Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 20:06:58 -0800 (PST) From: "R. Beer" <bbeer@u.washington.edu> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg231$foo@default> Subject: raising live Sphagnum
Hi Richard, thought I'd put in my $0.02 worh.
I'm lucky to live in an area where there is live sphagnum within walking
distance of my house. But being conservation minded, I don't believe in
going out and digging up armloads of the stuff for my pots.
At the high point of my CP cultivation, I had maybe 10 flats of pots and a
large tub planter, as well as various and sundry aquaria and fishbowls.
All the moss I ever had was the descendent of about three handfuls taken
from a local bog on lake Washington about 9 years ago.
I simply took a sharp knife and cut the moss up into tiny pieces - minute
really. I was tempted to try the food processor but thought that might
mutilate it a bit much (anyone tried it? Sphagnum cookery? ). :) One
small handful, cut like that, sprinkled over a large planter of peat and
watered in, will produce a lush cover in a season. Unless of course local
raccoons get their own idea, but that is another story... From then, I
would just "mow" the moss with scissors from time to time and cut up the
trimmings for other pots. No shortage now.
One thing I have *not* been successful with is trying to grow it from dry
long-fiber sphagnum moss. Theoretically the spores must be there but
either I didn't give it the right conditions for germination, or it was
too old and the spores weren't viable any more.
Bob
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