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Tryin' to grow me some Sphagnum

  • #21
Thanks Tony - I had been using that exact same method for the past six weeks or so. I started to see some green (about as much as you see in the pics in my OP) but I was afraid that constantly disturbing the bags to check on them was slowing the growth, so I put it into a somewhat more permanent growing environment (death cubes).

I will have tried three different growing methods by the end of tonight. If I don't see anything in a few months, I'll just take the plunge and buy some live sphag and try to start growing that. Or, knowing me, I'll lose interest and do it sooner!
 
  • #22
You might not need to buy it. If you can be patient, it's bound to show up on the trading board.
~Joe
 
  • #23
The zip lock bag method can work, just expect it to take a lot longer than you expect. Here's some I've grown using the how to guide on the forum:

moss1.jpg

moss2.jpg



Mind you I started that from dried sphagnum around mid to late July and didn't take it out of the bag until a month and a half ago (I probably could have done this sooner).

So I'd say seeedjar is right. If you really want some, and not wait months or even years, you are best off finding a live source. I'm not really in it for quick results and just enjoy watching it grow.

I used Mosserlee long fibered sphagnum moss.
 
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  • #24
That moss looks great. Almost tasty? Anyway, yeah I had moss in a bag for around two months but only saw green coloration and no active growth like that. I have a couple of methods going with a couple different brands of moss so I'm confident that one will work.

I see you're growing your moss in a tub... is that in a grow rack? Under lights, or shady natural light?
 
  • #25
Growing on a rack under fluorescent lights. The tub usually has saran wrap over the top. It lets me cut down on the misting and not having to worry about the tips turning brown.
 
  • #26
Sorry to resurrect a dead thread, but I figured I'd post an update on my sphagnum rig. I redid it in anticipation of receiving a gallon bag of live Sphagnum from an eBay vendor. Unfortunately, because of the snow, he's had to suspend all shipments until further notice... which means I might not get the live stuff until the spring!!

Anyway, I bought a couple of clear polystyrene containers and taped them together. They fit perfectly lengthwise in my grow rack, propped up between my two bins of plants. The top of the sphagnum is probably 6" from the lights.

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The bottom half inch or so is peat, followed by a layer of dry LFS, followed by a layer of LFS that I ground up between my hands in the method that swords described. When (if?) I get my shipment of live moss I'll break some clumps up and put it on top of this layer.

Might there be some live growth already? Can't make it out... might be algae...

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  • #27
It _looks_ like some of it maybe coming back to life from the dried stuff.
 
  • #28
I have grown some Sarracenias from seed in pure peat moss and LFS just started growing. It is growing fairly fast. Also you know peat moss comes from moss.
 
  • #29
Looks like it's growing to me! It could be algae, but from my experience the moss has to get that greenish tint before it starts sprouting new growth. Just hang in there. :)

To speed it up you could put them under heavy lighting if possible.
 
  • #30
Hmm....I am not sure of that being alive. I got some NZL long fibered sphag from ebay from ravenvision orchids a while back. THe moss in the block looked amazingly clean and nice. However, soon I started to realize the trouble of using it after an year. The moss was probably nuked to kill everything. The moss always gets a deposit of algae but never ever grew out. On the other hand, I used to get sphagnum moss from Better-gro. That stuff is sometimes dirty, but man...my plants love it. They do great and it grows loads of live sphagnum. So clearly depends upon your source of the dead sphagnum. Ironically, the impure preps of dead lfs might sprout more than some of the clean ones.
 
  • #31
I have to ask, how long before the stuff takes off? I have gotten some to start growing on a couple different occasions. This last time it has finally stuck, but I'm still not seeing the weed-like growth everyone else talks about.

I have a little in my outdoor bog container, some in a terrarium with my neps. Even a miniature variety that hitch-hiked in with a trade, (thanks!) that I thought was lost for a little bit. All of it has been showing new growth over the past year, but nothing spectacular. My red N. Albo is growing faster than this stuff!

Does it just need to reach some certain critical mass before it explodes with growth? Looking at nature, it should be harder to grow the cps then the substrate they live in right?:crazy:
 
  • #32
Well the catch is that we here, and a lot of people in general like to refer to it as "moss"

The truth is there are hundreds, thousands of different mosses, and of sphagnum moss, there are many different species.

So the mosses that RSS is plagued with might never take off in your outdoor bog garden, and the mosses that I take from bogs dont necessarily take off in an indoor setting.

Every moss is different so their growth will be different.

Does it just need to reach some certain critical mass before it explodes with growth? Looking at nature, it should be harder to grow the cps then the substrate they live in right?

Not necessarily. When you think of the life-span of a carnivorous plant, for instance a sundew, most will only live a decade, or two maybe three. The moss that the sundews have been growing on has arguably never stopped growing.
 
  • #33
Whenever I've used dried LFS from New Zealand, Chile, or local U.S. stuff. When I've planted CP or some orchids, in it, it usually just sprouts from dormant spores and starts growing live Sphagnum on its surface. I have discovered that I can speed up this process in several ways, my favorite way is to put an inch of shredded redwood bark in a plastic tray, then spread another one inch layer of the dried LFS on top of the redwood bark. Finally I fill the tray half full of purified water, keep the tray in CP conditions, add water as necessary to keep the bark and moss floating. Quickly the LFS sprouts and grows forming a layer of live Sphagnum that quickly grows to fill the trays. It can then be harvested and used wherever desired.
 
  • #34
I came to say that I had success using this method, but I see he already spoke up in here. I used that Better-Gro brand of orchid moss you have, and all I got is red sphagnum :)-O). I just started two bigger batches the other day, seeing what I can get out of them. If they take off, I'll try the buttermilk or beer method of growing more moss.
 
  • #35
TENroaches, thanks for chiming in! Yeah, that's the method I used. I got the orchid moss, ground it up, and made a thin layer of it in an empty Chinese take-out container with a clear lid (PERFECT for this kind of stuff!). I had it on a window sill for about 3 months and I did start to see some fuzzy green growth that led me to believe I was seeing moss growth vs. a shiny green layer which would have been more characteristic of algae.

Unfortunately, last weekend, my STUPID CAT tumped the thing over and upset all the moss, burying any of the new growth that had come up. So I took the moss from that container and put it on the top layer of my current "micro bog:"

Bottom - pure peat
Middle - Chilean LFS
Top - hand-ground Orchid Moss that had begun to sprout before feline intervention

Once I get my shipment of live moss I will break some up on top of those three layers. Very confident that this will work!!

Joseph - your method sounds interesting. So all the bark floats and keeps the moss above the water line but still saturated, right? My method is somewhat similar in that I've filled my three plastic containers with water so that the bottom layer of pure peat is underwater and the waterline extends about halfway up through the middle layer of LFS. The top layer stays wet but isn't underwater.
 
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  • #36
I'm a bit confused, why don't you just buy live, cut long fibred sphagnum from a garden centre? Here in the UK you can just get a 500gram bag of it, cut it up, throw it on some peat, and have it sprouting in under a week :s sometimes there are even spore pods on the moss :s Do they only have the dried stuff in the US shops? It could be because they have to ship stuff further, but I have open bags that are nearly a year old that are still fine to use! Tbh, it's a bit stupid, because it is practically impossible to get peat, but v. easy to get moss here! ???
 
  • #37
Well, as I mentioned in my last few posts, I do have some live sphagnum on the way but its shipping was delayed by several weeks due to the snowstorm. I wanted to try growing something out of nothing first, primarily for the fun of it, but also so that I didn't have to shell out $20 for a bag of the live stuff. But, the thrill is gone; I got impatient and sprung for a live sphag bag :)

---------- Post added at 01:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:02 PM ----------

Also, that is strange that the live stuff is so readily available in the UK. Since the climate over there is more widely hospitable to mosses, perhaps it's more economical to distribute the stuff. Perhaps I'm in a bad place to find live moss to start with (NYC), but most online vendors I've seen ship their stuff from the South.

But, if anyone around NYC has heard of a garden supply shop that sells live sphagnum, speak up!!
 
  • #38
Mmmmm... Hospitable to mosses is one word for it :-)) ! Some parts of Scotland and England have 10-11 feet of rain a year! I remember hearing that 1/4 of the UK is moorland, so it could be that... OR maybe we just tissue culture moss ;)

(as an aside, some parts of the UK aren't really that rainy, London has half the rain of New York. But we just have bad weather in general)
 
  • #39
London has half the rain of New York. But we just have bad weather in general

And I miss that bad weather! I was born in London and spent most of my life there. What a great place! I wish I had gotten into CPs when I was there - it seems like a great place to buy & grow them!
 
  • #40
Also, that is strange that the live stuff is so readily available in the UK. Since the climate over there is more widely hospitable to mosses, perhaps it's more economical to distribute the stuff.
I live in northern Scotland and the weather does not get much more hospitable in the UK than here, unless you go to the Scottish Islands. There is a bog a couple of miles down the road from me and last time I drove past it was covered in 2' of snow. This bog grows some of beautiful small head red moss. Much of the bagged Sphagnum moss sold within the UK is taken from Scotland. I believe that a lot of Sphagnum moss in North America comes from Canada, again this is a colder and wetter climate. Conclusion, moss likes a 'hospitable' environment :)
 
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