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Boiling spagnum?

curtisconners

Greetings from the netherworld.
Good morning, terraforums. I am planning to re-pot one of my vft's soon and was planning to use some lfs that I've had sitting around. I heard that it's best to boil spagnum before using it with CP's to remove any minerals. Is there any truth to this?
 
You don't boil to remove minerals, you would do it to kill off anything growing in there you would not want in your medium. Bugs, eggs, molds, spores, ect. For example I get garden worms in my medium from my peat moss, boiling my peat would probably prevent this. Some people bake there medium in the oven or microwave it. Just make sure you don't mircowave a material you should not or cause a fire in your oven :)

I used to boil all my sphagnum but now I just use too much of it too be bothered with it. Overall it would be better to boil than not too in my opinion.
 
Oh, that makes more sense. I'll boil the spagnum, since I have the time to go the trouble. Thanks.
 
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Just a fyi...my wife HATED it when I boiled sphagnum :)
 
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If you boil Sphagnum ( pronounced sfagnum) don't be surprised if you end up with an unusable soggy mess.

RSS I find your post a little confusing. You used to boil your peat but now you don't use so much you don't bother. If there is a reason to, surely when you're not using so much is the time to do it. Now you're not boiling your peat do you get a huge amount of problems?
 
Sorry if it is confusing. Health issues can really make normal tasks quite hard.

In the past I used very little medium so I had more time to spend on each plant. Now I have alot more plants in need of repotting and I just don't have the time or ability to do it like I want to.

Only boil it for about 5m or so or yes you will end up breaking down the moss. You just want to kill off odd things that might be in there.
 
Unless you're having specific problems you want to try to address with boiling, why bother? It's more work, and it will likely cause the media to degrade faster.
 
I didn't think it would make the spagnum rot more quickly. Thanks for the tip about that.
 
There is really no need to boil. The only time I could think that anybody needs
To sterilize media would be for seedings, but ive germinated countless times
On dirty, non nuked soil.

And I can only immagine the horrendous smell of baked/boiled sphagnum...
 
  • #11
Fredg, I know you're from the UK and while it may be pronounced sfagnum in your country, in America it's pronounced spagnum. I don't know if you watch any American t.v. shows, but there are lots of words like this. T.v. and Tele are good examples.
 
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  • #12
I think he's pointing out that you're spelling it wrong (sphagnum, not spagnum), and I don't think the spelling is a regional thing.
 
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  • #13
I think he's pointing out that you're spelling it wrong (sphagnum, not spagnum), and I don't think the spelling is a regional thing.
That could be it.
 
  • #14
The point is Curtis, if you pronounced the word correctly the spelling becomes quite easy.
 
  • #15
Fredg, I know you're from the UK and while it may be pronounced sfagnum in your country, in America it's pronounced spagnum. I don't know if you watch any American t.v. shows, but there are lots of words like this. T.v. and Tele are good examples.

wtf? I seriously hope thats a joke.
Even more, I really hope youre not saying it S-pag-num.
 
  • #16
Is it really not pronounced spagnum?
 
  • #17
Did you check the Oxford dictionary site I posted?
 
  • #18
Did you check the Oxford dictionary site I posted?

:O I guess you learn something new everyday.

Every person I've talked to and in all the videos I've seen, people have always pronounced it spagnum.
 
  • #19
Sphagnum is a genus of mosses, there isn't a regional difference in spelling, it's a scientific name. It may be called that way colloquially (I've never personally heard it pronounced Spagnum here).
I've always heard and read Sphagnum
 
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  • #20
Sphagnum, pronounced as if spelled with an f; I've never heard it said any other manner. And yes, the important part here is that the spelling is a scientifically correct and accepted genus/general species name, and misspelling it either can cause irritation and arguments (as it has to an extent here) or mislead others, which is a terrible thing to do in a hobby already rampant in misidentification and incorrect terminology, and to say it with a similarity to the proper spelling will help avoid that. Some things are tolerated, but if someone notes the proper it is respectable to at least listen.

In regard to the original question asked: anything in the sphagnum that isn't removed by boiling is probably more of a concern than what is; minerals and excess nutrients are going to stay in there, and after boiling the cell walls of the moss are going to be further broken down, allowing other undesirables to colonize faster and capitalize on the now more accessible nutrients there. Better, if you're concerned with impurities, to soak and rinse the moss first before you use it.
 
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