Propagating Live Sphagnum moss

[arvin555]

Tried doing a search about how to propagate live sphagnum moss, but couldn't find any on the forum.

Okay might be a simple question for some, but I have very little experience with Live Sphagnum. Except that recently I have a pot of drosera that came with some nice live sphagnum moss medium.

Now I use dried Sphagnum moss as my medium in my droseras, VFTs and Sarracenias (I don't use them on nepenthes though). I was hoping to propagate some of those live moss into the pots of other plants.

Would like to request for tips on how to do it.

I already tried my first experiment by just pulling out a bit of the live moss at a time and "planting" them on top of the dried sphagnum moss medium. Would this work?

How can I make them multiply faster and cover the whole pot quicker?

Thanks in advance!

TTFN
Arvin

[Tarence]

Arvin, I have had limited success as well. from what I know, yes, planting them on top of dead lfs will work. but they grow painfully slow. i do know of others growers but have never heard them mention any techniques to speed up their growth. only complaints on how slow their growth is/ was.

[shawnintland]

The only place my sphagnum 'grows' is in my seedling boxes. I assume because of the extremely high humidity. I'm keeping a couple of my old boxes going just for the sphagnum even though all the nep seeds germinated and were transplanted months ago!
Most all of them were either 'regenerated' dry sphagnum or possibly from spores within the dried stuff. Good luck and if you find the key, let us know!

[Cindy]

It is fastest growing when given very high humidity, good light and cool temperatures. 20C-25C would be good.

My ampullaria pots have got it growing. During the hot months, the moss slows down too. Maybe because of the lower humidity. I keep some in boxes on my balcony floor in bright shade. Seems that different forms respond differently. So far, the one we got from Australia (Tasmania) is doing pretty good in higher temperature.

[arvin555]

Thanks guys, so it really isn't just me then. Yes I will do some experiments and will report back. I use dried sphagnum moss, but my source probably had them on stock a long long time and maybe spores might not be viable by now, luckily I was able to get some in a pot with a drosera, the pot is full of them so can afford a bit of experiment. Will try the high humidty high light, but unfortunately Cindy, difficult for us to get that low temps

I have collected Java moss for my nepenthes in a mountain resort, those are doing okay, but also slow, they do look nice, but not as nice as Sphagnum.

TTFN
Arvin

[NepNut]

Try to do a search @ GSC http://www.greenculturesg.com/forum/...p?showforum=54 Cindy and others have posted many thread for cultivating LSM

[Ifurita]

I don't actively cultivate live sphagnum for use, but I do have several pots of it. From my experience, good light is a yes, but there is actually an optimum humidity level, beyond which the sphagnum will grow long and stringy instead...which is not really that healthy. Now temps are NOT necessary if you get a nice friendly heat resistant strain of the stuff. Most of my sphagnum grows outdoors and grows faster than the stuff which grows in my room and gets nice cooling. It may take a while to establish from a single head, but once it gets going, its pretty okay. For me I just chuck a head onto either the dead sphagnum or peat, either way works decent.

[TS]

I have a few pots of sphagnum moss in different locations and growing conditions. Generally they grow pretty well.

I have two pots that I put in my garden under direct sunlight for the whole day, they grow exceptionally well despite the hot burning sun. I watered them twice a day, is this the trick?

There are another two pots (from two different sources) I hung under the orchid shade netting where I grew my neps in, they grew into two different pattern, one grew long, another grew in lumps. They are next to each other but appeared differently.

Another pot I placed under bright spot only receiving two to three hours of direct morning sun, this one appeared bushy too.

I think sphagnum moss grow pretty fast, it's just that the incorrect temperature, lighting and humidity that stunt the growth. High humidity, temperature not exceeding 35°C & good lighting should do the trick. Once they adapted to our condition, they'll grow quite fast and steadily.

[TS]

OK, I've taken some pictures of my sphagnum moss.

This one getting a few hours of morning sun.


This two pots under the shade clothes.


This is the one I put under direct sun receiving whole day sunlight.


It seems those getting more sunlight are greener.

[NepNut]

Wow... very nice looking LSM, I wish I can grow LSM like you, what media did you use for the LSM only pot? Mixture of peat, sand and LFS?