Brian Jackson Photo: Greenhouse Product News
When you purchase locally grown fruit, vegetables, or plants from your favourite retailer they will have been grown in compost or potting mix which usually contains a highly sought-after ingredient called peat which boosts production, retains nutrients, and holds water. Source: Timberbiz
An estimated 60,000 cubic metres of growing media is used in New Zealand each year within the horticultural and agricultural industries in New Zealand and much of it contains peat.
There is a small amount of peat extracted in New Zealand but as peat bogs are regulated in the same way as the likes of coal mines their days are numbered. Most of the peat contained in compost and other growing media used by New Zealand growers is imported from Canada or Eastern Europe.
Ireland has recently banned peat extraction because of the high levels of carbon emitted when it is intensively harvested.
Add to that, New Zealand’s ambitious goal of having one billion trees planted (triple current numbers) by 2035 and the need to find a viable, locally sourced alternative to peat becomes urgent.
A global expert in horticultural substrates, Dr Brian Jackson from North Carolina State University, has been researching alternatives to peat and educating horticulturalists and others worldwide for close to two decades.
Processed wood fibre products are not new but up until now there has been no technology in New Zealand to manufacture a product suitable for local horticultural use.
The Chief Executive of the NZPPI, (New Zealand Plant Producers Incorporated), Matthew Dolan is hailing 2022 as the start of a new, exciting era of innovation for horticulture.
Being able to access locally produced wood fibre products means that New Zealand growers will reduce their reliance on imported material which cuts down freight costs and makes for a gentler environmental footprint.
“This is a really exciting time for New Zealand’s horticultural industry. Because of the high quality of the Pinus radiata wood chips being used in New Zealand, there’s huge potential to export processed wood fibre overseas to meet global demand,” Dr Jackson said.
Daltons will use wood chips from Pinus radiata trees (many of which will then be replanted using growing media with the processed wood fibre as an ingredient), making the process both sustainable and renewable.
