Consistent quality

When it was tough to find peat during the COVID shortages, Pieper Nurseries began working with Lambert Peat Moss. Head grower Philip Pieper says it was a struggle to get the peat or perlite his production required, but Lambert was able to step up and provide just what he needed.

“We were facing some challenges with some other suppliers, and this kind of opened the door,” Philip says. “That was when we jumped on board with Lambert.”

And though the partnership began based on necessity, it has continued because Pieper has been pleased with the performance of the soilless peat-based growing media Lambert provides.

“I’m really happy with what I get,” Philip says. “It’s very consistent. Good sizing, very uniform. It takes water nicely and seems to have a really good starter charge in it which gets you off and going until you can get a topdress in, which is nice.”

Philip is the second generation of the Pieper family. His parents immigrated from Germany and started the nursery in 1991 in Dorchester, Ontario. The nursery has around 30 employees at peak times, up to eight year-round. Pieper is almost a 100% container nursery, with the exception of a few field-grown roses.

Philip uses a Lambert mix for the majority of the perennials he grows at the nursery, as well as some of the shrubs.

“Everything I grow seems to grow good in it, so I can’t complain,” he laughs.

Philip says that one underrated advantage of working with Lambert is ease of use. The bales are easy to handle, requiring just a forklift to move them from storage to where they need to be. The growing media he orders from Lambert does not have slow-release fertilizer mixed in.

“It’s there when you need it,” he says. “It’s not like you have 200 yards sitting in bulk outside that you have to use because there’s a slow-release in it. You don’t have to use it right away; it stores really good. The bales are quality. They stand up and don’t fall over.”

Pieper typically buys growing media in the fall, stores it through the winter and uses it all in spring potting.

Over the years, Pieper has had deliveries from other suppliers that were not wrapped properly or arrived on less-than-sturdy skids. Philip likes that Lambert’s bales arrive in bags that are convenient for storage and repel water.

Lambert has also kept Pieper as a customer due to excellent customer service. The deliveries are on time, and the nursery’s sales representative at Lambert has taken good care of them.

For more: www.pieper.ca