Tis it not about time that we let a bit of natural and native habitat survive?
You are a horticulturalist, i am a ecologist/conservationist, so our priorities are probably different, i have my own nursery up and running happily growing rare and common native species to breathe life back into our countryside and no peat has ever been used, look up 'composting'

Yours always, YewTree x x x x

Yewtree. I have run a few searches on Google and came up with a quote that 60% of Irish peat (used for energy)is used for electricity generation, and 40% for domestic fires/heating, but like most statistics these might be out of date now. Ireland only started with peat fired power stations in the 1950's but were still building them in 2000.
I applaud your nursery in not using peat, but I doubt it will compare in production, with large scale "plant factories" where most of the peat goes, and where temperature, light, humidity, pH, conductivity etc. etc, are all controlled. They cannot economically use a variable compost when they need in in 100's of tons a year, and it is economics we (sorry they) are talking about. Domestic horticultural users of peat are very small by comparison. Less than 10% I recall but can't find the quote now. I personally use very little peat now, and only where I specifically need acid composts. Composted bark, or similar, is used for everything else.
Brian

Once again I agree with Brian as he pretty much sums up the issues of producing plants at the right price for the gardening public. This can be done with peat because it is a cheap media which is also reliable. I am sure "green" composts have their place in the home garden and even in nurseries such as yours but when you are producing a price sentitive crop where everything has to be spot on then sorry but being green goes out the window.
In an ideal world all plants would be grown in green compost which was clean and safe to use-growth would be purfect while chemicals would not be needed and the glasshouse heaters would run on magic fairy dust but we dont live in an ideal world. So we grow good plants while using peat which has not been sourced from a SSSI as a part of our compost and keep chemical sprays to low levels.
I am sure more nurseries would move to green composts if a quality product was available and I am sure at some point it will be.

I'm reading with interest and would very much like to know what exactly this "green" compost is supposed to be

I have never heard this term before.

Incidentally, I wouldn't put peat in my (10 year old never trod on added to each year with anything I can find) soil.

Did I accidently get in with a bunch of farmers? Because I'm sure I can't compare my situation with a farmer. Just answering about the peat.

Leave it where it is.

By Green I meant environmentally friendly when talking about these issues.
As regards Farmers I can only comment from my point of view in that I am a nurseryman that grows plants.
Farmers grow sheep, pigs chickens, wheat etc.

perhaps we should all toss our pretty flowers and start peat gardens, then we could all be rich!