Moss

Josh

Plant
8728

I'm currently growing a small patch of sphagnum moss with my indoor plants under a dome. What I would eventually like to do is have my greenhouse table of sarracenia plants filled around each of the pots. Has anyone tried this before or have any tips? Will full sun and heat kill the moss even if it's always sitting in water?
 

Avery

Carnivore
Looks good. I think I can see some Sphagnum sprouting!

Full sun is best but it should grow in a variety of exposures. Use pure (RO, distilled, rain) water and keep it wet! Eventually you should have lots.
 

Raymond

Carnivorous Plant Addict
I see a whole bunch of star moss on the right and sphagnum to the left. Also full sun will blech the sphagnum even under water, place it in the shady parts and let it spread from there.
 

Carson Hardy

Carnivorous Plant Addict
To me, that patch on the right does not look like sphagnum moss. I see a little corner of green sphag to the left of your lanata.

I have tried growing sphagnum in many different ways, since, that's what actually started my carnivorous journey.

There are many types of sphagnum, and they all like different things. However, in general, they like to be moist, not waterlogged, bright light, but not necessarily direct sun. I'd suggest trying it in many different places, since some types will flourish where others won't. And there and many types...
 

Avery

Carnivore
True- just assumed that’s what OP was referring to.

That being said- I do think that when trying to sprout Sphagnum from dried LFS- which I assumed was the case here- it should be kept fairly wet. It’ll help to get everything growing, then the new growth should sprout up and grow out of the (semi-submerged) media.

Just my experience! Like Carson said- there’s lots of moss and everyone’s experiences will vary.
 

Josh

Plant
Thanks for the advice guys. That patch started from strands collected on purchased plants over the last two years so not sure what type it would be. I also cut the top live moss off that pot you mentioned @Carson Hardy. That grew from dried sphagnum. Went walking around today and found a couple types of moss growing in the bush, I'll post pics in a minute. I'll try taking some of these, rinsing them out and see if they take off in the greenhouse as well. Do you know any resources to identify them or can tell by the pictures?
 

Eric

Carnivore
None of the mosses you wanted to show is actually Sphagnum. There is some around the Nepenthes and next to the lanata, but that's all. Check out some images of Sphagnum species e.g. here. There are a lot of species ( see efloras) with different needs.
You need a key? Search the internet and you'll find plenty, e.g. the BBS Field Guide, UBC,..., but you need some determination to get it done. There are many web pages with information and images of all kinds of mosses provided by Bryologists, e.g. Swissbryophytes, BLAM, Lüth, ...
Usually you can't grow Sphagnum from dried moss. It's dead. Other kind of mosses will grow on it from spores but hardly ever Sphagnum.
Start with living Sphagnum and it is very easy as long as you keep it very bright, cool, humid and watered with rain water from above.
You want to have fun growing all kinds of mosses? Look at this old booklet (Fletcher's Moss growers Handbook). But be careful not to get hooked or you'll end up remodelling your frontyard into a Japanese moss garden.
 

Josh

Plant
I'll go over those websites and see if I can identify them, thanks @Eric . Having the right amount of light and moisture won't be a problem but I'm sure it'll get too warm in the greenhouse even shaded. Went around and clipped a couple samples from some boggy areas. We'll see if they flourish or fail in a month :p
 
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VarunA

Carnivorous Plant Addict
I agree...the patch in the top middle of the above post is sphagnum, but nothing else is sphagnum. Still nice to have moss around though. Good in general, but can become a problem if u try to grow it with seedlings.
 

Avery

Carnivore
Yup- on further inspection I think ya’ll are right!

And while I’ve had dried/dead Sphagnum resprout, it seems to be a rare occurrence. Good luck with the moss!
 
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