The HTA and RHS collaborated to bring a peat-free workshop to the RHS Garden Hyde Hall. The free workshop provided a forum for growers to share their knowledge and brought together industry experts to speak on various aspects of peat-free growing, along with insight from the RHS Transition to Peat-Free fellowship.

Topics covered research and development of peat-free propagation materials, nutrition for peat-free propagation, and insights from growers and researchers. Speakers included Stephen Godfrey of Jiffy, Harry Downes of Wyevale Nurseries, Dr Raghavendra Prasad of the RHS, and Steve Chapman of ICL.

During the workshop, growers, growing media manufacturers, and industry peers discussed the latest insights into these areas and how they can be factored in to optimise peat-free propagation.

After lunch, the attendees also then had a chance to join a guided tour of WD Smith and Son Nurseries, Battlesbridge with Mike Smith.

Mike Smith, WD Smith and Son Nursery said: “Reducing and eliminating peat use in horticulture has been on the agenda for as long as I can remember. We’ve participated in some highly disappointing peat-free trials over the years, where poor-quality mixes produced very poor results. Still, in the last five years, the quality and consistency of the peat-free growing media have dramatically improved. Once confident we could not only source the material but also that it would run through our machines, we decided to move our finished product to a peat-free mix. We are about three years into the learning curve and are still tweaking as needed, but I am generally very pleased that the switch has been successful. This year, we moved all our propagation, both seed-raised and unrooted cuttings, to peat-free mixes. This has gone well, and being able to produce 100% peat-free products is great.”

Wayne Brough, Technical Horticulture Manager, HTA, said: “The HTA has always been committed to supporting its members in their transition towards peat-free plant production, and today's workshop at RHS Hyde Hall and WD Smith and Son (and the more in-depth RHS Fellowship project) emphasises the importance of sharing knowledge across the industry.

Many of our members are conducting peat-free trials, much like WD Smith and Son, and the sharing of this information and data with others in the industry is helping generate a collective knowledge base, avoiding any unnecessary repetition of work, minimising the cycle of making the same mistakes and underpinning an informed policy position, which is crucial to a successful transition.

Alongside the RHS, we will continue to provide workshops for our members, advocate for sustainable practices, and support them through their peat-free journeys, ensuring a sustainable future for British environmental horticulture."

Professor Alistair Griffiths, RHS Director of Science and Collections said: “The RHS were pleased to have partnered with the HTA for our latest grower's workshop, discussing the optimisation of plant propagation and establishment in peat-free growing media. As part of our peat-free campaign, the RHS supports the industry’s transition to peat-free horticulture. This move will help conserve our precious peatlands, which will positively impact nature and the climate. We want to thank all the speakers for sharing their knowledge and helping create a successful event.

"The RHS peat-free team will next be at the Southwest Growers Show on 2 October, and we look forward to welcoming many growers to our peat-free conference at RHS Garden Wisley on 28 November. 
 

"All the resources from this workshop and all previous RHS peat-free events can be found on our website www.rhs.org.uk/peat”