Iain, What medium do you use for humus ?Leafmould and/or well rotted garden compost ? Here people are still bagging their leaves for local council collection along with lawn mowings!Some are still even fly-tipping!! Yesterday I kindly offered to collect all the leaves from a small housing devellopement nearby.Lovely stuff! Climate change has not yet registered here in France sadly in spite of the persistant high winds that now blow from all directions,hence the leaf problems! Happy new year to all Mark > Message du 01/01/09 22:13 > De : info@auchgourishbotanicgarden.org > A : pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > Copie à : > Objet : [pbs] Coir and or Coir based compast > > Because the gardens for which I am responsible operate on a carbon surplus audit one aspect considered thoroughly was Peat versus Coir and others such as husks from other crops. The resulting outcome demonstrated that the carbon audit in relation to the use of Coir, quite apart from its effectiveness, was truly dreadful and I would counsel great care when considering going down that route. It is worth baring in mind that the carbon footprint for the average North American is c. 7 tonnes p.a. the same calculation produces c. 3 tonnes for the average European within the boundaries of the EU prior to ex > pansion taking in the former Warsaw Pack countries however I would very much doubt it has improved following the advent of their joining the EU. Interestingly there is a strange synergy between the above carbon footprints and the number of people who are needed to support a single North American and European [EU] which is respectively 7 and 3. >