FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I have a cake tray and a pack of starter moss. How should I put the moss on? Do I put dead sphagnum moss under the live or what?

I followed the way this guy does it.
https://youtu.be/lhrQLUQxL7M
Works for me.

as long as it stays wet I don't think it matters. It grows on my sarr's collection on top of peat like a weed. I have 3 1020 treys just filled with it just growing on plastic.

some of reactions people have to my treys of moss are pretty funny asking me how i get it to grow like that. All i do is wet it with the hosepipe every 2-3 days.

To maximise ypur crop, if you have old sphagnum use that too as it will be full of spores that will grow.
So put an inch or so depth of peat (old peat will do and it is a way to recycle it), although as it is a bryophyte the peat isn't strictly necessary but it works for me, place pieces of your moss on top of it, spaced an inch or so apart, keep wet in a temperature from 12 -25C in a sunny position.
Hey presto, a carpet of green.

Cheers
Steve

The first sphagnum moss I tried to grow I used a substrate of peat moss. The humic acid and tannins wreaked havoc on the green sphagnum...staining the sphagnum with brown ugliness and seemed to retard the sphagnum's growth until it dwindled away. Now, this was my first attempt so there was probably something else I messed up on, so take that experience with a grain/chunk of salt. The next few batches that I've started I simply used an empty plastic container five or six inched deep and something like 12x18(?) in size and scattered the moss out on the bare plastic bottom. I watered it enough so that the bottoms of the moss were in water but the tops were out. No brown staining and the moss has done much better. I had plenty of moss to start with, though, and it wasn't scattered out too widely so that may have given me an edge, too. Since that first time, though, I just haven't wanted peat beneath my live sphagnum.

On another note... I have thought about starting a layered substrate to try growing on. Starting with a thin layer of silica sand, then a layer of a mix of something like 75% silica sand and 25% peat moss (maybe), then a layer of dried sphagnum, and finally the live sphagnum on top. Semi, kinda, maybe replicating a native substrate. It's probably more trouble than it's worth doing but I may just try it. I'm sure I'm inventing the wheel here, but I might as well give it a shot one day.

ETA: Also, I've seen an interesting technique that is reported to work well. It's basically a piece of 3/4" or so rigid foam insulation board with a heavy cotton/canvas cloth draped over it and the assembly floating in a container of water. The cotton material wicks the water up on top of the foam board and the sphagnum moss is placed on this. It is stated that this keeps the moss hydrated properly and it grows well. I can see how this might be a workable technique...especially if you like to "tinker". Cool concept.

Scroll down the page to "3 - Floating sphagnum box" : https://www.coxnature.com/index.php?rou ... ogger_id=6

K, thanks for the help.

I've found live sphagnum soaking in water generally doesn't do well.
I've found live sphagnum suspended above water generally doesn't do well.
I've found live sphagnum put ontop of some other substrate and kept wet/humid and out of direct sunlight grows like a weed.

I've made small terrariums (layer of river rocks on bottom, layer of activated charcoal, layer of perlite, then about 3 inches of new zealand sphagnum moss mixed with perlite and coconut chips) and placed live sphagnum on top, and I've had to trim it back to be able to see the plants.

I've wrapped some sarr roots with mixtures of dead and live sphagnum moss, and shoved it into peat moss, and the sphagnum moss has taken over.

I've tried putting sphagnum moss directly in a 1020 tray and keeping it wet, and it turned into a slimy mess. I've tried putting sphagnum moss ontop of light crating in a 1020 tray in my grow area, and it either dries out quickly or turns into a smily mess.

I found the way @wcrosman pointed out. Found before I signed up here. I find it to be a pretty straight forward explanation and it works. I just received my live red moss today and will be using the same method for that. If it works out as planned I will be happy to trade or even add some to the seed bank.