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Sphagnum Growing Conditions?

Nepenthesis

Formerly known as Pineapple
Just curious if I could culture sphagnum in tubs outside or if it needs high humidity. I was thinking about using it in a hanging bog garden for sarrs as well, right outside the greenhouse. I was culturing it in my greenhouse, but when the sun is shining (and I currently have no heating/cooling installed, getting it soon) it gets up to 100F, then drops into the 40s at night haha. It was browning, so I moved it into my terrarium around my neps and it's doing a bit better. The temperature swing isnt as great outside in the air, so I was thinking about getting a big tub and culturing the sphagnum out there. Would this work? Humidity is around 40% at lowest and climbs pretty high at night.
 
I don't do well with growing live sphagnum outside of my HL grow chamber or at the least a covered tub kept bright lit but near a window so it stays cool. The HL chamber grows it best for me and the temps are days 65-75*F and nights 40-50*F year round and 80-90% RH day and night.


This is how the tank looks 50% of the time.

hl15.jpg


Outside these conditions live sphagnum just blackens and dies off for me with a bit of green deep down inside the dead moss pile. There are warmer growing forms of sphagnum you can try, but they will likely still require high humidity especially in the daytime to stay happy and green.
 
Yeah, there are so many sphagnum species, and some just won't grow in certain conditions. I have some stuff in one pot that I can't get going in the other. It really does depend.
 
I can grow it outside no problem. I have several tufts of Sphagnum compactum in my two pots. It just needs constant moisture, which is typically more water than you'd expect.
 
The sphaghum I have was collected from Canada and cultivated at my local nursery. The grower said it can survive freezing conditions as well as warm summers, as it survives their 90F greenhouse temperatures in the summer. It stays around 90F outside in the summer, but can go up to 100F... So IDK... Maybe I'll give it another shot in my greenhouse when I get heating/cooling in there. ???
 
Jeez Swords! It looks like you're gonna wake up one day to find that the plants have taken over your place completely! GORGEOUS!!
 
Hi Pineapple,

I grow sphagnum moss in a transparent bread box. The humidity inside is about 95% most of the time but there are gaps for ventilation. The temperature inside goes up to 85F and the lowest is about 80F.

There are 4 species, out of which two are from highland regions. The fastest growing is S. cristatum which is the larger green form around the Cephalotus plant.
cephalotus_BE_breadbox_241211.jpg
 
You obviously won't know until you try,
as you can see we all have different ways of getting it to grow.
Mine grows best (& fastest) in a terrarium with an auto-waterer/RainMaker set-up.
Here is my current growth...

BEFORE:
Sphagnum-1.jpg

AFTER

This is from a few months growth. It is totally covering my smaller plants & giving the larger ones a run for their money!

Before this I did a major overhaul/cleaning, as I had a real moss jungle overwhelming my plants
with about 9 months to a years growth of mounds:
Sphagnummm.jpg


It originally took me a while to fine tune things to create the right environment, but once you get it, you won't need any moss any more!
It will be popping up all over (as you can see it growing on the "floor" & all over.
Good Luck!
:water:
 
wow growin im jealous, i wish i can get mine to grow that well lol
 
  • #10
I think I just died and went to heaven... :drool:

---------- Post added at 07:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:39 PM ----------

Mine grows best (& fastest) in a terrarium with an auto-waterer/RainMaker set-up.

Is it sealed? I have my terrarium mostly sealed and it stays around 90% humidity with condensation on the glass, but my nep's medium never dries out like it used to! It stays wet all the time without watering, aside from a few squirts of water the keep the moss moist and biweekly foliar fertilizing. How wet is your medium? Can you ring water out of it, or is it just well-drained? I would think that with all that moss, nothing would evaporate or drain and you would just add more and more! Is that how sarrs like it, or are sarrs smiliar to neps as far as watering goes? ???

Also, do you fertilize with anything? If so, what do you use?
 
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