I know it looks nice as a top layer but is it worth it to try to track some of this down and pay the extra amount for it? Is it easy to keep alive or does it die easy? How long will it stay alive before it dies? Does it keep the plants damp, moist all the time? Does it make you use more water or less because it retains more water? Let me know your thoughts on it and where I could get it. Is it possibleto grow it somehow rather then having to keep buying it? Or will it come back with the plant when it comes out of dormacy?
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JB_OrchidGuy
Cardiac Nurse
You can get sphag to start right from the peat if you keep it wet enough. I have some growing in my dew pots in the GH. It continues to grow and when your plants are dorment it may or may not continue to grow depending on the temps I guess, but should come back because it sends out spores that will survive. You can also get it from dried sphag moss. If your patient enough you can get all the moss you want and ever will need. It will use water too, but don;t think it should make it require more. Mosses can be dried up to 90% and come back. It may even keep the plants wetter. I don't think that should be a problem with dews, VFT, or sarrs.
The spores form pods and the next thing you know there is a duplicate of you standing there, avoid sphagnum at all costs, it is part of the alien takeover. /humor
I have next to zero experience with sphagnum, but I have bought several bags of dried long fibered sphagnum for my cps. I had left a little in wet pot that I usually mix the soil in. I had gone to San Francisco for 2 weeks . When I had returned, tiny amounts of it had started to grow. It was like it had come back from the dead. Kinda of what I hope will happen with some of the cps I lost in the nasty weather and animal issues.
It hasn't grown radically which some members will tell you to be careful of. Some say it can become overwhelming. I have not had that problem yet. Just some growths in areas that are kept damp. I am not sure on a scientfic level about sphagnum and cps, but I do notice that the cps in the wild like to grow in or near it. So there has to be some sort of symbiotic relationship there. So if cps in the wild like and grow in it, I will give it to mine.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
I have next to zero experience with sphagnum, but I have bought several bags of dried long fibered sphagnum for my cps. I had left a little in wet pot that I usually mix the soil in. I had gone to San Francisco for 2 weeks . When I had returned, tiny amounts of it had started to grow. It was like it had come back from the dead. Kinda of what I hope will happen with some of the cps I lost in the nasty weather and animal issues.
It hasn't grown radically which some members will tell you to be careful of. Some say it can become overwhelming. I have not had that problem yet. Just some growths in areas that are kept damp. I am not sure on a scientfic level about sphagnum and cps, but I do notice that the cps in the wild like to grow in or near it. So there has to be some sort of symbiotic relationship there. So if cps in the wild like and grow in it, I will give it to mine.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
You just need to think about what you are puting LFS in with. Small plants can quickly be swamped and overcome by LFS if not closely watched so I try not to use it for small plants. Bigger plants can look fantastic with a nice fresh green top dressing on them and as Jim points out it does have antifungal properties in it. some of my pots have had the same LFS in them for many years and it always recovers after the winter and greens up again in no time at all. Some plants will even grow better in it than in moss peat, and cuttings are more likely to strike. It certainly isn't a waste of money and once you buy one bag you can keep propogating it so you never need to buy another bag again.
I wouldn't buy any just chop up some dried long fiber sphagnum make a layer about 1/2" to 1" deep and keep it moist (mist it well every couple days) and brightly lit and you'll start to grow your own after a few months. It does matter that you are using good water on live sphagnum as poor quality water will kill your moss before it kills plants.