Growing peat-free at Creswick Nursery

Creswick Nursery introduction:

L.Mills (Creswick Nursery) is a fourth generation family business founded in 1907 by Luther Mills. The nursery now consists of 12500 m2 of modern glass, 2500 m2 of modern polythene tunnel and extensive outside production areas all on a 10 hectare site of Bedding and Pot Plants.

Creswick Nursery are aware of the increasing move towards environmental sustainability and now produce all of their products in peat-free growing media and fully recyclable pots and containers.

Our Growing Media and Fertiliser Specialist, Sean Whitworth spoke with Owner and Grower, Ian Mills to discuss their use of Jiffy peat-free growing media.

When did you switch to peat-free and why?

We switched to peat-free growing media in 2009 for a National Trust property bedding scheme and later started supplying products to National Trust retail sites in 2015. Since the switch, the nursery decided to use 100% peat-free growing media for all crops as of 2019.

What issues have you experienced since switching to peat free, and how have things changed or improved?

Since moving to Jiffy peat-free mix, we have been continuously tweaking the growing media mix to improve the product culturally to increase volumes and reduce weight on transport to help keep costs under control. The initial growing media we used was wood fibre based. Unfortunately, it didn’t work and had very poor rooting. 

Calcium and Ph control are probably the two most difficult areas to resolve and can cause issues with certain crops if not managed correctly

How are you finding growing with peat-free growing media?

Peat-free growing media takes more management time; however, the growing media is very free draining, so water management in hot weather needs careful attention.

What is your style of growing in peat-free mixes?

We tend to grow on the dry side, which our growing media is ideally suited to, and feed weekly with various ICL liquid feeds or calcium Nitrate as and when necessary.

What sort of fertiliser do you use?

This growing media comes with a base fertiliser from Jiffy, which we then add using our mixing line and contains a combination of DCM fertilisers, Osmocote, Vivosol, and trace elements, depending on the crop being grown.

We know that peat-free growing media is more expensive than the non-peat-free substrate; have you saved money in other areas?

We have found we require far less growth control with peat-free growing media as we can hold crops much dryer than traditional peat-based growing media.

What are your top 3 tips for peat-free success?

Start with good quality peat-free growing media, focus on the growing of the crop and not the plant, and don't forget the importance of proper water management and regular fertilisation.