Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 10:36:29 -0500 (EST) From: Oliver T Massey CFS <massey@hal.fmhi.usf.edu> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg10$foo@default> Subject: Re: sphagnum, sphagnum, alive, alive-O!
> Dear CPers:
> I know this is slightly tangential, but what are people's
> experience growing/keeping live sphagnum moss? My readings and intuition
> indicate that wetter is better, but mine has always died under such
> conditions (the S. purpurea and S. leukophyllia are fine, thank you).
> Does anyone have any thoughts or experiences to share?
> Thanks,
> John E. Cavanaugh, MD, Fellow
John:
I have always used live sphagnum for just about all my plants when I could get
it, and most have been in it for the past five years or so. I use long fiber
native stuff for the most part. I simply orient the moss with the growing
points up (as it would be in the wild) and fill the whole pot with it. Almost
all of my pots stand in shallow water, maybe up to 1 and 1/2 inches deep in
rainy summers, and perhaps 1/4 inch during the winters. I see inevitable
breakdown of the moss at the bottom of the pot within a year and a half or so,
but the growing points remain healthy. In my experience RO water is a must,
one day of tap water will kill it. I also sometimes have inexplicable dead
spots pop up (mainly outside) where rain water or something else has bleached
it.
As far as being too wet, I haven't found this to be the case. Often, if I have
a few loose strands or a handful seems to be drying out for no good reason, I
just stuff it into the water in a corner of one of the watering trays and leave
it until I need it. Best as I recall, this always perks it up.
Hope this helps,
Tom in Fl.
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