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| Just read a past post questioning whether or not potting soil (media) was combustible. (Since a major constituent of many such mixes is sphagnum peat moss, perhaps the responses to that post answered my question. Still ...)
Have recently stored several bags of sphagnum peat moss, perlite and dolomitic lime in the basement. Since they were used this summer, most of the bags were opened or, in the case of one of the peat moss bags, slightly split open. Basement is about 50' x 30' but there's a gas furnace smack dab in the middle of it. Common sense tells me this is not a good situation, but mine doesn't aways make much sense.
P.S. If I need to remove these materials/ingredients from the basement, any suggestions about how to use them in a beneficial way, particularly at this time of year?
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| It will burn given an ignition source. Several houses around here have burned down because people disposed of cigarettes in potted plants on their decks (one was owned by a firefighter, go figure). Lloyd |
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| If you have clayey soil or even sandy soil, spread that peat moss on your garden....and work it in a few inches. |
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- Posted by lazygardens PhxAZ%3A Sunset 13 (My Page) on Sat, Oct 27, 12 at 12:29
| If it's bagged and dry, it's no more dangerous than a stack of newspapers or a box of clothes. Don't worry about it. But do keep things a few feet away from the furnace. |
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| The only thing to worry about is spontaneous combustion. And that's not an issue here. Peat might smolder if you took a propane torch to it, but so would your laundry. |
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| Peat Bogs catch fire and burn so bags of Peat Moss can also catch fire if not properly stored. There have been numerous house fires caused by people improperly storing combustibles to close to an ignition source. Piles of clothing, newspaper, and even bags of Peat Moss placed too closely to a furnace, water heater, or cloths dryer have all been the source of the fires. The best place to store Peat Moss is in the garage or yard shed, not in the basement of your house. |
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- Posted by novascapes none (My Page) on Sun, Oct 28, 12 at 7:54
| Many types of dust are highly explosive. Bean dust, aluminium dust,coal dust, and yes peat dust have been known to cause very large explosions. I would keep the bags sealed and away from any flames or heat sources. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Peat dust explosion
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- Posted by toxcrusadr 5 (My Page) on Mon, Oct 29, 12 at 11:09
| Dust has to be at an alarming concentration in the air, and in very fine particle sizes, to have dust explosions. They occur in places like grain elevators and processing plants. Not going to happen in your house even if the bag is left open. I agree with the other posters that it's no more a fire risk than other dry organic matter like paper. |
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- Posted by jimbobfeeny 5a IN (My Page) on Tue, Oct 30, 12 at 14:29
| Meh. Don't bother putting it into your soil - I planted a bunch of blueberries this year; one was planted in a 3X3 hole filled with 1:1 soil and peat. Got tired of that fairly quickly, so for the rest of them, I planted like I would any other plant - Dig a hole, insert plant, replace soil. The ones I didn't add anything to are doing the best. We've got mostly silty clay loam around here. |
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| I miss Franklin. :^( |
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| Me too,annpat. He always had a good word for peat moss. |
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| I guess!!! Franklin, bud, c'mon, don't make me feel bad, man. |
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