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Mosser Lee's Long-Fibered Sphagnum Moss

jimscott

Tropical Fish Enthusiast
I bought this stuff and thought it was very inferior to other brands of LFS.? There's all sorts of swamp grasses mixed in. What do you think?

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mosserlee.com%2Fproduct%2F527_Long-FiberedSphagnumMoss.aspx&ei=6OjtSdOILY-gMt37ke8P&usg=AFQjCNFyVOSD0TyL-4Xwb-i1GdAWQmQhVg

ScaleImage2.aspx
 
ive gotten some that look and feel just like the NZ stuff, then sometimes its so filled with sticks and vines(?) that there isnt much moss to use. I would just make sure you check out all the bags and try to get the best one they have.

I also notice that the mosser lee stuff is usually alot darker in color than other brands.

~billy
 
On every occasion that I have used that particular brand, I had to spend a good amount of time cleaning it from all manner of detritus (and once filled a quart bag or two with leaves and twigs). I would rather splurge on the better-value New Zealand or Chilean varieties of sphagnum which are now widely available online from both CP and orchid nurseries . . .
 
I too have used this moss once. I will not use it again. I had so many sticks, twiggs, chunks of bark, vines & leaves in it, that alone makes it worth the money to buy the good stuff!
 
Really? I've always used this moss with no problems or excess debris. Maybe I'll check out another brand so I can see the difference.
 
I used to buy this brand of moss. Some people will tell you that it varies in quality, however my local stores that carry it all have poor quality material. The stuff is horrible. The majority is made of dark fibers and does not have the fluffy matter that the Chilean moss does.


Once I purchased a bag of Chillean Orchid Moss (Blonde Sphagnum), I never looked back. :)
 
It's cheap stuff so I use it to line the bottom of pots over the drainage holes before plopping in the soil.

It's perfect for that. ;)
 
I have the bad quality stuff too. It grows pretty fast, but has very loose heads (bad for slurries), so I would just use it like Fryster would and buy Chilean Blonde instead.
 
Same as fryster here. I got a bag of it before I found the better gro chilean stuff at Lowes, and now I just use the mosser lee in the bottom of bots, and the good stuff whenever I use it for a soil. The mosser lee probably will work just about as well, it just seems to have a lot of junk in it, doesn't fluff up as well, and seems to decompose faster.
 
  • #10
On every occasion that I have used that particular brand, I had to spend a good amount of time cleaning it from all manner of detritus (and once filled a quart bag or two with leaves and twigs). I would rather splurge on the better-value New Zealand or Chilean varieties of sphagnum which are now widely available online from both CP and orchid nurseries . . .


Same here, after using it a couple times I'm done with it. Very tedious to get to the usable stuff, plus I don't care for it's very dark color. Only the NZ or Chilean for me now.
 
  • #11
That settles it! I'm buying the stuff from Lowes. Just don't tell anybody!
 
  • #12
Keep buying the NZ & Chilean moss and eventually their sources will be depleted too and what's left to sell will look like Mosser Lee.
 
  • #13
I use the mosser lee stuff all the time in my nep mix and to wrap sarracenia rhizomes in and will be using it to sow my sarr seeds on.

I admit that it certainly isn't a pretty as the better gro brand, but its cheap and gets the job done. I will also add that I do perfer the better gro brand if I am going to pot something in straight LFS, but since it is just an additive for me I don't sweat it.
 
  • #15
When I was in Australia, this past Sept., I had the oppurtunity to tour a large wholesale nursery. The quality of their NZlfsm was similar to the Mosser lee stuff but was blond in color.Lots of twigs, leaves and it didn't smell bad llike M L's does
I won't use Mosser Lee's as I can smell the molg in it.I know it is supposed to be sterile, I have my doubts, let it sit for a few days and you can smell the anaerobic bacteria growing in it.
Jest my 2 cents.
LMO
 
  • #16
New Zealand underwent a big political change ~20 years ago (I think) and sold out a lot of their their social and environmental interests for the benefit of business. That doesn't mean their sphagnum harvest isn't sustainable, but it does mean we shouldn't assume the government makes any serious effort to ensure the harvest is sustainable. I sure hope it's sustainable because there's no reason to think Chilean sources do anything short of strip-mining the stuff. Chile was given away to business interests years ago.
 
  • #17
Not the best picture in the world, but here's the kind of filller they have in the LFS. Does anybody recognize this plant?

Picture009-4.jpg
 
  • #18
It looks like a triffid!
 
  • #19
Yup that's why it's Quality Garden Products! :D

I had bought a huge 2 or 3 ft cubic bale of the Mosser Lee stuff (apx the size of a old fashioned square hay bale), then I found out how crummy it was. It had whole small tree/shrub root stocks and actual rocks in it! Also, wear a respirator working with MLs stuff, it's the dustiest LFS I've encountered.
 
  • #20
New Zealand underwent a big political change ~20 years ago (I think) and sold out a lot of their their social and environmental interests for the benefit of business. That doesn't mean their sphagnum harvest isn't sustainable, but it does mean we shouldn't assume the government makes any serious effort to ensure the harvest is sustainable. I sure hope it's sustainable because there's no reason to think Chilean sources do anything short of strip-mining the stuff. Chile was given away to business interests years ago.

People don't need businesses to non-sustainably harvest and destroy their habitat! Evidence shows that Easter Islanders cut down every virtually single tree on their island. The only naive tree remaining on that island is now extinct in the wild, and several more tree species that once occurred on the island are extinct according to archeologists, along with the native land birds there. They did not need help from business to destroy their island and themselves, it just happened because of over population and such.

Now that's just a tiny island, but the rest of the world is just SO BIG that we will NEVER run out of anything, businesses or no. Evar.

Or so goes the prevailing logic of societies for as long as there have been societies.
 
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