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Talk #

Peat-free seedlings and peg plants

Length: 58 min.

Farmer Iain Tolhurst has been testing and developing techniques for decades to grow seedlings that are both veganic and peat-free. Most commercial seedling substrates contain animal products. And peat, while plant-based, is environmentally problematic. In this talk, Iain will start by sharing how he grows “peg plants” (aka “bare root transplants”) directly in the soil before transplanting them to the field. And starting at minute 33:00, Iain shares his technique for making homemade seedling substrate from decomposed woodchips, which his farm has successfully used to grow over 2 million seedlings!


Iain Tolhurst

Iain Tolhurst has been at the forefront of the UK organic farming movement for almost 50 years and he is an internationally renowned speaker on sustainable farming. His 8-hectare farm is Certified Stockfree Organic and produces a wide range of produce. Tolhurst Organic farm is a model of sustainability, incorporating green manures, diverse crop rotations, woodchip composts, and agroforestry practices in the vegetable system. He also pioneered woodchip substrates for propagation to move away from peat-based materials. Iain Tolhurst is the author of several books, including Growing Green.