Strange LFS

[Meaven]

so, after getting my ping cuttings to start growing in some ultimately crappy dried LFS (it actually had whole leaves in it...), i've noticed its turining green in a lot of places. i've heard some stories of this stuff coming back to life in some cases. is it true, or do i have a problem on my hands? it isnt growing shoots, just some of the strands itself are turning green. kinda weird looking actually.

if it is coming back to life, thats freaking great, and if so, how should i grow it? just stick it in with my plants?

 

[herenorthere]

It sounds like it's coming to life, which isn't uncommon. Or maybe algae or slime mold is beginning to grow on it. The latter only happens to me when the plants are inside and goes away when I put the plants out for the summer. And it never seems to happen once a good growth of sphagnum has begun.

 

[Meaven]

well slime mold is ugly, but cool. i'd almost be tempted to make a second terrarium for it, just because its so fascinating

 

[herenorthere]

I've never had any of the cool colors or shapes of slime mold grow in my pots. Only an icky dark green. My N. sanguinea pot grows a nice crop of club moss every summer and I like that stuff much better. Too bad it declines during the months indoors.

 

[seedjar]

I don't know if it's actually slime mold that turns LFS that slimy green color; I'm pretty sure 'slime mold' is a misnomer. Slime molds are fleeting and usually quite mobile - they don't tend to colonize like true molds, instead they grow on the surface of some (usually vegetative) detritus and then roll along the ground as a large gelatinous mass until they find a suitable location to fruit and release their spores. They don't do well in captivity, particularly in closed environments like pots and terraria.
The stuff turning your LFS green is probably algae, mildew, moss or sphagnum spores. When LFS comes back to life, it doesn't actually start growing from the tips of the strands or anything; latent spores in the sphagnum germinate and begin as new plants, growing off of the deceased strands.
~Joe