How to wet peat moss?

I have been making a mix of 1/3 peat, 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 compost for my container vegetable garden, but having a lot of trouble initially wetting the moss, the water just sits there or it just gets clumpy when I try to wet the moss in advance. So, I am left with these big clumps of mixture. What am I doing wrong? Now that it is clumpy what can I do about it?

I tilled mine into the existing clay based gumbo along with some topsoil and sand, Seems to hold the moisture just fine. Top dressed with leaf/tree/grass compost that had been shredded.

I need to redo the top dressing again. My 6 ft mountain of shredded tree debris from Hurricane Ike is now just about 18 inches high. Dried molasses and a few months of worm activity has worked well.

Thanks Bubba_MoCity, maybe I am using too much peat, mine acts like a water repellant almost. It slowly absorbs water, but if I don't drench it, it clumps....I was wondering if there is some sort of addictive to make it easier to wet. Once it is wet it does hold water well, but if it overdries is again difficult to remoisten it.....

Try watering your peat with liguid Joy (about a half of teaspoon in a gallon of water) after you fill the watering jug and then swish it around. It will act as a "surfactant" (makes water wetter) and will be absorbed easier. Or you can just spray this concoction with a spray bottle on the peat as you add it to the pot. Another method is to soak your pot of peat mix in a tub of water overnight or so. I put a wick in my containers from about 1/2 way up the pot and leave it hang out the bottom about 4-6" so that you can wick moisture from the try into the pot. Hope this helps!

AuntBetsy - this won't help you with your peat, but next time, try buying some coir instead, it takes up water quickly, is not acidic, and doesn't break down as quickly as peat.

Thank you Riceke for the excellent advise, I will absolutely try your suggestions, both ideas sound great.

Thank you HoneybeeNC for the tip. I have bought enough peat to fill 2-4X8 boxes, but still have 4 more boxes to fill with planting material.

I need to decide what would work best for me. Living in Florida it's a bit tricky, we go through periods of intense heat and no rain, but when it does rain many time it really does pour :-). If my boxes do not work out to drain well, I might have a problem with the peat and the vermiculite causing a big wet mess and rotting my plants roots.

Now, a few more questions:
What is coir?
Is it easy to work with?
How does it compare with peat piecewise?
Where can I find it? I shop mainly at Lowe's and Home Depot, don't recall seeing anything like that there.

A big thanks again :-) for all the help.

i put a little in the container then soak with water and continue adding layers.

I've had the same problem in the past. It sounds kind of silly, but if you take your peat/soil mix and stir it really vigorously as you pour in the water, it will absorb better. For large quantities, I've actually taken a drill with a paint stirring bit to mix it together. If you ever try this, make sure you start on low speed and add plenty of water beforehand, otherwise you'll have a cloud of peat moss dust. One time, I tried to start seeds in just peat moss. It did not work out very well, the water just sat on the top. I've noticed after initially wetting the first time, the peat doesn't seem to be as dry and I don't have as much problem with it absorbing water. I figure it's probably been very dry for a while during processing, and if you are watering once a week it shouldn't get to that point again.

use hot water

"add gumbo"
"add clay"
"switch to coir"
"add hot water"

*mind boggle*


riceke is right on the money. Liquid dish soap like Palmolive or Joy contains surfactants which allow peat moss to take up water. Peat moss is naturally hydrophobic.

hot water always worked for me but i'm using coir now and really appreciating the ease of use and the results, plus i feel a tiny bit better knowing coir is a 100% renewable resource.

Not everyone has the money for coir. And it could be argued that peat moss is renewable.

This message was edited Jun 29, 2009 8:56 AM

I didn't use much, in fact about $15 worth just to try growing a few potted plants. I tossed what was left into a "lasagna" garden. My brick of coir took a mature tree a year to produce and a brick of peat took hundreds of plants a long time to produce. They're both renewable but one is less damaging to the environment in my opinion. I've used plenty of peat moss and never lost any sleep over it but I do like the coir.

(edited to reduce jerk factor).

This message was edited Jun 29, 2009 6:19 PM

Aunt-Betsy - the only places I have found coir have been online. I recently purchased some from BocaBob at a good price. Make sure the kind you buy has had the salt washed out of it.

Thank you everyone for all the excellent advise :-)