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Where(what kind) to buy live sphagnum moss? [PICS]

Hello again, thanks for the warm welcome and lots of helpful info in my previous post. I was browsing the internet looking for sphagnum moss, and cheez, they all look different to me!

Check this out!
Fantastic photo:
1.
dmusc084.jpg


Photo from wikipedia, this is Sphagnum fallax:
2.
800px-SphagnumFallax.jpg


Some pictures from ebay:
3.
0cb4_1.JPG

4.
a0be_1.JPG


Numbers 2 and 3 look alike, while the others appear different in my opinion. The 4th one looks like long fibered while first 3 photos look like they are not "connected". Why is that? am i hallucinating? Even though some descriptions on eBay say "for carnivorous plants"(pic.3).

So my questions is how to choose the proper live sphagnum moss for my plant in decorative purposes(on top of the soil)? Where can i buy it online, or should i buy it from eBay?

Thanks in advance.
 
Number one is not Sphagnum. The rest are.

There are different species of Sphagnum, and it will also look different depending on how it's grown. For example, all of my Spagnum is short, tight and small because I grow it under high light. If I sent that same Sphagnum to someone else, it may look the same or it may become longer, fluffier, and larger. Sphagnum can also come in shades of red, orange, purple, and yellow.
 
The top one is a non-sphagnum moss which often invades the surface of peat. The other three are 100% sphagum. When it's been picked, it often looks like the bagged moss as you're seeing a lot of the moss that grew below the surface (long fibered).

Sprouting sphagnum looks like lots of little stars, as you can see in the middle photos.

There's no reason not to buy off ebay if it definitely says sphanum moss.
 
The top one is a non-sphagnum moss which often invades the surface of peat. The other three are 100% sphagum. When it's been picked, it often looks like the bagged moss as you're seeing a lot of the moss that grew below the surface (long fibered).

Sprouting sphagnum looks like lots of little stars, as you can see in the middle photos.

There's no reason not to buy off ebay if it definitely says sphanum moss.
So basically picture two and three "evolve" to picture four?
 
Dang...I was just looking at this on Ebay. I want some live sphag as a dressing, but the only stuff they are selling on Ebay right now is like a gallon in volume. Screw that. Shipping was horrendous as well. It was looking to be about 15 bucks for the gallon.

If you can use that much, I guess it's worth it, but I'm in a dorm room and want just a little sample.
 
So basically picture two and three "evolve" to picture four?


No - if you were to grab a big handful of the moss in the middle two pictures, underneath will be stringy mats of brown sphagnum. So when it's all put in the bag, it will look like photo 4.

If you could zoom into bag 4 you'd probably see bits of fresh starry growth, but its all been mixed up with the lower layers in the bag.
 
Dang...I was just looking at this on Ebay. I want some live sphag as a dressing, but the only stuff they are selling on Ebay right now is like a gallon in volume. Screw that. Shipping was horrendous as well. It was looking to be about 15 bucks for the gallon.

If you can use that much, I guess it's worth it, but I'm in a dorm room and want just a little sample.

Whenever I would sell Sphagnum or trade it, I would pay like 20-25 dollars in shipping charges. It finally dawned on me to use flat rate boxes. Those only cost 9 bucks.
 
You can always go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a $4 bag of the dried LFS and cultivate it such that the living sphagnum emerges. Takes several months, but it works.
 
  • #10
Yep. You can get live sphagnum out of the dead stuff at Lowes. Wet, humid conditions and bright light...you'll get new growth. I used to line the bottom of my tanks with dried sphagnum and in several months I had a nice green carpet.
 
  • #11
I've never had success getting dry moss to come back to life. I wonder if they sterilize it once it goes overseas to Asia :(
 
  • #12
I went to lowes today to check on plant stuff they had Mosser Lee's Long-Fibered Sphagnum Moss I thought I should get it, but I wasn't sure about it so is the Mosser's Lee's LFS moss the one I should get? if so I'll be sure to get a bag when I can.

Thanks for the help.
 
  • #13
You should check on the bag to see if it has fertilizer in it.
If it does'nt, you should get it
I'm sure other members have experience with this brand so they can tell you.
Good Luck,
Adrian
 
  • #14
Mosser Lee has 2 types of LFS. the nasty canadian stuff and NZ sphagnum.... the canadian stuff is brown and the the strands arent very full...its decomposes quickly and it very unsightly. but! if its NZ sphagnum(should be blondish) i would get it! lowes also has "Orchid Moss" which is high quality Chilean Sphagnum.

Alex
 
  • #15
lowes also has "Orchid Moss" which is high quality Chilean Sphagnum.

That's what I use. Cheap, convenient, abundant.

xvart.
 
  • #16
Thanks for the info I'm not sure what type it is if it's NZ or canadian I'll probably check a local nursary first then go to lowes to check again.

The bag said sphagnum moss, but also on the back it said it's from Central Wisconsin so I'll probably look around a bit more at local garden stores if I find nothing I'll try the Chilean Sphagnum I saw it, but didn't know it was ok for VFT.
 
  • #18
Thanks alot Not a Number I'll pick up a bag soon the ones I saw looked pretty good I wasn't sure.
 
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