skip to main content

Carnivorous Plants

Live Shagnum Moss (Sphagnum capillifolium)

dustin_nevadanorth

16 years ago

When on www.cobraplant.com planning my order I came across Live Shagnum Moss (Sphagnum capillifolium). Do any of you use this? I am looking to get some starter sundews as recommended by others here and was wandering if the sundews will do well in live sphagnum moss? How does it grow for you? Does it need any special care? What do you all think?

Here is a link that might be useful: Live Shagnum Moss

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (11)

sehtnepen
16 years ago
Live LFS (Long Fibered Sphagnum) is generally best used with only some CPs. It makes a great medium for plants like Nepenthes, but for Sundews, I would stick with a Sphagnum PEAT moss/Perlite mixture. Only some Sundews grow naturally in LFS, and generally these are not the starter sundews. I am sure most sundews will grow just fine in LFS but this is not the preferred medium. Peat/Perlite is also cheaper than Live LFS, so this is also another incentive. If you plan on growing Nepenthes though, LFS is a great medium as it also has a very appealing look to it. Even so, live LFS is best used as a topdressing as anything below the surface will generally die without light. (you could also use the live LFS as a topdressing for the sundews).
sal_mando
16 years ago
This is anecdotal evidence, of course, but I had a D. intermedia sprout and grow in a container of live sphagnum last year and it did fantastic. It is resting in the garage this winter. I also found a picture on the internet of a North American Drosera growing in sphagnum.
Related Discussions
Switch to PP mixture??
Q
Comments (7)
Hi I keep most of my container plants including the Nep in a shadehouse which has an overhead sprinkler system supplied by city water. I had the Nep in a far corner but some of the water may have gotten into it. Only problem has been the traps .it is almost 3 feet long and has very healthy looking leaves. Has almost doubled in size in less than a year. It didn't stop producing traps until I repotted in peat ,perlite. I went back to long fibered sphagnum moss. which was the media when I bought it. My other specie of Nep is unaffected ,and it regularly gets water from the tap. You don't call "city" water tap water?? The sphag is unmilled New Zealand type. quite different than Canadian peat. that's why the distinction. gary
...See More
Need som expert advice
Q
Comments (3)
BTW, I'm no expert, but I'll answer anyway :-) I think you will be much happier with fluorescent lights in a small indoor setup. I think the sodium lights are only meant for big open spaces, but with fluorescent lights the plants can often even touch the lights without burning. Dormancy - in their native habitat, average temperatures in January are a high of 13C and a low of 1C. The other winter months are a bit warmer than this. So the closer you can create those conditions the better. At an average high of 13C (55F) even in the coldest month, the plants may still photosynthesize and grow, but slowly and with much smaller traps than in summer. So you need to give them some light, or they will suffer (but they don't need to eat, and probably best not to feed them then). The fridge method is really only for severe situations when you can't give them any kind of winter rest, so instead put them into deep hibernation just a few degrees above freezing... in this case they don't need light since they are in deep hibernation. But this is really a last resort. Your new plants have probably been growing actively in some greenhouse somewhere, so you could make your setup and let them continue to grow for a couple months before doing the dormancy thing. If you put them to bed now, they are going to want to wake up in about 3 months, which will be late December, just about the time they would be very dormant in their native habitat. So I'd be tempted to let them grow for awhile now. And in your situation, it's probably easier to put them dormant in real winter, when you can move them to your windowsill and let the draft cool them down a bit to aid dormancy. Some thoughts anyway. There are some links on flytrap dormancy you should read at the International Carnivorous Plant Society website... there's a bunch of articles there, I'll give you one below to get you to the website, then you can browse around it for other relevant information. I think you have to copy this into your search engine, as I haven't figured out how to post clickable links here. http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq2460.html Good luck, -Don
...See More
Feather and sheet moss
Q
Comments (13)
I removed all the plants from the bottom of the tank and removed all the fouled soil,I will be adding the gravel tommorrow,I decided to try and grow moss on med sized river rocks,If moss can grow on rocks out doors I dont see why,if given the same conditions,it shouldnt grow in my tank,I will gather the moss covered rocks myself and place them on top of the gravel,my ferns are still growing strong along with the "papa gayo" and the one brom.I found a beautiful 10" pot over flowing with babytears,I will add a nice bunch next to the water fall,I will be adding the venting system also, it will be built into the canopy and will circulate the air in the tank,I will have more or less a "sealed" system,the only time I will have to remove the canopy will be once a week,as I plan on removing my critters for good =( I will be strictly plants now as I believe that I am not yet ready to handle critters,I hope to work my way up to keeping PDFs but will do so ONLY when I know that I can provide that PERFECT little slice of the rain forest for them, might take a year....might take twenty, only time will tell! =)
...See More
Bonsai in terrarium?
Q
Comments (10)
If you start a ficus from seed or buy a small ficus they often form a round bulb at the base, sortoflike a skiny onion siting above the soils surface, this is considered undesireable and unattractive by about 99% of bonsaists, mainly because no large tree that isn't a mutilated eyesore has this particular trunk formation, so intorder to deal with theis and get a good basal flair to your trunk the thing to do is to chop the bottom of that bulb shaped trunk off right about were it stops flairing outward, and treat it just like a cutting from there on, also the roots and crown you leave behind are likely to send up some new buds and this can be turned into a multitrunk bonsai in time or as a source for new trunks via airlayering, ficus, especialy F. benghalensis and other strangler figs lend themselves extremely well to air layering. Anyways you want to grow and train your plant outside of the terrarium, in as large a pot as posible, people see a small bonsai in a pot and often think that eventually that will become a big Bonsai but the truth is that once its in a pot it grows very little. Also, a true bonsai is the Tree and the Pot, thats litterally what the word means, you can however have Bonsai stock in your terrarium, I would recomend calling it as such if you talk to anyone you suspect to be into bonsai, if they know there stuff they will not resent you for desciding to misuse the word and if they do not they will still know what you mean and they may start useing the word on there own. With regards to soil condition you will need to have a well drained terrarium, a drainage hole in the bottom wouldn't be a bad idea as well as a sufficient amount of grit in the soil, Sphagnum moss grows roots really well, but tops tend to not do so well and after a few years the trees tend to have exausted themselves, leaving them less than attractive and volnurable to death. You also need to repot a bonsai fairly regularly, unless you have an ungodly large terrarium even a small tree (like a dwarf of some sort) will send out a root system biger than the entire soil content, choking out first your other plants that need soil, then itself, every year untill its grown to appropriate size and then every other year from then on is a good rule of thumb. Clip back all fo the long thick roots and try and leave as many thin fibrous roots near the crown as you can. Now, regarding the Bonsai forum being a nasty bunch, there is a reason for that, Bonsai is a subject were people think that they can do whatever they want and be successful, people think that they can plant there juniper in straight peat and that they can water every day and that they can keep everything indoors in there sunny east facing window and they will live, this is unfortunately not the truth, if people are not firm then a whole lot of newcomers fail, and then they do not come back to the forum as experiences bonsaists to spread information to others, and the forum dies out, the same thing happens with saltwater aquariums (my other passion) if you go to any of the big forums they are mean places, seemingly, Go check out Reef Central in both cases the less gentle (read as "meaner") the forum is the more sucessful they are at keeping followers, the people who cannot handle the truth cannot handle something as meticulus as Bonsai, its not difficult per say, you just cannot skip certain steps.
...See More
petiolaris
16 years ago
Live LFS is like gold! It is an excellent growing medium for most CP's and especially for VFT's & Sarracenias. I have read that it has therapeutic properties for the plants as well as good for both reatining moisture and providing drainage. I use it as a triage for incoming plants as well as sprouting Cephalotus, VFT, D. filiformis, and D. binata leaves.

For cultivation, place on top of a later of sand and peat and put in decent lighting.

Here's a swamp of it:

{{gwi:428432}}

And here is what eventually grew from the dried LFS:

{{gwi:428433}}
dustin_nevadanorth
Original Author
16 years ago
Well I will put it on my list for when it comes up for sale. Thanks for the information you all.
Petiolaris your photo bucket album is great. That is a great collection, beautiful pictures.
I think I will try some of the moss with my violets too. Any positive symbiotic therapeutic relationship canÂt hurt.
Sal_mando where did you find the info on the internet?
all_things_green
16 years ago
I have read that you can help speed up the process of growing live LFS from the dried LFS that you can get anywhere, by chopping up a bunch of the ends of the dead moss over your peat/sand mix. I am trying it on my VFT's that I have outdoors in full sun. I lightly scratched the fine LFS dust into the surface for better contact with the peat/perlite mix, and misted it in with distilled water. It would be awesome if it would take hold!
petiolaris
16 years ago
Time, water, and light! It'll happen!
sal_mando
16 years ago
I used Google images for drosera sphagnum and there are a bunch of pictures with the two coexisting happily.
I bought a bag of live moss and layered it on top of dried long fibered sphagnum. It has grown very well. I put some in my new outdoor bag last year and am hoping it spreads.
I just love the way sphagnum looks. I may try to get some different species.
Bob
dustin_nevadanorth
Original Author
16 years ago
Sal_mando thanks for the idea. There are lots of good pics.
How does it grow? Does the sphagnum develop roots? What does it live on? Just chlorophyll from photosynthesis or does it take any nutrients up from soil?
Now I am wandering if there are any local strains that I could try. I guess I am calling the local Native Plant Society.
don555
16 years ago
If you start with dried LFS, the live stuff seems to naturally sprout from it. I'd be careful with it with sundews though, it can overgrow them. Here's a pot of D. intermedia about 2.5 years after I started them from seed. When I began, the LFS was a bit below the pot surface, but this live sphagnum sprouted and kind of took over. (This was grown under fluorescent lights, maybe it would be less aggressive outdoors?).
{{gwi:547723}}
all_things_green
16 years ago
Here's a pic I just took today after adding the dried LFS. The VFT's where just planted in the pot yesterday. :)

{{gwi:547725}}

If all goes well I'll hopefully have a green carpet in a few months.
sal_mando
16 years ago
It doesn't have roots, but it uses its stems to pick up moisture and nutrients. It doesn't need much in the way of nutrients - I think mine is living off the slowly decaying sphagnum at the bottom. I'm going to have to add some pine needles or something to give the plants a little extra food this year, I think.
I've included a link to a sphagnum growing page.

Here is a link that might be useful: growing sphagnum

0

Sponsored

7 Reviews

Chicago's Leading Clean Energy & Solar Panel Provider