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Live Sphagnum Moss

  • Thread starter Leafgeek
  • Start date
I've always thought that the reds and greens of live sphagnum have looked very nice when grown in pots alongside Nepenthes and I've read somewhere that the live moss may help to maintain the pH and humidity levels appropriate for these plants. To those of you who grow them in pots, have you intentionally planted live moss heads or have they gradually rehydrated and revived unintentionally? I'm currently using the dried stuff that's gradually turning green but I can't tell at this point if it is truly sphagnum or just algae. I'm considering seeking out some live heads but have had trouble finding the compact species that ate bright in color and don't get too leggy. Many years ago I ordered some live moss but it was a long stringy type that looked like it had just been scooped from a North American bog and it turned to mush rather quickly. I've also read that certain species native to North America need a dormancy in order to thrive (not sure of the validity of this claim) so ideally I'd like to find a species or group of species that don't require that.
 
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Dry, dead sphagnum will not revive, but spores can sprout in it to grow new moss and more often than not that's now new cultures end up starting in pots. I occasionally also seed a pot that I want sphagnum in with live sprigs, but usually don't bother. And live moss is quite distinct from algae; if you're uncertain, is it bright green with hollow water-holding cells?
 
And live moss is quite distinct from algae; if you're uncertain, is it bright green with hollow water-holding cells?
This was the first time I have ever seen sphagnum moss in a regular store that wasn't bone dry. There was a decent amount of humidity in the bag, and I remember that the strands were more of a light yellowish rather than the white of bone-dry sphagnum. Here are a few photos of what they currently look like. There are some light green areas, some dark green areas, and of course that grassy straggler that is common to sphagnum is starting to pop up as well. I portioned this moss out into bags to try out some different light levels, and only the bags that were several inches from the light have this green tissue appearing.
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Within the bag there were reddish as well as yellower clumps, and many of the 'heads' that are often trimmed off when the live stuff starts to overgrow small plants.
 
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It's possible some of the greener may well be live sphagnum, though I'd still bank more on new sprouts that might show up than survival of the present pieces.
 
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