Add New Zealand sphagnum moss to soil mix?

[aphid]

I searched the threads, but it's still unclear. If I'm doing 80% inorganic and 20% organic, should I add New Zealand sphagnum moss in addition to sieved pine bark or should I just stick with pine bark?

How do you chop the sphagnum? With a blender? Scissors? Or should I just leave them in their long strands?

I use washed diatomite for the inorganic material. Most of my containers are colanders or pond baskets. They dry out fast in the middle of the summer. We just installed a sprinkler system in the fall though so that definitely would help.

Thank you!

 

[MichaelS]

No need for the moss. Leave it out.

 

[Adair M]

Indeed. No need for the 20% organic pine bark, either.

You can put shredded spaghnum moss on top of the soil. Just not IN the soil. To shred it, take a dry handful, and using your soil sifter with the largest openings, rub the spaghnum across the screen. Like grating cheese. Spread a thin layer over the top, water in.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I don't use sphagnum moss at all, though I will on occasion used milled peat moss in mixes for acid-loving trees (like azaleas). But I don't go over 20%... and I would guess it's probably closer to 10% and is my only organic in the mix. You don't want it clogging up the soil.

 

[Anthony]

Peat moss holds 15 times it's weight in water.
Compost holds 20 times it's weight in water.
You can calculate how much you need.

If someone uses oil meal cakes, and they decay, they add organic material to the inorganic mixes.
So you can do a test and calculate that as well.

Use cuttings or seedlings, [ expendables ] to do the tests.
Good Day
Anthony