The Problem with Peat

"Philadelphia Gothic" - Mike and I contemplate the UG project, holding the actual fork we used to poke the peat to break the surface tension.
Where's Wald--er, Brian?

Why peat moss initially hates water:
http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/peatmoss.htm

Mike contemplates our issues with Peat:
"I was reading up on that -- once it actually gets wet, it will soak up a great deal of water. However, it initially has a negative electrical charge, so it tends to repel the water.
I think that I'll make little pads out of cotton balls for the next round of seedlings (i.e. wet a cotton ball, push it in a depression in the peat and then sweep some peat over it). Another alternative might be to mix in a good bit of dirt or something that can actually absorb water."

He also jokingly wondered whether we could utilize the super-absorbent gel from unused diapers. I wonder if we could just plant seeds in a used diaper, thus solving two ecological problems in one swoop. Could the produce from such origins still be considered organic? Have we finally found a way to "recycle"disposable diapers?

Later... Mike corrects his early theory:
"One minor techie point -- I was wrong about the charge on the surface of peat -- it is apparently neutral -- so I guess no matter how the water molecule is oriented, it has no incentive to bind to the surface of the peat. Once the material is actually wet, the mater molecules on the surface happily invite buddies to join them ..."