Drying peat moss out or use as is?

Do any of you dry your peat moss out and get it bone dry or do you just use as it comes? I normally just use it as is but thinking it might be better to try it out. The peat moss I get is normally pretty dry but definitely could be dryer.

The dryer the better. Several buy a few bales and stick em in the barn to dry. Phil the fox man spreads his on the driveway to dry then has barrels he stores it in.

I have been using this stuff for many years. The moisture content varies quite a bit. I've dried it and used it straight out of the bag. I dry about twice as much as I think I'll need for the season and store it in 55-gallon drums in the fur shed. If I run out I use it straight out of the bag.

I usually use wax sand but always have some peat moss as backup. Always have to dry it out as it come soaking wet right out of the bag.

Dried peat moss does its job better

Every bag I've bought over the years had roots/sticks in it (70 lb bags from Lowe's)...so I have to sift the peat b4 use. This serves to clean it and dry it pretty good.

As is.

Dried on a tarp

Dried on a tarp, sifted into buckets.

I also dry my peat moss then sift it and bag it.

X2

Is that stuff peat or is it moss? We have moss, spaghum moss I guess, growing in the woods . We also have peat bogs that guys mine for 'peat' that they sell as 'topsoil'. So what's in a bag of that stuff? Peat or moss?

Same here when i got some from Lowes to try. Had to sift. Also got 1 bag from Lowes i threw out. After drying out i sifted it. It still smelled. My quess is it had soured. Smell never went away. Even after being in open air barn for await

The stuff I buy says "Spaghum Peat Moss' on the bag. I have no idea whats actually in the bag. I do know it is fairly clean (very few twigs or debris), fairly dry (usually) and it resists water like crazy.

Swamp Wolf. Now that my new reality is carrying dirt. I am start to experimenting with Wal Mart play sand. It acts alittle different from sand of the road. Need less of it at sets. Packs well. No clogging. BUT has some small match stick head size peddles in it ? Doesnt matter with a MJ 600

I prefer dry but in a pinch, I'll open a new bag and use it that way and use some salt or glycol/urine.

I’m going to dry some out for this year. What’s your ratio for the glycol and urine? How do you like it? Ever try glycol and water?

Never used it trapping, but my wife bought a bag to put on house plants. Looked to me like it was a mix, about half moss and about half fluffy 'topsoil'.

Buy peatmoss by the bale and sift through hardware cloth cut to fit on a plastic bread tray. Sift over no. 3 washtubs and let dry for a couple of months stirring occasionally until bone dry. Here in south Georgia it will withstand several inches of hard rain and still have working set for weeks. I'll second Steel traps that sometimes a bag of it smells like chemicals or whatever. That one goes into the garden potting mix.

Ive done both. I use a 50/50 mix. We dont get too cold here or the glycol percentage would need to be higher

I buy a couple bales early in the spring. Put it in NAFA bags (collector items now) and hang it in the rafters of the shop.
By fall it has dried from the summer heat.
Roy

I buy mine at a feed store where they keep them inside so they are semi dry. I don't like it bone dry because it just blows away.

I've used it for a while when it was still before freezing, After freeze time I would spray glycol on the traps first & layer the peat moss & spray, Then top with a little natural dirt. Worked good until a hard freeze,The top layer natural dirt would freeze like a pancake. I never sprayed glycol on the top layer, It looked to wet.

Are you putting lids on or anything anything? May try to stick some in a plastic tub and dry in the heat of the rafters in my shed. I feel like the wind might blow a lot around if I dry it on a tarp.

I put mine on a tarp laid inside my pick-up truck bed (8'). It keeps the wind from scattering it and makes it easy to put in the plastic 55-gal drums I store it in, just keep pulling the tarp towards me while scooping it into the barrels.

I get 4-6 large bails each spring. I try to find the large bails but sometimes I have to settle for more smaller cu ft sizes. I have an old fur shed that I store them in for the summer months.

I slit open across the top of the plastic bags and push a rebar down into the the bails a foot of more to break up the compacted peat. I get most of it dry by summers end from evaporation.

Then I sift it all and spread it over a large tarp over our shop hardtop and rake it frequently until bone dry. Shovel it up and store it in clean barrels, drums , old clean feed sacs,or some large burlap bags I bought for that purpose.

I hang them from the beams of another barn until needed. I store all my grass clippings the same way in empty feed bags or large burlap bags. I have bags stored all over my place so I have enough air/out dry time and weather protection. I have a few dozen bags stored in my firewood building.

I store mine with the top of the bag cut open and poke holes in the sides and bottom. I’m glad you guys brought this up looks like I need to get a couple more bags.