Live Sphagnum moss how to grow it & what grows in it !!
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 4:53 am
Hi
Sphagnum moss - what a great plant this is, so versatile and easy to grow in your green house, it has so many healthy attributes for your CP's, we have had many discussions at our CP society, about the great aspects of this plant and its versatility to be able to grow so many cp's in it. We believe that it helps to keep your plant healthy, as it seems to keep a lot of pests away from the plant, one member described it as liking it to having antibiotics for you plant when growing them in it, now we know that can not be, but with my growing experience and many others, in our society have had such success with this as a growing medium ,I thought I may tell who wants to listen, that this is truly a great plant or moss or medium however you want to put it, that aids in the health of your plants.
I have use many many different mediums, just about every thing that I could think of, to grow my plants in, and experience of others that have tried different mediums, one benefit of being in a CP society!! With some members having 20 to 30 years of growing experience, you only need 5 or 6 people like these and you have 100 to 150 or more years of experience to gain knowledge from, we observed that this is only medium that will not affect or inhibit the growth of the CP's in general is Sphagnum moss, if kept in a healthy growing state, now to suggest that you grow every plant in sphagnum moss is just silly!! And not the point I am suggesting, but what I am suggesting is, if you have a plant that may be struggling or not copping in the potting mix you have chosen try live sphagnum moss.
I now grow all bar 6 or 7 or so nepenthes out of the 400 plus plants I grow, in pure live sphagnum moss, no added materials like perlite or vermiculite or any other substantiates. No need, it don’t need any of them , sphagnum is just good enough on its own ,I have made some wood surrounds on my steel mesh benches, and put down weed matting, and placed live sphagnum moss down as a bed of moss, and place the nepenthe pots in it , this is growing all around the pots, and the pitchers that sit in the sphagnum grow to much bigger size , as soon as they hit the sphagnum moss with the tendril they immediately produce the trap and do not extend the tendril any further, it all so has the benefit of increasing the humidity around the pots ,which the pitchers just love, in the wild you will find a lot of the nepenthes, larger pitches very close to the ground and on the ground in thick lush vegetation, being a lower pitcher and always being lager they thrive in the surrounding vegetation.
Well getting away from my topic , sphagnum moss, can pretty well grow any CP and find it hard to think of one that I have not been able to grow in it weather by accident or by choice, by accident I mean from seed that has been blown around in the greenhouse and germinated in the sphagnum moss. Plants I have grown in sphagnum moss that I can think of, Cephalotus, tuber drosera; sundews like capensis, spatulata, and many others similar; Nepenthe, VFT's, binata, red dragon, Marston dragon, multifida, pygmy's , D.adeae, pinguicula, Sarras, seedling mainly Darlingtonia, Heliamphora, and most in-between! They are not wet affected or have stunted growth! But its not all ways practical to keep them in it, like sarracenia that need to be outside the greenhouse and the sphagnum moss doesn’t cope too well with that , so some more traditional mix is needed., Cephalotus many others that benefit from being outside the greenhouse, sphagnum moss is not realistic ,now this is in South Australia! and may not apply to your conditions , but for me if I have a plant that is sick, or not doing so well ,try it in live sphagnum moss in the greenhouse with more sun, and usually it responds, not all ways, as some are too far gone or just will die, not no matter what you do!! But a high percentage do regain their growth back. It is also a good indicator of humidity and water content in your plant , the mosses colour changes ,if its green and lush and growing strongly you have your conditions just about right for nepenthes, if it starts to go off green or whitish color you need more water at the plant and or humidity is low, hope this is not too long and boring but its a great thing to have in your greenhouse.
Here are a few pictures.
Sphagnum moss - what a great plant this is, so versatile and easy to grow in your green house, it has so many healthy attributes for your CP's, we have had many discussions at our CP society, about the great aspects of this plant and its versatility to be able to grow so many cp's in it. We believe that it helps to keep your plant healthy, as it seems to keep a lot of pests away from the plant, one member described it as liking it to having antibiotics for you plant when growing them in it, now we know that can not be, but with my growing experience and many others, in our society have had such success with this as a growing medium ,I thought I may tell who wants to listen, that this is truly a great plant or moss or medium however you want to put it, that aids in the health of your plants.
I have use many many different mediums, just about every thing that I could think of, to grow my plants in, and experience of others that have tried different mediums, one benefit of being in a CP society!! With some members having 20 to 30 years of growing experience, you only need 5 or 6 people like these and you have 100 to 150 or more years of experience to gain knowledge from, we observed that this is only medium that will not affect or inhibit the growth of the CP's in general is Sphagnum moss, if kept in a healthy growing state, now to suggest that you grow every plant in sphagnum moss is just silly!! And not the point I am suggesting, but what I am suggesting is, if you have a plant that may be struggling or not copping in the potting mix you have chosen try live sphagnum moss.
I now grow all bar 6 or 7 or so nepenthes out of the 400 plus plants I grow, in pure live sphagnum moss, no added materials like perlite or vermiculite or any other substantiates. No need, it don’t need any of them , sphagnum is just good enough on its own ,I have made some wood surrounds on my steel mesh benches, and put down weed matting, and placed live sphagnum moss down as a bed of moss, and place the nepenthe pots in it , this is growing all around the pots, and the pitchers that sit in the sphagnum grow to much bigger size , as soon as they hit the sphagnum moss with the tendril they immediately produce the trap and do not extend the tendril any further, it all so has the benefit of increasing the humidity around the pots ,which the pitchers just love, in the wild you will find a lot of the nepenthes, larger pitches very close to the ground and on the ground in thick lush vegetation, being a lower pitcher and always being lager they thrive in the surrounding vegetation.
Well getting away from my topic , sphagnum moss, can pretty well grow any CP and find it hard to think of one that I have not been able to grow in it weather by accident or by choice, by accident I mean from seed that has been blown around in the greenhouse and germinated in the sphagnum moss. Plants I have grown in sphagnum moss that I can think of, Cephalotus, tuber drosera; sundews like capensis, spatulata, and many others similar; Nepenthe, VFT's, binata, red dragon, Marston dragon, multifida, pygmy's , D.adeae, pinguicula, Sarras, seedling mainly Darlingtonia, Heliamphora, and most in-between! They are not wet affected or have stunted growth! But its not all ways practical to keep them in it, like sarracenia that need to be outside the greenhouse and the sphagnum moss doesn’t cope too well with that , so some more traditional mix is needed., Cephalotus many others that benefit from being outside the greenhouse, sphagnum moss is not realistic ,now this is in South Australia! and may not apply to your conditions , but for me if I have a plant that is sick, or not doing so well ,try it in live sphagnum moss in the greenhouse with more sun, and usually it responds, not all ways, as some are too far gone or just will die, not no matter what you do!! But a high percentage do regain their growth back. It is also a good indicator of humidity and water content in your plant , the mosses colour changes ,if its green and lush and growing strongly you have your conditions just about right for nepenthes, if it starts to go off green or whitish color you need more water at the plant and or humidity is low, hope this is not too long and boring but its a great thing to have in your greenhouse.
Here are a few pictures.
once a week or fortnight hope this help James 