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Sphagnum as “The Canary in the Coal Mine”

What may seem obvious to experienced growers may be of some benefit to those just starting out . . .

I have found over the years that the utilization of live sphagnum, whether as a component in composts or simply as a top-dressing, offers several benefits to carnivorous plants, one of the chief being a clear benchmark of water quality and, ultimately, that of the eventual health of the plants themselves.

Sphagnum moss is notoriously sensitive to mineral-laden water and will not survive that condition for long. In many parts of the area where I live, for example, the water is so "choked" with minerals that plaques will quickly accumulate in any kettle or coffee maker; so growers generally depend upon reverse osmosis as a source of watering both their carnivorous plants and orchids, since summers in "Kali-fornia" rarely see any rain. The moss also has the additional benefit of providing local humidity for sensitive species and serves as a good indicator of when water is needed, since the sphagnum will quickly discolor as it is dries; and it is also highly-sensitive to fertilizers of any sort, "sounding" through its easily-burned tps, a potential "early alarm" for the grower. In addition, it tends to eventually crowd out any "unwanted" items in a pot. I have never seen Botrytis (a potentially destructive mold), for example, where the sphagnum actively grows.

While it may be somewhat difficult to obtain in its live form (though is far more common now), it is a simple task to induce long-fiber sphagnum (either from Chile or New Zealand, easily obtained from better nursuries) to grow from its dried condition. Simply load some saturated moss in a gallon or larger zip-lock bag, allow for moderate light and Tb, and let the innumerable spores do their worst. In a few weeks, you should see some growth.

In the photos below, I simply began with a few large handfuls from a 500 gram bale of New Zealand Sphagnum (Sphagnum cristatum), saturated the mess, and I do mean saturated it, with RO water -- and six weeks or so later:

Sph.jpg
Sph2.jpg


Healthy sphagnum, more often than not, indicates a healthy plant -- and it looks nice. What could be more better?

CF--HGB.jpg
 
What could be more better?

Maybe that sentence could be better ;) I kid btw

But you make a good point for sure, nothing like having a basically foolproof indicator that doesn't need batteries and looks nice to boot!
 
I used to have a shirt from "mo betta"...

I totally agree with BigBella. It's great for rooting things and live sphagnum is like a miracle cure for sick and ailing Nepenthes too - I learned that from the folks at Kew. When one starts to go south, the first thing they do is repot in a container full of live sphagnum.

For me, the sphagnum grows much faster if you wet it a little every day. If you just have a small amount of the live stuff you can chop it into tiny bits and strategically place the chopped bits all around the soil surface. Keep it wet and eventually you will have a nice lush bed of live sphagnum which helps the plant as BigBella said and as it grows you can harvest it for other uses.
 
is LFS really that easy to reanimate? im currently trying it in a water bottle
 
I used to have a shirt from "mo betta"...

I totally agree with BigBella. It's great for rooting things and live sphagnum is like a miracle cure for sick and ailing Nepenthes too - I learned that from the folks at Kew. When one starts to go south, the first thing they do is repot in a container full of live sphagnum.

For me, the sphagnum grows much faster if you wet it a little every day. If you just have a small amount of the live stuff you can chop it into tiny bits and strategically place the chopped bits all around the soil surface. Keep it wet and eventually you will have a nice lush bed of live sphagnum which helps the plant as BigBella said and as it grows you can harvest it for other uses.

I too had a similar T-shirt at one point, though my favorite (unofficially) commemorated Pope John Paul II's visit to San Francisco in the 1980s: "Kiss the ring, baby, bite the wafer!" My mother was not pleased -- not one bit . . .

As far as the moss is concerned, I cannot even tell you many species just volunteered in the stuff. A friend gave me some a few years back and it turned out that there were Drosera adelae seeds throughout the moss. There were no surviving fruit flies a couple years out . . .
 
is LFS really that easy to reanimate? im currently trying it in a water bottle

Yes . . .

Even if the weasels who distribute the stuff say it is "sterile," there is no way to ensure that spores will not survive. The damn things live centuries or more in some species and withstand fire, the scourage of Obama, and high taxes . . .
 
well i knew it couldnt be sterile, but thats awsome im going to keep trying and get LFS growing, thanks BigBella
 
how much light and what is the recommended temp for it, its been like 5 months since i tried to grow my sphagnum and i can barely see a shade of green. i grow it outdoor in shade, live in los angeles/CA
 
I used to use sphagnum, but wanted to stop damaging the environment and grow all my plants in milled spotted owls now.
 
  • #10
how does LFS damage the enviroment, i think your thinking of peat
 
  • #11
OMG the more i look at your moss the more i want it. ><
lol.
 
  • #12
how does LFS damage the enviroment, i think your thinking of peat


He was making a bit of a joke, though irresponsible harvesting of sphagnum moss (or peat, the decayed remains of the same) can be detrimental to bogs and wetlands as you may well imagine, considering how it is removed by the bale. If the moss were seen more often as the renewable and very profitable resource that it is -- such as the contemporary view of tropical hardwoods, now grown on plantations as much as the wild -- I don't think we'd be seeing such wholesale destruction of those environments.

That problem is academic, though, if you manage to grow it yourself . . .
 
  • #13
okay BigBella, i just put a bunch of LFS in a ziploc bag(the kind of bag not the brand, i'm using the kroger brand.) and one tiny spot of live sphagnum and i put it outside in a shaded area. any tips?
 
  • #14
I think you owe some money, Upper.... You already own some nice moss, you just need to pay for it.
 
  • #15
okay BigBella, i just put a bunch of LFS in a ziploc bag(the kind of bag not the brand, i'm using the kroger brand.) and one tiny spot of live sphagnum and i put it outside in a shaded area. any tips?

Sorry, I can't help you, it won't work with the Kroeger brand (heh, heh) . . .

Again, saturate the living hell out of it -- think bog -- and keep it in moderate Tbs (70s) and indirect light -- no cooking. The live spot will certainly grow as well as the spores in the dried material. Give it a few weeks, always keeping it wet . . .

I just began another batch in a Ziplock® gallon-size bag (did I mention it's a fine SC Johnson product?) to replant some Heliamphora this coming September . . .
 
  • #16
I used to use sphagnum, but wanted to stop damaging the environment and grow all my plants in milled spotted owls now.

I prefer lightly-macerated harp seals ( their oh, so fine pelts offer such great drainage) -- but each to his own . . .
 
  • #17
I think you owe some money, Upper.... You already own some nice moss, you just need to pay for it.

oh yeah...... do you accept paypal for shipping? or do i mail it to you.
 
  • #18
Sorry, I can't help you, it won't work with the Kroeger brand (heh, heh) . . .

Again, saturate the living hell out of it -- think bog -- and keep it in moderate Tbs (70s) and indirect light -- no cooking. The live spot will certainly grow as well as the spores in the dried material. Give it a few weeks, always keeping it wet . . .

I just began another batch in a Ziplock® gallon-size bag (did I mention it's a fine Johnson and Johnson product?) to replant some Heliamphora this coming September . . .
tbs?
 
  • #19
I've always advocated using live Sphagnum as much as possible and to grow your own. I've pontificated on the point several times in the past.

All my Sarracenia pots except the S. rosea have top dressings of live Sphagnum. As an experiment I topped the S. rosea with sand - no fungus gnats or moss growth as expected.

If you have established colonies of Sphagnum why bother going the long route and germinating more spores? Simply give the colonies a "haircut" and snip off the top 1/4-1/2" of live growth and toss it into a small tub or empty pot and keep it wet with adequate lighting. Repeat as often as you want the old stuff to grow out.

In a shorter time than messing around with dried stuff you'll have more Sphagnum than you know what to do with.

See av8tor1's page on Growing Sphagnum

And this University of Vienna page for more than you want to know on Sphagnum
 
  • #20
It's much faster doing that. I've yet to see anyone get anything impressive by trying to grow from spores. It's a very fast growing moss when it's happy.


I just wish the moss didn't look like crap for so long after you trim it :( Do you know if removing the moss layer, cutting it in half, putting the tips back in the pot and laying the stems out works almost as well as if you had laid the tips out? I never tried that.
 
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