Peat moss is such a slowly renewable resource, ive been reading about nurseries trying to use different substrates for potted plant sales instead of peat mixes.
Few weeks ago got a lot of Monrovia perennials for the bee garden (clearance, of course, im cheap and like rescuing stuff) and the medium looks and feels like wood pulp with some texture too it like there are tiny chips as well.
Con: it gets hydrophobic fast. Way fast. Quicker and crustier than peat mixes. Why i think so many of these were clearance - frequent wilting. Casual watering wont cut it while potted. The badly dried out plants had to sit in water and wick upwards to get moist again. Water would NOT penetrate the top layer unless i broke it up by hand and kinda pushed the water in. But if i broke it up or soaked them they bounced back pretty fast
Pro: i was amazed at how NOT root bound these were. So transplanting even battered stuff was very successful. No shock. No dried out root messes all tangled to have to thin and yank off. I have had hardly any losses on these guys once in the ground. Amazing since they looked pretty bad.
Wondering if the lightness of the medium has a sort of air-pruning effect.
Anyone else had this experience, or seen new potting mediums used?