Cultivation help

friendttyy

Arachnolord
Joined
Nov 29, 2012
Messages
614
Hi. I recently tried growing sphagnum moss but had no success. I put the dried moss on Coco peat and sprayed water on them. They came back to live but most are now turning brown... I spray water everyday and leave them near my window where they get sunshine. Can anyon tell me what I am doing wrong and also provide info on how you keep/cultivate sphagnum moss.
Thanks in advance!
Sunny
 

Louise E. Rothstein

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
430
Sphagnum moss is salt intolerant-there might have been minerals in the water that you were using.
If there were,they would have become more and more concentrated whenever evaporating water left its minerals behind.

There might have been heat intolerance too-that sunny window might have heated up for enough of the day to create a problem.

Since either or both of these problems could have happened you might check both out before you try again.
 

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
11,048
Touch the moss very gently with the tip of a finger. Soft and yielding, very healthy, the harder, firmer, less. Crisp, feels like it will break, it's near dying. Likes cool and damp. Better it lives in that condition rather than having to water it.
 

dirtmonkey

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 27, 2014
Messages
16
Besides needing rain or distilled water, another problem might be that you've got a temperate species, and since it's summer where you are, it could get too warm for temperate Sphagnum inside :(

Edit: Just noticed Louise already said that, sorry!
 

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
11,048
Just remembered a man who grew and sold this stuff. Had a contained, nearly sealed building and kept the humidity >95% and down around 45 degrees. That eliminated the need to water at all and the low temperature restricted the growth of problem plants and organisms. He had precipitators in the ceiling. Plastic sheets weighted in places so the moisture would condense and drip onto the moss. That keeps all minerals out of the picture.
 
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