Spanish Moss question

10 years ago

I believe that is what the moss is called that grows on some trees down here in the south. My home is in Ft Myers and I have collected some of this moss to use for growing Bromeliads in Seems to be just the thing and very successful
I tried to find someplace where I could purchase a large amount of it LIke a big green garbage bag partly or totally full of the moss.
Have an idea that I would like to try using this moss

I looked for somewhere to purchase same but not found anything on line other than in those little bags at Lowes or similar store Which would be much to expensive for my idea .
Anyone know a source of this moss

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Comments (10)

plantsman56
10 years ago
I saw small bales of it at Michael's which is a place where they we'll plastic flowers and materials for arrangements.
zzackey
10 years ago
I've only seen small bags of it for sale. If you decide to yank some off of local trees, please wear gloves. Chiggers live in it. You would have to sterilize it to kill them.
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Hi Gonz and Lisa, Thanks for the interesting links. Now I know where the name came from. Also another very interesting pice of information from Gonz's article: Why Moss is Desirable for Stuffing: No known insect will attack moss fibre, eat, destroy or live within it. I wonder if the same applies to the living moss, and if so, could it act as a deterrent to insects if it is draped around the top of pots containing broms? For those who don't know of Lantana, it is a real pest in Australia as the description from a recent A.B.C. Gardening Australia fact sheet explains: "Lantana camara might look like a strikingly attractive plant and in some respects the foliage and flowers are quite beautiful. The species is a genus of the verbena family, native to Mexico, the Carribean and Central and South America. But it is now known as a weed of national significance and is regarded as one of Australia's worst weeds. It's invasive, it has potential to spread and it is impacting on the economy and the environment. Lantana was first recorded in Australia in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens in 1841, and a few years later it had spread to gardens up the east coast of the country. By the 1860s it was reported as a weed in both Sydney and in Brisbane. But in spite of its weed status, a few specimens are located in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. Botanica calls lantana the "Jekyll and Hyde of plants" because it's reviled in warmer, wetter parts of world, where it invades pastures and forests and is poisonous to stock, but in cool, temperate parts of the world it forms quite an attractive shrub. Lantana is a problem because it forms a dense thicket. It usually invades disturbed land and river margins, particularly open, sunny areas. Given the right conditions, it spreads quickly. Lantana is a lalopathic, releasing chemicals into the surrounding soil to prevent seed germination, notably of the native flora, so that it eventually takes over native bushland. As with other successful weeds, lantana can spread in different ways. It layers - that is, it produces roots from where the plant touches the ground, and that produces new plants. But more importantly it's propagated by seed. These are ingested by birds and foxes, which spread them through their droppings. This means it can spread over a distance very quickly. But perhaps more importantly, it can produce up to 12,000 seeds from one plant in a year. No wonder it's become a problem weed." I know it's a bit off track but just out of interest for other GW members, I once had an orchid growing mate (about 40 years ago) who had a cousin who owned a farming property in Northern NSW and on his property Spanish Moss didn't grow on the trees, but instead was prolific in amongst the Lantana bushes. Most Australian farmers will quickly eradicate any Lantana on their property but my friend said his cousin preferred to leave it there because he liked the look of the enormous clumps of Spanish Moss hanging from it. It worked for us too, because every time my mate came back from up north, he would bring a large bag full of moss with him which we shared and hung above our orchids, and that is where the Spanish Moss I have in my garden today originally came from. I know it's a useless bit of info., but there it is. All the best, Nev.
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Thanks for the replies! Wally - It's a common and persistent misconception in the South that Spanish Moss harms plants. It's an epiphytic bromeliad, an air plant, that does not harm trees any more than any other epiphyte. These plants grow from only nutrients they collect from the air or from water that runs off the tree, and they have no roots to penetrate, strangle, or otherwise harm the tree. When you have a tree that's already stressed, diseased, dying, or what have you, the plant can aggravate those problems when it grows faster than the tree and weighs down branches and shades what remaining leaves are last. Spanish Moss can and does grow on healthy trees, but it grows faster on dead/dying branches because they are rotting and leaching nutrients. It's not the moss that kills it though. Since I have a lot of family in southern Louisiana, which has probably the densest Spanish Moss growth of anywhere, I've seen lots and lots and lots of the stuff throughout my life. The vast majority of trees down there have tons of Spanish Moss growing on them, and they are perfectly healthy. Our climate out here is also vastly different from the South... It's not unusual for us to not see a single drop of rain during May, June, July, August, September, and well into October. Spanish Moss can tolerate drought, but it will go dormant. We get all of our water during winter when it's cold, and Spanish Moss also goes dormant at temperatures below about 50 degrees. So between the hot, dry summer and the cold, wet winter, there really isn't an appropriate time for Spanish Moss to grow naturally in California. It will only grow when it can receive moisture from people during the summer, and therefore the chance of it becoming invasive in California is basically nil. Kathi - That's great to hear! Is your Spanish Moss flowering at all? How about your other Tillandsias? Do they spend the winter outdoors or do you bring them in? Spanish Moss can handle freezes no problem, but I always thought the other species were more sensitive to low temperatures.
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Yes quirkpod, you can grow Spanish moss in this area. I live in Kernersville. Many years ago (when I was a child) I stop on the way back from the beach and got a box of spanish moss (got ate up by bugs on the way home). I put some in a holly tree next to my house and it stayed in that tree a few years ( I not sure how long (I was a child and time passed slow for childen)). I think the main thing that happen to it was birds getting it and maybe other childeren takeing some. Don't know why it didn't live for trianglejohn because it is colder here. In the back of my mind I been thinking about getting truck loads and put the Spanish moss on tree in a swamp area (and set up a system to try to keep the air moist). Then the front of my mind tells me that it cost way too much. There is a lot of talk on one of these forms about growing spanish moss. I forgot which one, maybe it is the one on growing moss. I have also saw a map on the net showing place where people have saw spanish moss growing and some are at least as cold as Lewisville NC. As I said mine hung around for a few years(I almost sure) but it was not enought to look good. It would turn green after rains. I would also spry with water hose once and a while.
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It is included in the species list from ODU. Link below. Here is a link that might be useful: Dismal Swamp Species List
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diane_v_44
Original Author
10 years ago
did pull some down today

what are chiggers
?
Michael AKA Leekle2ManE
10 years ago
Chiggers are a type of red mite that usually are found in leaf litter around the base of trees. They can get under your skin and actually breed there and spread. My brother had a bad case of them when we were younger. They had spread up the entirety of his right arm before he got diagnosed.

The danger of getting chiggers from Spanish Moss supposedly is for the moss that you find on the ground. The stuff hanging from the trees tend to be mite-free. One 'expert' referenced in a magazine I have said he's never seen chiggers in arboreal moss in the decades he's been working with it. That said, I still wear gloves when harvesting.
Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
10 years ago
Spanish Moss, the Unfinished Chigger Story
"There is a widespread belief in the southern parts of the United States that Chiggers are common in Spanish Moss. However, no chiggers were found among the 3297 organisms collected from Spanish Moss and Ball Moss in trees and from the ground on Cumberland Island, GA."

See link to full article below.

Carol in Jacksonville

Here is a link that might be useful: Spanish Moss, the Unfinished Chigger Story
diane_v_44
Original Author
10 years ago
I thank you all for discussing Spanish Moss or mosses with me

Have been gardening the past 14 years on a half year basis Each year. Have learned quite a bit and now have some quite interesting gardens
Past four years have got interested in Bromelaids and now orchids.
I never remember proper names so much but seem to have a knack for growing with success some pretty neat stuff
Always scouring the countrysdie and in towns even For vacant properties or gorgeous properties with well trimmed yards. Amazing it seems that you can actually knock on the door, or watch for someone working outside, go up to them and talk gardens and generally walk away with more ideas, or plants or at least cuttings.
Did get a fair bit of the moss today had it in the trunk of my car, and when I got home had not time or did not take time right away to take it out of the trunk
is out of the trunk now and on the driveway in a shaded part. Will have alook at it tomorrow more so
car of my

Would I be able to see these Chiggers or are they very small.
Leekle2ManE now did I get that right Where do you harvest the moss Would I be able to purchase some from you
melissa_thefarm
10 years ago
Interesting facts you might not know: the botanical name of Spanish moss is Tillandsia usneoides, and it is itself a member of the Bromeliad family, making it a cousin of pineapples. There's an article about it on Wikipedia.
It's great you find people to talk gardening with and get starts from. That's a healthy social as well as gardening environment.
Melissa
User
10 years ago
I would not be hauling Spanish Moss around in my car, I've heard that it can harbor bird mites. We were always told when we were kids not to sit or lie in it, because of the red bugs in it. I know a lady who has a big farm, she has huge oak trees all around the house and grows all kinds of houseplants under them in containers. In the winter when it threatens to freeze, she piles Spanish Moss on top of them and it protects them perfectly.
Michael AKA Leekle2ManE
10 years ago
No Diane, I don't harvest it, at least not on any kind of commercial scale. About once a year I renew the mulch/dressing on top of my planters and when I do I go visit my In-Laws who are all-too-happy to watch me pull the stuff from their water oaks. I wear gloves while doing it, not so much because of mites, but because other critters such as spiders (and reportedly bats in the really thick clumps, haven't seen this myself).
diane_v_44
Original Author
10 years ago
some interesting information and yes this forum is for sure not onlyh informative but makes you feel good hearing what others have to say and what people are doing in their gardens and around their property or community Ritaweeda I do have quite a nice car but it does seem forever I am picking up something or other and my trunk usually is kind of messy Looking for Moss yesterday I as well found this really neat old wagon Has a broken wheel but I have a neigbhour who can fix it up or maybe I can give it a try myself.
I like to look for rocks and often have a few in the trunk by the time I am back home.
Is a luxury really having a car or truck and the gas to put in it and the time to take the road where you will and just poke around

Melissa that is interesting that the Moss is Tillandsia And you know in one big piece of it I pulled down was quite a neat Tillandsia plant growing in it

I do have some other Tillandsia and that is in fact why I was looking for the Spanish moss
Bromeliads really do well for me here in Florida. I have some in part shade and others in full sun.
I picked up three long cedar rails that are weathered but dry. Thought to make them into a tepee shape in a mostly shady area. Then attach some orchids or bromeliads wrapped sort of , loosely ,in some of the moss to partly at least cover the rails. Don't know if the moss would grow or just stay as it is.

well better get out there and get some work done before it gets to warm today Perhaps being a Canadian and down here half year, maybe your blood is thicker or whatever and then I am getting older as well but the heat and humidity do bother me Love it but best to work in the morning outside.

Spanish Moss question

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