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Moss in pots

jimscott

Tropical Fish Enthusiast
I've noticed that my CP pots eventually produce moss. Is it sphagmum moss? Is it beneficial?
 
Most likely it is not Sphagnum, but rather a carpet moss. It is generally not desirable as it can choke out smaller growing species. More importantly, moss growth is an indicator that nutrients are present in your mix, and this is not optimal for CP culture. I highly recommend that you rinse both the sand, perlite and peat that you use in your mix before planting in it to reduce the available micronutrients present in this material. Sterilization by microwave heat will deter the moss by killing the spores which they germinate from, but the nutrient issue will remain, and you should not rely only on this protocol.
 
Interesting. All pots that this has been occuring have been the store bought (Home Depot, Lowes / Little Pot Of Horrors, Botanical Wonders). I haven't added anything to the media, which is the original media, and the ONLY water they receive is deionized water, from our lab. Where would they get nutrients? Should I physically remove this moss or replant?
 
Tamlin has a point about the dangers of actual moss. But the only kind I've ever show up is sphagnum. Proticularly in the ones from the componies you mentioned because they sometimes stick a spring in with plant. What exactly does the moss look like? If it is like velvet and when you pull it up it looks like it has another type of growth under it and stays as a clump it is probubly carpet moss, but if it long and stringy and falls into strands when you pick it up and does not have a different bottom bit it is probubly sphagnum. Also, sphagnum when looked at from the tip down looks like little stars. A photo would help... OH! and sphagnum from spoor starts life as something resembleing a little green spiderweb over the top of the soil.
 
Stores like those you mention are notorious for their improper treatment of their plants.  Many growers immediately transplant into fresh media because the stores often use regular water and/or fertilizer, or runoff from fertilized plants can get into the CP media.

Sphagnum moss is thick and cushy and soft.  A websearch will show you what it look like.
 
Going through some older posts I came across a couple pictures from the "identify that plant." Goldtrap, on November 27th, gave us pictures of D. spatulata. which spat is it and what kind of moss is growing in the pots? Both spat and moss look reasonably close to what I have, even though the pics are a little blurry.
 
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