FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

What are the uses of live Sphagnum moss? is it easily propogated/grown? Does it grow quickly? Wouldn't it be nice to grow your own patch just for personal use? Makes me wonder how its harvested in new Zealand.

Well you can plant some CPs in live sphag. You can use it as a top dressing. You can dry it out and use it for planting. It usually grows fairly slowly. I have 3 10/20 trays and various containers with live sphag growing in them. I love the stuff.

KategoricalKarnivore wrote:Well you can plant some CPs in live sphag. You can use it as a top dressing. You can dry it out and use it for planting. It usually grows fairly slowly. I have 3 10/20 trays and various containers with live sphag growing in them. I love the stuff.

that is where I'm hoping to get to, we have some as a top dressing in one pot currently.

riveraXVX wrote: that is where I'm hoping to get to, we have some as a top dressing in one pot currently.

Here is one tray and a little bit of the red I have. I love using the red as top dressing for green plants.

awesome I actually just ordered some red/orange a couple nights ago!

KategoricalKarnivore wrote:

riveraXVX wrote: that is where I'm hoping to get to, we have some as a top dressing in one pot currently.

Here is one tray and a little bit of the red I have. I love using the red as top dressing for green plants.

that's cool. I didn't realize you could grow it like that. this moss is a foot and a half tall, so it could be trimmed off and it grow back. Or I could start a tray for top dressing. it looks like there is red in there to me. and red/green? so you just trim it off and let it dry out. I will have to start a tray and try that. Thanks yall

there are some pretty good videos online about growing it and how a few people do it, more or less just trimming a small head here or two from the growth to use for topdressing and reputting it down in its natural growing direction, other than that keep it moist.

I'd love to hear some more tips for how people grow theres/where though!

That tray I posted is in a 20 gallon long aquarium. It is completely closed off. Lighting is 2 100watt 6500K cfls. It was harvested from the ditch at my mother in laws house.

These two trays have been growing outside on my back porch until about a week ago when I moved them in onto my grow rack. Lighting is 4 4ft 6500K fluorescent bulbs. They are kinda beat up still from Harvey. All 3 trays are just live sphag no base layer. I keep about a quarter to half inch of water in the trays at all times.

KategoricalKarnivore wrote:That tray I posted is in a 20 gallon long aquarium. It is completely closed off. Lighting is 2 100watt 6500K cfls. It was harvested from the ditch at my mother in laws house.

These two trays have been growing outside on my back porch until about a week ago when I moved them in onto my grow rack. Lighting is 4 4ft 6500K fluorescent bulbs. They are kinda beat up still from Harvey. All 3 trays are just live sphag no base layer. I keep about a quarter to half inch of water in the trays at all times.

it seems to grow - or live - off dieing pine bark and wood debris. it seems to start growing from a marshy dead looking area that is also sphagnum moss but tan or deadish looking.(looks like lfspm you buy but with debrie) under that is wet marsh or peat/sand soil. Then the moss seems to grow straight up from in ropes of sphagnum moss. Which leads me to how is it harvested and not killed in the process? trim off the top several inches like clipping a hedge?
oh and are you saying it isn't growing in anything but water?
I might get a hand full from the bog to grow but not harvest the moss. I'm just curious. I believe where this sphag is deepest, its 3 or 4 feet thick of it. if it was in an area to be developed and its going to be destroyed, I would get permission and try to harvest it.

if it is an area that is going to be developed, I'd contact them they may tell you take it all haha. I know some developers don't mind letting individuals or groups in for removing native plants and the like - I know there are a few local native plant groups here that do that sorta thing and are always on the lookout for places about to be bulldozed

from what I have seen videos of (our moss should be here monday!) most people just clip the top growing heads from what they are growing just don't completely destroy any one area, which will then spread out more on their own also or continue growing, think about if you were going to cover a small area, but filling it up with small heads from random parts of existing moss you have growing

least that was my take on it

I don't know how they harvest it for commercial use. You can just cut off the top few inches from enough to basically cover the bottom of whatever container you are gonna use. You can put a base layer of dead sphag if you want. Keep it moist and wait. It'll grow and fill in. And yes all they are growing in water. Nothing else. No peat or dead sphag base layer. They don't need it. I have pieces stuck to the glass on the inside of my terrarium several inches off the bottom that grow just fine not touching anything but the glass. They were just little pieces that got stuck and now they grow.

KategoricalKarnivore wrote

yes all they are growing in water.

that's awesome

For what it's worth

http://pitcherplant.org/Online-Catalog/ ... Plant.html is by far the best moss I have found, they pack it soooooooo fullllll!!!! I give 1000 thumbs ups to these guys.