[Richard Hole]

Hello

In my recent experiments I have found wet peat to be better than water. In water I found the plants started to grow but then stopped growing rapidly and with some species they stopped growing and rotted. The plants did not grow very strong in water. However, in wet peat or sphagnum, strong plants grew. I think this was probably because there was some medium for the roots to grow in. Another advantage of growing in peat over water is that the plants could be hardened off before potting and the amount of water the pots standing in could be reduced. Initially I found them to grow well when the water level kept the peat or sphagnum wet where the level of the water was about 1 centimeter below the top of the peat or sphagnum. My very recent experiments indicate that sphagnum based peat may be better than sphagnum. However, I have not done many comparisons yet and other factors may have affected the results. With peat there is more contact between the medium and the leaf than with sphagnum and this may help. I find the cuttings grow well under foggers that produce a fine mist every few minutes in drier weather.

I am interested in hearing from any other people that have compared using water to peat and sphagnum.

Your help is appreciated
Regards Richard.