Sphagnum cultivation

[meizzwang]

To recap, here's an overview of how to produce commercial quantities of sphagnum moss within a year. stop buying that stuff from overseas or even within the US, they rip it out of the wild, and due to increased demand, an unknown amount of habitat is being destroyed as we speak!

1) use a generous amount of starting material, don't skimp on the "starts."
2) Get your moss established with great growth momentum before growing out large quantities.
3) literally harvest starts by cutting off the top 1-2" of the moss. Only select the best looking growth points, and make sure there's a minimum amount of brown moss (from underneath).
4) let the starts recover for maybe 2 weeks before you think about fertilizing. Fertilize too early and it can cause everything to crash.
5) don't lose that growth momentum: poor starts or stressed moss can set production back a year.
6) use deionized water or water low in total dissolved solids like you would with carnivorous plants.
7) Fertilize 1/4 strength maxsea (for acid loving plants), 1X a month, maybe 2X a month, depends on your weather. These plants aren't very pickly about what kind of fertilizer to use. Be careful, overfertilizing can cause the plants to take up to a year to recover!
8) You want to see bright, neon green growth, that means the growth rate is rapid. Dark green, or yellowish moss means very slow growth and/or unhappy sphagnum.
9) full sun yields the best quality moss, but you have to balance that out with temperature. In my climate, I can only grow this in full sun during the fall, winter, and part of spring. When the air temps. are around 78F, they go into part shade and then when we have our 90F+ temps, the moss only gets morning sun.

I'm still learning about drying sphagnum, and will share my findings probably sometime in the future. So far, it seems it can take 3-4 weeks to dry in my climate unless you space the moss out very thin on racks. If you dry the moss outside, you'll want to harvest when it's still warm, sunny, with no rain.

In reference to the pics below, this is the best "head start" I've ever had with newly planted sphagnum! This is 2 weeks after planting. If you look back on my previous posts, in some years, I think it took a month or more for the new starts to get established and start growing. This stuff pictured below is already showing signs of growth! Photos taken 11/1/18:


watered daily. The trays are filled ~95% full of old sphagnum moss, and then the 5% space remaining is filled with starts. At this stage, the trays are irrigated overhead in the morning and become water logged. By the end of the day, due to growth (transpiration) and our lower humidity, the trays are no longer waterlogged but still very moist:

[outsideben]

Hey meizzwang, Thanks so much for putting this all together. I have a few different little cultures going outdoors now.

Does anyone have experience moving a normally cold temperate sphagnum indoors for the winter? I'm curious if they would need to go dormant for the winter in order to stay healthy, or if they could transition smoothly to year-round warm conditions.

I guess the only way to know for sure would be to try with a little bit of each type and see what happens, but I figured I'd check first.

[meizzwang]

sure thing outsideben! What grow zone are you in or where are you generally located? Sphagnum grows is very cold climates like Alaska and spends months on end under snow with little to no light, so in an unheated, cool garage, it should do just fine.....provided it naturally slowed down in growth and was in a semi-dormant stage before being placed in the dark.

Alternately, if you bring it indoors and grow it under lights, it should continue to grow just fine hypothetically, but if you have other indoor plants growing under the same lights, beware that you may be introducing pests and possible diseases to the area.

[outsideben]

I'm located in NY, and the moss is also from the area, so it should have no problem handling the winters underneath a ton of snow.

I just wanted to try growing out some inside to see what happens. I'm new to the whole carnivorous plants world and moss seems like it's one of the fun parts. There's so many different species and variations within species, and I'm just pumped to grow something this winter.

[meizzwang]

This unusually cold spring here in Northern CAlifornia is a boon for Sphaghnum! Interestingly, I have never experienced such cold, heavy rains in May here in the Bay Area, CA in my entire life. while that doesn't mean much, it does make me think that weather patterns on this planet are changing.

What this cold weather does mean is incredible sphagnum growth! Photos taken 5/17/19:

Here's a genotype from Georgia, I have no idea what species it is, but it grows very well just like the california native species I mainly grow:


I think this is the Georgia genotype(below) close up. started with a very, very tiny amount many years ago and it overgrew a pot. I then took that sphagnum, spread it over 3 trays, and one tray (pictured above) ended up growing very strong:


And here's the california native sphagnum (mostly, except the one tray to the very left):


Interestingly, with rainy weather comes poor water quality. I've had 140ppm water for a very long time now from the tap, and most of the times, the sphagnum dies off eventually, but despite being watered daily with this salty water, the spaghnum is doing just fine, and it's even sporulating again this year:




how can you not love this stuff? I might end up trying to grow a commercial quantity in the near future:


The trick? Full sun when it's cold. Even better trick? Luck out and have cold weather when there's full sun peppered with days of heavy rain, and you'll get moss looking like this:



Good stuff, goes well with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt N Peppa:

[meizzwang]

I still have the sphagnum in full sun, but it's probably time to move it to morning sun/afternoon shade. You can tell the moss is starting to get stressed, and no matter how much I soak it with water, there's always some growth tips that dry up:



It sucks moving the moss into part shade because the quality decreases. Sphagnum grown in full sun is way more dense and as a grow medium, it decomposes slower than sphaghnum grown in part shade:

[daniella3d]

There are really nice. Mine become brown and dry. I guess I will have to put it in some shade. 

The problem is that the sarracenias need the full sun but the moss does not, so they are a bit uncompatible.

Dec 1, 2015 3:22:39 GMT -5 hunter said:

[meizzwang]

I completely didn't harvest the sphagnum last fall, got too busy and prioritized other things. The sphagnum mat is probably close to 6 or 7" tall now, so it's massive. It's near impossible to keep hydrated in full sun, so as soon as the weather warms up, this will go into shade. Pics taken 3/23/20:




growth tips are drying out, but when it rains for several days in a row, that's the only time it doesn't dry out:

[zugul]

Oh MAN! That's a nice Sphagnum pillow! I wish I could take a nap on that thing!

[rudeko]

I love this sphagnum pics

[johannsgarden]

I have a really vigorous strain of sphagnum that showed up in one of my pots. I've been hesitant to intentionally grow more of it because it gets so tall that it swallowed a Venus fly trap and would definitely swallow young Sarracenias too. If I could be sure I had it 100% dead before using harvested sphagnum as a growing substrate I'd totally use this variety as a producer to farm the sphagnum.

I have a different sphagnum that actually is from Alaska that's supposed to be very red (it was when I got it) and it's been very compatible with my Sarracenias without outgrowing anything it surrounds. Unfortunately my growing conditions don't seem to be acidic enough for it to grow consistently red like it does in Alaska, but I still get bits of color here and there.

[meizzwang]

lowlywetlands, you're asking all the right questions! I just figured out the answer to one of your questions only recently!

No drainage is a must for Sphagnum (at least in my environment), it needs a lot of water. As to the best substrate? I've had the best success using long fibered sphagnum! Last year, I tried to expand some "beds" using peat...I mean, I've had sphagnum grow in my sarracenia pots with great success many times, so why not use peat in the trays? The sphagnum starts absolutely sulked, and it grew very poorly all season long. On the other hand, a tray of the same stuff grown the same exact way in the same exact environment except with sphagnum as the substrate did very well!

Interestingly the trays of sphagnum grown in peat didn't start doing well until it all died! yes, that's right! I had 4 dead trays of sphagnum, so I thought what the hay, maybe let's see if I can plant a new layer on top....and it WORKED! It suggests that the best substrate, at least outdoors in northern California in these 10x20 trays, is a dead layer of sphagnum! Here are the trays that are recovering:


During the middle of winter, a lot of my sphagnum turns brown like this, but recently, there is new green growth emerging. Interestingly, if you dig into the moss, it's green on the inside(not shown):


Here are some new varieties that I just started growing:
Sphagnum sp. 'Schvatz #1'-from my buddy Bill Schwartz, who might kick my @ss for calling it Schvatz (he's a very skilled fighter):


Zoomed out, it's as beautiful as ever! This is growing on peat, so WT EF? Maybe the needs are different potted versus in trays? Maybe they want to be waterlogged, but also be able to breath better?


Some sphagnum that germinated from Canadian peat! Very small heads:


Sphagnum sp. 'red form' Caroline Co, VA. It was red during the winter at least!


Sphagnum sp. Mt. Hagan, Papua New Guinea:


Sphagnum sp. Louisiana:


Sphagnum sp. Northern Baldwin Co, AL. Sucks I didn't get a pic of this last year, it looks better when it was potted. these form very tight, "cottony" textured heads!


another pic of the same strain, zoomed out:


Well, we'll see if any of these strains are better than the other in terms of productivity and quality as a substrate. my plan is to run them all commercially and select the best ones for cultivation. If we can sustainably and consistently produce sphagnum at home, this can help eliminate the need to harvest wild sphagnum, which is absolutely horrible for the environment!

[jgreen1025]

Mar 22, 2022 18:51:54 GMT -5 meizzwang said:

No drainage is a must for Sphagnum (at least in my environment), it needs a lot of water. As to the best substrate? I've had the best success using long fibered ... If we can sustainably and consistently produce sphagnum at home, this can help eliminate the need to harvest wild sphagnum, which is absolutely horrible for the environment!

My sphagnum is nowhere as nice and pillowy as Mike’s but it’s off to a good start. I’m growing in a small undrained plastic tub with a thin substrate of LFS, and just picking off whatever happens to grow in my pots. There’s two basic kinds: a thin green one and a more robust reddish golden variety. I had some space in a growbox so mine is under lights (one of which is kind of yellow, making the picture look a little funny). I also cover it with plastic wrap to keep the humidity higher.



As for the environmental impact, we can’t really grow our plants without it but I watched this video last night and it made my heart hurt to see the harvesting in process:

[johannsgarden]

Mar 22, 2022 21:50:50 GMT -5 jgreen1025 said:

Mar 22, 2022 18:51:54 GMT -5 meizzwang said:

No drainage is a must for Sphagnum (at least in my environment), it needs a lot of water. As to the best substrate? I've had the best success using long fibered ... If we can sustainably and consistently produce sphagnum at home, this can help eliminate the need to harvest wild sphagnum, which is absolutely horrible for the environment!

My sphagnum is nowhere as nice and pillowy as Mike’s but it’s off to a good start. I’m growing in a small untrained tub with a small substrate of LFS, and just picking off whatever happens to grow in my pots. There’s two basic kinds: a thin green one and a more robust reddish golden variety. 


As for the environmental impact, we can’t really grow our plants without it but I watched this video last night and it made my heart hurt to see the harvesting in process:

I've been growing Sarracenia without peat for a number of years (some older plantings are still in peat though). I just use composted wood chips mixed with a bit of sand and sometimes a little low nutrient compost mixed in if the woodchips are too coarse. It works well.

[jgreen1025]

Mar 23, 2022 11:58:37 GMT -5 johannsgarden said:

I've been growing Sarracenia without peat for a number of years (some older plantings are still in peat though). I just use composted wood chips mixed with a bit of sand and sometimes a little low nutrient compost mixed in if the woodchips are too coarse. It works well.

Could you post pictures of your non-peat medium and how you make it and the plants growing in them? (I guess a separate thread might be more appropriate.) Would you say there's no difference in how your plants grow? Any specific kind of wood chips you're using? Do you compost them yourself? etc.?

I'm intrigued and might like to give it a try when I'm not so busy (fiscal year-end coming up, trying to get budget approved and everyone back in the office, vacation next month... too much going on!).