Moss propagation, care, and general info

[froggsong]

Hi there! Tonight we will be having a discussion on mosses; propagating, caring for, and general info about how they grow, etc.

I have mentioned it in a couple of other threads, and I said it would be ~6pm (pacific) tonight. So, let's do this at 6:30 tonight (pacific), that will be 9:30 for those of you on the east coast.

If I get back on tonight and there aren't a whole lot of responses, I'll get some basic things posted and we'll reschedule.

It's too bad we don't have a chat client so that we can discuss things in real time. I'll talk to Marty about getting us one.

I'll see everyone at 6:30 (pacific)!

PS: if you want to read up a little bit before we get started, check out Moss Acres and New Moss Gardening, which is where I purchased the book I will be referring to during the discussion.

[boabab95]

ok, i like this moss(club moss)

[froggsong]

To start off, I just want to say that every time I reference "the book" I am referring to the book New Methods in Moss Gardening How to Grow Moss in Gardens and Landscapes by Richard R. Smith.

" Mosses are the largest division of the division of the Bryophytes (of the phylum Broyophyta) and existed on Earth before other land plants."
As vascular plants have flourished, mosses have given way and are now found mostly in those places where vascular plants are unable to grow. Mosses are short, have no true flowers, seeds, or even roots. The "roots" of moses are called rhizoids and their only purpose is to hold the moss in place (for the purpose of our discussion, I'll be referring to them as roots because it's easier to type... ). They have no lignin, which is the substance in cellulose that strengthens the woody stems of vascular plants, allowing them to grow tall and support heavy foliage. The leaves of mosses are very thin, usually the thickness of a single cell, and have no waxy cuticle to protect the leaf. They come in a wide array of shapes and most are green in color. There are more than 1800 species of moss in North America alone.

Mosses can grown on almost any surface that is porous. They can grow on soil, wood, rock, plastic, shingles and even asphalt. Not all mosses can grow on all these surfaces, and where one moss grows, another may not.

There are two basic types of mosses, those that grow with stems vertically, and those that grow horizontally. Those that grow vertically are called acrocarps and those that grow horizontally are called pleurocarps. Pleurocarps generally spread more quickly than acrocarps.

With some mosses, only the top 1/4" or so is actually alive, with the rest of the stems and leaves serving as a sort of sponge reservoir to keep the growing moss hydrated. The common sidewalk moss is like this.

[boabab95]

so is sphagnum moss a pleurocarps???

[froggsong]

Yeah, I think so. What do you guys think so far? Most of that came out of the book, I just paraphrased it.

[boabab95]

nice, how much is that book???

[froggsong]

The book was 17.50, it came out to 19.50 after either tax or shipping. It's a small book, but it's got lots of great info. I think it's worth the money, plus everyone that buys the book gets free access to download the new editions from the website when they come out. I'm trying to keep from posting everything in the book because I don't want there to be any legal issues...

So, the new method that this fellow has come up with is what he calls a "Moss Mat System". Something very similar can be used in our applications.

Basically, he puts down plastic sheeting, like pond liner or anything that will be a water barrier. You want it to keep soil from wicking moisture away from the moss and to keep grass and weeds from growing into the moss. The thickness of the sheeting isn't important, just that it will be a water barrier.

The next layer is composed of felt. He just goes to a fabric store and buys synthetic felt. He says that two or three layers is best. This will serve as a sort of sponge reservoir to keep the moss hydrated and for it to attach to.

One top of that, he breaks up clumps of moss and spreads them out, then he places tulle netting (a very fine mesh, it's so fine that you can barely see it, even up close! In the pictures in the book, he had to shoot across the moss before you could see the netting at all). The purpose of the tulle is to both hold the moss down, and to keep birds and animals from pulling it up looking for bugs and worms. The moss will grow up through the netting and eventually you won't be able to tell it's there at all.

Now, this method has been developed to be used in outdoor gardens. He says in the back of the book that moss doesn't grow well in terrariums, and originally he planned to leave it at that, that you shouldn't grow moss in terrariums. The next edition of the book will cover growing moss in terrariums though, so I'm eagerly awaiting his opinions and methods for our specific applications.

For now though, there are several ways that we can adapt this to be used in a vive. But we'll go over that in a bit. For now, I'm going to flip through the book really quick and go over moss care, then propagation.

[boabab95]

sounds great... thanks for explaining how the mat system works... one day after visiting the site, i spent 3 hours looking on google for it... only website-the site you bought this book from. lol

[beckdg]

nope... i'm here.

tulle netting is very similar to what's used in aquatic moss and non vascular or riccia placement in aquariums.

[boabab95]

is tulle netting that stuff used for those shower scrubbing things???