Spanish Moss

[Nepenthesis]

I ordered two bunches of Spanish Moss from a vendor back in December and it hasn't grown a single bit, but it flowered during the summer. It is the thick variation of the species, not the thin. It is definitely alive, kinda greenish-gray... I really like the look it adds to my greenhouse and I want it to grow so I can decorate with it, but it just won't grow at all! My humidity has been 90% at night and anywhere between 50-60% at the hottest part of the day, and now it is 70% at lowest during the day with my new swamp cooler. I used to mist it and fertilize it, but I stopped months ago after no apparent growth. It is in my highland greenhouse growing with my neps, so it gets natural sunlight.

What can I do to make it grow? Also, is the packaged Spanish Moss that they sell at Home Depot or Lowes living, or is it dried? It looks the greenish-gray that living Spanish Moss does.

TIA!

EDIT: Nights between 50-60F, days between 70-80F.

 

[Nepenthesis]

Niemand?

Somebody has to grow this stuff, or at least know if the packaged stuff is living...

 

[JMN16150]

Try caring for it like a common tillandsia, I mean try submerging all of it in clean, not tap water for one whole night until morning for one day of each week as a watering schedule. Tillandsia relatives(including Spanish moss and bromeliads) usually grow painfully slow. If it does not grow PERIOD, sorry, you have a dead clump of Spanish moss...

 

[Sundrew]

I've heard people put moss in a blender with buttermilk and gel to paint it onto a surface, and it lives off the milk's nutrients.

 

[31drew31]

I've heard people put moss in a blender with buttermilk and gel to paint it onto a surface, and it lives off the milk's nutrients.

Spanish moss is a terrible name for this plant. It's a Tillandsia and not your common moss.

 

[Sundrew]

Sorry, I didn't realize.

 

[Jcal]

I collected a lot of Spanish moss off my property in Louisiana. Even offered it as a giveaway here but oddly there wasn't any takers.
Mine has been growing well. I keep it in the corners of my growing areas. Slightly in the shade and where it more moist.

 

[mcmcnair]

Pine think about where it grows naturally, heavily shaded understories of trees, full sun is just gonna fry it. But I think your humidity is good and I would use JMN's watering schedule that seems like a good idea.

 

[Nepenthesis]

The greenhouse is under 50% shade cloth and only gets a bit of direct sun every day. Humidity stays like 60% at lowest during the day and maybe 90% at night. I'll try submerging it in distilled for one night a week and see if that works.

Is the Spanish Moss they sell in bags at Home Depot living? Can I buy some of that to hang around the greenhouse and grow? It looks greenish, not the dead brown color.

 

[Whimgrinder]

Is the Spanish Moss they sell in bags at Home Depot living? Can I buy some of that to hang around the greenhouse and grow? It looks greenish, not the dead brown color.

No. Its just a decorative material to dress up hanging baskets. It has probably been "cooked" to sterilize it.

 

[Nepenthesis]

No. Its just a decorative material to dress up hanging baskets. It has probably been "cooked" to sterilize it.

Awww!

Maybe I'll order some on eBay for Christmas.