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Live sphagnum growin?

Is that what this is? This VFT was originally potted in dead LFS so I'm thinking it came from there (especially considering only one piece is growing, and right beside the rhizome).
 
Congrats, you have live sphagnum! :-O
 
Is it too early to do cuttings? ;)

Wait for it to get a little... overgrown. You will soon have more than you could ever need, I did the same and have about a surplus of a gallon this year!
 
Wait for it to get a little... overgrown. You will soon have more than you could ever need, I did the same and have about a surplus of a gallon this year!

Just from that one tiny piece, I'll end up with bunches of it eventually? How does it propagate? It'll seed or what?
 
Just from that one tiny piece, I'll end up with bunches of it eventually? How does it propagate? It'll seed or what?

It will naturally colonize the surface by branching... you can cut it, but in my experience, cutting small into smaller delays the growth of both. In a year, you'd be amazed at what it's done. ;)
 
It will naturally colonize the surface by branching... you can cut it, but in my experience, cutting small into smaller delays the growth of both. In a year, you'd be amazed at what it's done. ;)

Thanks man. I only have that one tiny 2mm piece. I'd like to see what it develops into, and how fast; besides, at some point I would have bought live sphagnum, now it looks like I'll be growing my own instead.
 
Veronis,
If you wanna grow your own sphagnum faster and in more quantity get hold of a small bale of blond LFS labeled "Orchid Moss" from Lowes ($5) and one of those Jiffy Seedling Greenhouse trays with the clear lids ($3).

Take handfuls of dry LFS and grind them together to make a shredded dust, it seems to cause moss germination faster. My belief is that this releases spores as well as generates more surface area for them to germinate on. Grind up enough handfuls to fill the Jiffy tray to 1" deep or so. Wear a mask or tie a shirt over your face like a old-time bandit when you do this cos you don't wanna breathe the LFS dust it's very bad and can cause a fungal infection in your lungs.

Soak the ground up moss well with R/O water and then squeeze most of the water out of it and put it in the tray making a roughly even layer of moist ground up moss. Mist it heavily don't water log it just get the surface glistening as if it was lightly rained on and put the lid on it. Let the tray get indirect sun light, terrarium light or at least cool eastern morning light and shade the rest of the day and in about 90 days you should begin to have your own field of green which you can harvest from and replace with another bit of ground moss to keep the culture growing. Mist it every few days or whenever it looks to be getting dry. The brighter the light it gets the faster it dries out. Western/afternoon sun seems to burn germinating LFS even if it's under a humidity dome. I never have good luck growing it on my patio.
 
Thanks again swords. Great info :)
 
  • #10
Veronis,
If you wanna grow your own sphagnum faster and in more quantity get hold of a small bale of blond LFS labeled "Orchid Moss" from Lowes ($5) and one of those Jiffy Seedling Greenhouse trays with the clear lids ($3).

Take handfuls of dry LFS and grind them together to make a shredded dust, it seems to cause moss germination faster. My belief is that this releases spores as well as generates more surface area for them to germinate on. Grind up enough handfuls to fill the Jiffy tray to 1" deep or so. Wear a mask or tie a shirt over your face like a old-time bandit when you do this cos you don't wanna breathe the LFS dust it's very bad and can cause a fungal infection in your lungs.

Soak the ground up moss well with R/O water and then squeeze most of the water out of it and put it in the tray making a roughly even layer of moist ground up moss. Mist it heavily don't water log it just get the surface glistening as if it was lightly rained on and put the lid on it. Let the tray get indirect sun light, terrarium light or at least cool eastern morning light and shade the rest of the day and in about 90 days you should begin to have your own field of green which you can harvest from and replace with another bit of ground moss to keep the culture growing. Mist it every few days or whenever it looks to be getting dry. The brighter the light it gets the faster it dries out. Western/afternoon sun seems to burn germinating LFS even if it's under a humidity dome. I never have good luck growing it on my patio.

Hiya Swords-

Does it hafta be "Orchid Moss" or could I do the same for New Zealand moss?

Thanks for the growing info:hail:

I just love to see neps floating on a cloud of live LFS, just lovely.

Good Growing,
E
 
  • #11
The New Zealand stuff is typically high quality, so it should work just fine. The blonde-colored orchid moss is of similarly high quality (may even also be from NZ.) What you want to look out for is the dirty, brownish cheap stuff that's usually contaminated with sticks and leaves. That stuff has all sorts of carpet moss and fern spores, which makes for annoying competition when you're trying to culture Sphagnum.
~Joe
 
  • #12
Thanks Joe!!

Good Growiing To Ya,
E
 
  • #13
Yeah, the Lowes Orchid Moss is supposedly from New Zealand. It's clean, soft and blond just like I'd buy at the Orchid shop but for more $ (but also a bigger bale). I would advise people to avoid Mosser Lee brand which is farmed in Wisconsin and is sold right next to the Orchid Moss at Lowes and sells for a bit cheaper per bag. It's brown and just looks crummy in comparison to the NZ Orchid Moss.

But as Joe said, if you're throwing out 1/3 of the bag as sticks, rocks and dead swamp plants how much are you really saving? I also never got live sphagnum growing from the Mosser Lee stuff. I got all sorts of other things, ferns, liverworts (these are cool!), and other plants. But the blond NZ Orchid Moss is definitely the best for me to end up with actual live sphagnum with a minimum of fuss.
 
  • #14
Yeah, the Lowes Orchid Moss is supposedly from New Zealand.
Chilean. i use the same stuff :)

Alex
 
  • #15
The Mosser Lee stuff is pretty bad, but I've had live stuff pop out of that too. Accidentally bought a bag full of the stuff before I found a store near me that had a big bale of the Chilean one.
 
  • #16
"Chilean, New Zealand, let's call the whole thing off!" :boogie: lol

But it's true what Thez yo says, almost anytime I've grown out a tray of moss I've gotten "extra" plants no matter what kind/location of moss I use. from the Orchid Moss I usually get ferns that I'll pot up and grow separately, give away or whatever. But also I get some kind of grass that is a really terrible pest. If you spot any grass like seedlings coming up in the moss pluck them out early! Once the grass gets established you can't seem to get rid of it and it doesn't seem to "grow itself out" if you leave it alone, it just keeps growing and growing...

When I had first got started in CPs I bought a 3 ft bale of the Mosser Lee stuff. It was actually good for potting up highland Neps because it had so much extra crap in it that I didn't have to add drainage material, like orchid bark or cypress mulch. Water poured right through it. But you had to top-dress with live sphag from elsewhere cos their LFS wouldn't grow. Being from Wisconsin, maybe that species of sphagnum's spores need cold stratification before they'll germinate...?
 
  • #17
Maybe they kiln dry it, or sterilize it somehow.
 
  • #18
The Mosser-Lee stuff usually germinates Sphagnum. High humidity is the key. It almost always sprouts when I chop it up and use it as a mulch on my seeding pots and cups in bags.

I find as much twigs and leaves in the Chilean Orchid Moss as I do in the Mosser-Lee stuff, but then I pick through the Mosser-Lee bags and grab the best looking ones.
 
  • #19
Mosser Lee

Actually, the Mosser Lee used to be the only kind available, and in days gone by, the 3 ft bale used to be relatively clean and compressed, nearly as nice as the New Zealand is now. (Nearly but not quite!)

Like most things, the quality has diminished over the years, as well as the compressed packing.

On a similar note, I used to get Sunshine peat that was normally so tightly packed, a bale contained at least twice what it does now. Also, the amount of sticks and debris was near none. One paid more for it, but it was worth it. I assume most people couldn't tell the difference between a quality product and the cheaper stuff. I guess Sunshine had to find a way to compete.
It is sad what has happened to products, but we can only rape the earth for so long before we see the difference. Also, as usual, the profit margin has increased I assume.

Give it time. If you are still in the hobby in enough years, you will see the New Zealand Sphagnum diminish in quality and rise in cost too.

Paul
 
  • #20
"Give it time. If you are still in the hobby in enough years, you will see the New Zealand Sphagnum diminish in quality and rise in cost too."

The things to look forward to in lilfe . . .

E
 
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