Making Your Own Peat Pellets
(Page 2 of 3)
Once you've set up your own mini-press, you'll be able to
crank out pellets at the rate of one every two minutes. By
the strict standards of a computer, I know this is darn
slow; but the alternative—a monster machine and
plastic in the garden—just ain't acceptable. Anyway,
the list of materials and tools with this article contains
everything you'll need. Scrounge the stuff together and
let's begin..
RELATED CONTENT
Our mini-press needs only"one cylinder (a recycled tin can)
and one piston (a wooden stick faced with the tops of two
cans). It's quite easy to build.
First, the hard part. Open two frozen juice cans and drink
the contents. Save both lids, but forget about or put aside
one can. The remaining can is now called a compression
cylinder.
To make the piston, place the two lids together, start two
nails through them near the center and nail the lids to the
bottom of the 6-inch-long stick. The resulting piston
should be able to slide in and out of the can without
binding.
That's it! That's the heart of your peat press.
OTHER PREPARATIONS
Spagnum contains a lot of roots, twigs, and other organic
matter and will not compress without first being sifted.
Sift tree stuff through a wire mesh sieve into a large
mixing bowl, and throw the leftover debris into your garden
or compost. Now put the bowl aside, or better yet, con
someone else into continuing the job while you go on to
fight with the cheesecloth.
Cheesecloth has got to be the softest, most
difficult-to-work-with material I have ever seen. Unless
you have a very large table, work on the floor.
Otherwise you'll wear yourself out just trying to keep the
miserable stuff on your work surface. Since it's almost
impossible to mark cheesecloth, you'll have to resort to
the old trick of making a pattern to cut the material
around. A 6-inch square of cardboard works nicely for this.
Slip the square pattern under one edge of the cheesecloth
and start cutting . . . don't worry, you'll be able to see
the cardboard very well. If you insist on putting the
pattern on top, go ahead but you won't be able to see the
cloth and it will really squirm when you start hacking.
Since cheesecloth comes 34 inches wide, each yard will
yield 25 squares plus a strip of scrap 4" wide.
After you have successfully cut out a couple yard's worth
of squares, you can go on to setting up the mini-press and
mashing a few pellets.
PRODUCTION
This is the really fun job which everybody tries to corner
for himself. If you're working with others, begin
immediately while they're busy sifting and cutting, and
you'll be into it really heavy before they discover what
you're up to.
