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Where to buy New Zealand LFS?

  • Thread starter thbjr
  • Start date

thbjr

Don't eat me,... Mr. Flytrap
I found it here. Anyone delt with this outfit or want to recomend a supplier?
Thanks.
 
How much do you need and have you checked at Lowes? I get a little bag there every couple years. Try to go easy on the stuff, by the way. It's a nonrenewable resource at the pace it's being used and that's why we have to look to places like NZ or Chile to find the good stuff. The good stuff used to be here too but, other than for the tiny fraction that's protected now, it's gone.
 
Those prices seem average, really don't see it much cheaper. Just about any garden center should sell it, at least in MN every place has it, now I don't mean walmarts garden center but a real one like Bachmanns, Waldons and anyplace that sells orchids or even stuff to make hanging baskets ought to have it since people use it to line their hanging pansy baskets.
Don't forget you can grow your own with a jiffy seedling tray (with the clear greenhouse lid cover to retain humidity) just crumble a few handfuls of dried stuff into a powder make about a 1" layer and keep it well misted in a western or eastern window (direct sun will brown it and it doesn't grow well) and you'll have a tray of live stuff to use in a couple months, if you crop it judiciously (and replace snatched clumps with ground up dried stuff) you can keep it going real easy and indefinately. :)
 
Thanks for the input, guys. I've looked at Lowes and they have LFS from Chile, but not the New Zealand variety. From what I've read, the Chilian variety is nearly impossable to get started growing.
Swords, I intend to try to get some (New Zealand) growing. I have some growing now, but I have no clue as to the variety. I got it from a seller on the auction site.
Tom
 
The chilian LFS is easy to get growing. I get mine at home depot.
I also have New Zealand Sphagnum I got off ebay cheap.
 
The blond stuff at Lowes will grow, whatever its nationality.
 
I've never found any nation of origin on any of the packages of sphagnum I've boughten the one exception was the old Mosser Lee brand of sphagnum from Wisconsin (also farmed in Wisconsin). But that stuff was crummy, rarely did sphagnum moss grow from it, but lots of other weeds and stuff did. I don't belive ML is stilll in business, at least, I haven't seen it for sale in many years now so you should be safe with any of the current brands out there.

I think the key to getting it growing (no matter the origin) is to shred it so the spores are released from the "heads" of the sphagnum ropes, anytime I've just wet it and threw it in a tray or terrarium as a substrate, it just grew algae, forest "cap" moss and ferns. Grind two handfuls of compressed dried sphagnum together (wear a dust mask or use your tee shirt pulled up over your nose and mouth as a mask while you grind), you'll make a finer sphagnum powder that way than wetting it and then trying to chop it with sciscors - doing it that way also makes it easy to cut yourself - which I've done!
 
New Zealand enforces sustainable harvesting methods for Sphagnum moss. As reportedly does Chile (unconfirmed).

http://www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111537
Note: New Zealand Sphagnum moss is a renewably harvested option for those who are concerned about the detrimental effects of removing sphagnum moss. New Zealand moss harvesting is closely watched by the Department of Conservation and is done on a three year basis so there is always enough left to regenerate new growth.



The batch of Chliean stuff I have sprouts readily with some moss other than Sphagnum. It looks like Sphagnum in the very early stages of growth but does not form the characteristic fluffy"cauliflower" head and "whisker/antlers" of Sphagnum.

Mosser Lee is still in business. Their stuff tends to fly off the shelves as soon as it is put up.

http://mosserlee.com/
 
I've found Mosser Lee around here and it is clearly what's left after the good stuff is gone; either below where a layer of living sphagnum had been removed or around the edges where upland species are mixed in.

As for "sustainable harvesting methods" in NZ and, possibly Chile, forgive me for being skeptical, but I am. The word sustainable means something different to different people and usually something very different when said by a business. Based on my experience with Departments of Conservation, both on the inside and on the outside, there's little reason to believe that they're watching that closely. But I hope it's true this time.
 
  • #10
OK, here is where I read that sphagnum from Chile is difficult to start. Zero, I don't mean to dispute your luck with Chilian LFS, Jeff may know what he's talking about, LOL, and maybe not, but I'm trying some anyway.
Here is the brand, etc, fresh from Lowes. I 'milled' it by rubbing it together in my hands until it was a medium concistancy. I hope that released some spores.

DSCI0047.JPG

Note "Product of Chile" above the bar code.

DSCI0049.JPG


Anyone have an oz. or 2 of New Zealand LFS I could get to try and grow next to the Chile LFS? If the spores germinate, I'll return some live New Zealand LFS. :-O
 
  • #11
that is a great great product. I use a cheaper one from better gro. The one you bought will last longer. This is chilean Sphagnum moss.
 
  • #12
That's what I use. As for its growability, I find that there's little to no life left by the time I get to the end of a bag and, thinking about it, I'm pretty sure I had a bag once that nothing grew from. Maybe the spores' life expectancy is the problem, not the nation of origin (or, more likely, treatment during packaging).
 
  • #13
Ok I always get that Mosser Lee stuff because it's what the place I go to has. I'll check Lowes or Home Depot to see what they might have. What is easiest to get gowing? Is the NZ or Chillie stuff that yellowish/light brown stuff that always looks different and better then the Mosser Lee that looks just dark brown and never grows for me? What about the saw dust stuff that is usually next to the Mosser Lee LFS, would that be good to try to get to grown?
 
  • #14
I have a small batch of live NZ moss in propagation.
 
  • #15
How long has it been propagating, and do you have any green plant yet?
 
  • #16
pics of live moss grown from Better Gro orchid moss.
I didn't want this to grow but it did and choked out some nep seedlings.
Expect some weeds to grow also.
sphagbag.jpg

sphag.jpg

peace,
Zero
 
  • #17
Well you people can snivel all you want about the Mosser Lee stuff. I'd say 60% of the pots that I used the bottom of bag dust as a germination bed sprouted live Sphagnum. One of the cups I have Drosera anglica "Hawaii" in even sprouted red Sphagnum.
 
  • #18
Well Zero and NaN, that's encouraging from both of you. I've been using Mosser Lee, since it's about 1/2 the price of the Better Gro. But I have to say that the quality of the Better Gro is superior ... (sorry NaN). I hope I have as much luck with Sphagnum germination as you guys have had.
 
  • #19
That carpet of moss looks real nice. I've had some d.rotundifolia pop up out of nowhere from the Mosser Lee LFS so that's good. I did have a pot where some just took off and choked a heli but I'm not sure if that's Mosser Lee or from someone else(I just took some I saw and potted it up). Well I have some Mosser Lee left so I'll go find some NZ and try them both out.
 
  • #20
One thing about Mosser Lee was that it did make a nice fast draining, open highland nep substrate with all the twigs, root clumps, rocks, etc. in it. I didn't need to add orchid bark or anything to help with drainage. I just didn't like that it didn't grow sphagnum (for me). I guess my idea is if i'm gonna buy LFS I want the "good s---" and the shops around here don't carry it anymore anyway. I did top the Neps potted with ML with the fine ground blonde stuff and got the best of both worlds.

I think most sphagnum moss will grow extra stuff, sometimes the ferns and other plants that pop up are neat and worth keeping, other times it's just weeds and long grasses. Snatch the grasses as they appear cos once they become a nice clump with a big rootsystem they're hard to get rid of without uprooting and repotting your plants. At first I thought I could just cut it off at soil level and it'd die off, not so!
 
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