using green moss for a mount

[sailortom2]

Living here the Northwest we have ton of moss growing everywhere was wondering if anyone tried doing a mount with live moss. Harry from Andy's mentioned the moss that grows around here but didn't ask the right questions to know what kind of moss.....i gathered two vastly diff kinds the other day...one from the ground looks like a mini fern the other more like spanish moss from a blow down limb was growing in the canopy....any ideas?

[Connie Star]

It sounds like an interesting idea- I think there is some concern about sustainably harvesting moss in the Northwest-
I know a woman Nalini Nadkarni at Evergreen State College who is working with prisoners and getting them to grow the moss for commercial sales- here's a link to her website- I don't know how to access the moss though www.nalininadkarni.com

[Anisa]

I think it would look nice. However I would be concerned about bugs and mold it comes with.

[ronaldhanko]

I'd be very careful it's clean, too, Tom. You not only may having living pests but you might also have slug and snail eggs. As to what Connie says, it certainly doesn't seem like we'll ever run out of moss here, but they didn't think we'd run out of passenger pigeons either.

[keithrs]

I have several with live moss. I'm not sure what kind it is because it just grows from spores in the air. I will say its a balance to when to water.

I have two masdevallia coccinea, dracula sodiroi pleurothallis amparoana, and denrobium hancockii, all mounted with live moss. The live moss is really growing on sphagnum. The denro came from Andy's and with a fern too.

[lepanthes89]

I for one routinely pull off some live moss from a pot and add it to the newly mounted Pleurothallid or what not;they seem to love it.

[RJSquirrel]

I use the hypnum moss from the yard but I let it soak in Consan 20, ( or physan 20, its the same active ingredient) overnight..If I'm out of Consan, NEEM oil is good too for all kinds of critters seen and unseen. I swap fungicide bactericides rotate them monthly If need be. The moss you are talking about though from the trees, spanish moss, Im assuming isnt worth a darn for plants..You can use it for dressing up but as far as growing stuff in it..It wont support anything...You cant water it bec it rolls off.. Not the kind of moss you looking for to use in all honesty..Ive tried it and it smells like feet when it gets wet and it rots out really fast once it gets dry.. Worthless cept for the trees..why good for trees? The moss only hangs onto dead branches and limbs. When it gets heavy it pulls the dead timber down returning in to the forest floor..Moss does not kill trees but why you see it in many tree that are dying is bec the tree is decaying and natures natural recycler is MOSS

[cday2inflorida]

Being from southern Florida you would think we never suffer from "not enough" humidity. I think you can always gauge how well you are doing humidity-wise by how green your pot or mounts are in moss. My plants that have the mount or the pot covered in the low growing/carpeting species of moss are always growing like weeds. And I'm not talking about algae. I don't have a clue as to what species the moss is. It just seems to volunteer.

[DavidCampen]

The "Spanish Moss" that I am familiar with is in the bromeliad family, Tillandsia usneoides.
Spanish moss - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Spanish Moss, Tillandsia usneoides, does not grow in the Pacific Northwest. What you seem to be describing is more probably various lichen species.
Usnea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I use live Spanish Moss, Tillandsia usneoides, with mounted orchids where it does an admirable job of absorbing and holding moisture.

Originally Posted by RJSquirrel

... The moss you are talking about though from the trees, spanish moss, Im assuming isnt worth a darn for plants..You can use it for dressing up but as far as growing stuff in it..It wont support anything...You cant water it bec it rolls off.. Not the kind of moss you looking for to use in all honesty..Ive tried it and it smells like feet when it gets wet and it rots out really fast once it gets dry.. Worthless cept for the trees..

[RJSquirrel]

....and Spanish moss is an epiphyte which absorbs nutrients (especially calcium)....just what most people want to surround they orchids in is a nutrient sucking moss...admirable doesn't equate to adequate...sorry you aren't being specific..putting moss on a mount isn't growing the plant in the moss


what I didnt consider just then was location..Your moss might be better than what I can get bec I live in a most horrible polluted city. Moss being air plants pick all the crap particles out of the air and why it probably smells and is worthless to me.

On 2nd thought location of the moss's origin might lend it more habitable and friendly. I personally don't use it out of the trees anymore.