nick, i already looked thru the phal experiment thread. i think it's very interesting what the outcome will be. i have some questions and thoughts - i'll go post there. lauraeli, what you said is along the lines of questions that i was asking. so, may be there is smth in 1:1 idea... notice that nick said NOT to water to sopping wet, but just barely enough. of course it'll depend on how many roots you have in the pot and how actively the plant is growing and also growing conditions: temps/humidity, evaporation levels, etc. i think that tighly packed SM will prevent water from running thru provided it's not dried up. but if it's not tightly packed, the water will just pour out. how much to pack though? that is my question. knowing some sort of 'volume measure' ahead of time can help to get more consistent. the way i usually plant - i don't mix sphag with bark or other stuff ahead of time. i layer it in as i fill the pot by bits and pieces. it's easy enough to do by hand. you need to distribute it among the roots carefully anyway (that is i am assuming you have some roots ;)). so there is no oil/water problem. somewhat compressed SM will hold the other ingredients in place without shifting. whether it's bark or cork or scoria. i have some 'deep thoughts' on scoria.. ;).which is like my total favorite!...i'll go sleep on it ;).

I have several wading pools full of it. Several different species and colors - red, yellowish green, green, etc. I've sent you a PM

Just to set the record straight! "Angel Moss" is actually Sphagnum Moss. It is Sphagnum Moss from New Zealand. I have seen where it grows and where they pick it from..... Definitely Sphagnum Moss. It's latin botanical name is "sphagnum christatum" & sometime they told me it has some 'sphagnum subnitens' (aprox 10%) mixed in with it as that is how it grows together. you can actually see the 2 different varieties once you know what to look for. It is a far cry from Chilean, Chinese & Peruvian moss in terms of quality...... New Zealand Sphagnum Moss isn't "picked by poor natives and sold as gold in western countries" The writer of this comment then suggests to use "Chinese moss" (Talk about poor natives). Obviously the writer of this comment has never done any investigative journalism and if he/she had toured NZ and seen the different Moss companies as I have, they wouldn't be so quick to pass a judgement on what the facts actually are. It is not a mixture of New Zealand, Chile & Peru moss as has been suggested. It is pure straight New Zealand Sphagnum Moss. As the company tells it, Angel Moss is just a brand name. (I guess kinda like Coke is one brand of the Coca Cola Company here in the US). New Zealand moss companies have been selling their Sphagnum Moss to Asian orchid growers, Bromeliad growers, Carnivorous plant growers etc. for 30+ years and it is known to be some of the best product out there. I'm guessing that's why it commands a higher price that other country's Sphagnum Moss. As far as the acidity of it goes I couldn't say exactly. but according to a test result on the Pacific Wide NZ Ltd website it is somewhere around 4.8. If that isn't acidic I don't know what is! I have tried to find information on growing Sphagnum Moss but there isn't much info out there and it is actually quite hard to do. If try and grow some and you feed the moss any type of fertilizer it seems to die, die, die! There is a .pdf document online I found someplace from a guy in England that grew some. but I forget where it is. I have it someplace. The Moss that you buy in store is dried so I don't think you'll propagate it at all. you need growing tips of the Sphagnum probably as it self propagates like this & some papers I've read says that it can propagate from it's seed pod thingy's they open up and kind of spray around like a kind of spore. I think sort of like mushrooms. I found the study that I did on Sphagnum Moss very fascinating and enjoyable..... It was quite a job to find all the facts and information on the subject. Simple.... Do your research People. or visit New Zealand moss companies like I have. they are very helpful and friendly. (incidentally it's a very nice country to vacation in by the way)

Sphagnum moss does not have to mix with algae. Perhaps you are thinking of lichen. Sphagnum SHEET moss can sometimes come to life after moistened. The other processed stuff cannot.