Growing Kyoto Moss from Spores?!

FwoGiZ · #1 03-01-2010, 12:22 PM

I bought some kyoto spores from natural bonsai in Montreal, (shipping was fast and easy btw! less than 20$ i received my spores only a few days later)
I was wondering if any of you guys know anything about growing from spores... They sent me a tiny "how to" but I was wondering if I could use any of the soils I already have here. I have tropical mix (peat moss, composted forest products, perlite, lime, wetting agent) , coco fiber, fir bark, orchid mix (aged fir bark, arcilite), potting soils... I was thinking about using tropical mix mixed with sand.. what do you guys think?
Thanks in advance!

Epiphile · #2 03-01-2010, 12:57 PM

I haven't tried this yet- let us know how it goes. Apparently it requires quite a bit of patience.

D3monic · #3 03-01-2010, 04:23 PM

I just got some the other day off of amazon. The ones I got had dirt mixed in with them other wise I would of used a spray bottle to apply it. I ended up mixing it with some dry spagnum moss and making a paste out of it. I basically used a paint brush and painted it on where ever I wanted it to grow. No growth yet but its only been a few days. The paint brush idea didnt work very well for me though.

Grimm · #4 03-01-2010, 05:17 PM

I received my Kyoto Moss at least over a month ago...I currently have 1/2 of a package on about 1 square foot of uncompressed soil (Zoo-Med type I believe)
I have the soil in a shallow glass caserol dish with saran wrap sealing the humidity inside and I have kept it constantly moist in a low light location indoors....After at least a month I see NO signs of any growth. Its annoying me now lol

Hopefully it starts to grow soon enough...But even if it does grow in the dish, who knows if it will manage to survive in much warmer and brighter vivarium conditions once I move it. I hate moss!!! I cant grow it or keep it alive anywhere!!!!

FwoGiZ · #5 03-01-2010, 05:56 PM

well I will try something and get back to you guys with the results I guess!

froggsong · #6 03-01-2010, 10:37 PM

You should look up the type of conditions that moss grows in. You'll need to know whether it needs acidic or alkaline soil. Most likely it will be acidic. If the substrate you are using isn't right for the moss, it won't grow, at least not quickly. For example, if the soil is not acidic enough, the coating on the spores will not wear away and allow the spores to grow into moss.

I recently purchased a book on mosses (the link to the site was posted here on the forum), and I'm very happy to have done so. This fellow grows his mosses on what he calls a moss mat system. It is basically vinyl sheeting, a layer of felt, the moss (in your case, spores), then a layer of tulle (fine mesh that can be found at fabric stores). He says that this eliminates the need for soil testing/amending in order to grow beautiful mosses. The pictures of his mosses in the book are certainly lush and beautiful. You could also do this with open cell foam. I recommend starting a second batch, seeding it onto some felt, foam, or other surface that will keep it moist. I've had great luck with moss on wood as well as foam in my newt tank, so I know that this can be beneficial from experience.

Grimm · #7 03-02-2010, 12:19 AM

Ive come across a few different "recipies" for growing moss.

One of them is mixing fresh moss, or spores with plain yogurt and painting in onto whatever surface you want "mossed".
Another one consists of 1 cup buttermilk, 1 tbs corn syrup, 1 cup beer, and dried up pine needles (for added acidity) with spores or fresh moss (with spores) aswell.

I did try the first method using just yogurt but I accidentally let it dry out a few to many times. One thing I found is that the mold grew at an insane rate...My painted Lica stone looked like a cloud or a big huge cotton ball after a few days and after every wattering the mold grew even more. Along with it came a terrible stench haha

froggsong · #8 03-02-2010, 12:34 AM

The book I keep refering to says that when you grind up the moss, the object is to make the moss grow again, rather than the spores. I'll have to grab the book tomorrow so I can explain it better (when I'm not medicated).

FwoGiZ · #9 03-02-2010, 02:18 AM

so this means when I will be transplanting this moss into a viv, it won't keep growing, invading the whole vivarium?
Do you know if this "moss growing mat" is easyly made? I might wanna try it if not too time/money consuming.

froggsong · #10 03-02-2010, 02:59 AM

Yes, it's very easy to make, and quite inexpensive. I'll read over the book again tomorrow and post more details. I can definitely see where his system would work very effectively. I have an old computer chair that is sitting outside (we missed it when we were moving in and it's not had time to dry out all the way to bring it inside). It get's rained on. It's growing moss. It's only been out there since December or so, and I've not put any moss strands or spores on it, so the moss that's beginning to grow is just from windblown spores. I'm considering adding some spores/crushed moss to it to see how it does alongside the stuff that's naturally there.