Moss important idea to date!date!

[sorce]

I found this wonderful patch of moss growing on spray foam constantly wet with condensation in NO direct sun.

Got me thinking. If moss grows so well on foam, that could likely wick water from a tray(poked pinholes for capillary action), wouldn't it be nice to grow it as such?

Also, and most importantly, wouldn't it be nice to be able to move clean patches of moss around on a tree with no soil, or sandy gunk that it usually has underneath, and no falling apart?

You could slice it off the foam real thin and have clean solid chunks to work with, no clean up after removal.

I might spray me a tray, and do the mayo trick on it.



This stuff is real fine. I brought some home. With 2 elm seedling that were growing between the pipes where it goes horizontal.

That black goo from the collanders?

Sorce

 

[sorce]

Top, side, bottom.


This was cut off with a dull pocket knife.
I reckon you could get the foam thinner if cut with a long razor.

I don't think there's an easier way.
Cut to shape without falling apart.
Easy removal after show, or when fertilizing so you don't kill the moss.
Foam will offer more even WHAT IT IS....insulation!

Hell Yes?

Sorce

 

[Adair M]

Sorce,

That is good moss, but I'm not crazy about the foam idea. Wouldn't water well.

Take that moss, cut off the foam and chop it up real fine. Put a layer of your smallest bonsai soil in a flat pot, like what you would use for a forest planting. Spread the moss over that. Keep it moist.

That moss will tolerate full sun, but I think it would do well in partial sun.

Then, when you want yo use it, it already has your bonsai soil underneath! Way better than foam.

 

[Alain]

I like the idea of getting moss without getting the crappy stuff below.
But, no offense, I prefer Adair M idea
I wouldn't care too much for foam (which I actually find even crappier than the usual underneath moss crap )

 

[Djtommy]

You can keep it on newspaper for quite a long time, just need to keep it moist, after a while you may want to replace the newspaper but i find it guite easy to remove.
Adairs idea still sounds better

 

[Adair M]

As a matter of fact, the idea sounds so good, I think I will do it myself! I have some forest pots I'm not using.

Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Ceijay]

How do you guys grow/get so much of it for your bonsai's? Do you use the growing methods mentioned above to grow it in large amounts or do you just gather it?

I have two very very large patches that I have managed to grow on the ground but I'm having a very hard time getting it to spread in my pots for mass cultivation.

 

[sorce]

I was here learning the other day.
http://www.mossandstonegardens.com/blog/how-to-grow-moss/

Good info!

They hate fertilizer!

Sorce

 

[M. Frary]

I collect it. All of the time. Because I kill it with fertilizer.

 

[sorce]

That mostly why I would like it on foam, very easy to move on fert day.

Speaking of fert. I got the fish right. So I needed something for inside. So I got another bottle of the vigaro 10-10-10.
Then another cactus drip 277.

Gonna hit em still every week with the fish, and random cactus drops all the time.

Can't wait to clean up everything for winter. I'm already looking forward to spring!

@Cadillactaste. I notice all my plants draining slow! Roots!

Sorce

 

[Cadillactaste]

I seem to be having roots as well...even the impatien that my son brought home in a styraphom cup 13 years ago from elementary school. It looked practically dead upon my arrival back to the states in June. Had pests...treated and repotted into that bougainvillea soil that I no longer use for bonsai. (Creates a stain on the trunk...ugh!) Watered it before leaving on our mini trip. Picked up the dish the pot sits in to drain the water out. And the roots were a good 5" out the drain holes. This same plant...had root rot from the house sitter still watering as per my schedule even though it's leaves had fallen off. So it had barely any roots when I potted it back mid June. Now...thriving. Amazing how fast roots can grow.

 

[JudyB]

You can keep it on newspaper for quite a long time, just need to keep it moist, after a while you may want to replace the newspaper but i find it guite easy to remove.
Adairs idea still sounds better

On newspaper in flats, or on top of soil in pots?

 

[Djtommy]

On newspaper in flats, or on top of soil in pots?

I kept it on plastic flats but with many holes in the bottom, the kind they use at the gardenstore probably to gather small pots, when i put it to use in the pot i took it off the newspaper.Best to water it everyday to keep the moss moist. After a while grass also starts to grow in the moss..at least with me.. Pretty annoying the grass

 

[ColinFraser]

FYI regarding foam - if it's the typical "gaps and cracks" expanding type foam, it will be "closed cell" foam, meaning that it does not conduct or absorb water. It is designed to be waterproof, in fact. If you want the wicking effect you mentioned earlier, make sure you get "open cell" foam.

 

[Eric Group]

I have always just cut thin layers of it off my yard, sprayed the dirt off the back with a hose and used that. Works fine for me!

 

[Robert E Holt]

I was at a local bonsai club meeting the other day and someone told my I had "bad moss" on my tree. They said I should remove it and get some "Good moss", but they couldn't tell me the difference.

So, what's the difference?

 

[M. Frary]

I have always just cut thin layers of it off my yard, sprayed the dirt off the back with a hose and used that. Works fine for me!

That is where I get mine!.
Well nit your yard Eric,I get it out of my own.

Robert. I'm not sure what bad moss is. I use the thinnest,tightest packed,greenest moss that grows in full sun.

 

[Eric Group]

That is where I get mine!.
Well nit your yard Eric,I get it out of my own.

Robert. I'm not sure what bad moss is. I use the thinnest,tightest packed,greenest moss that grows in full sun.

That'd be a long ride to come to SC for Moss! LOL

 

[M. Frary]

You would never know I was there until you saw the bare patch in your lawn. Good moss is hard to come by apparently.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I was at a local bonsai club meeting the other day and someone told my I had "bad moss" on my tree. They said I should remove it and get some "Good moss", but they couldn't tell me the difference.

So, what's the difference?

"Bad moss" has an aggressive root system. Around here, it's this stuff; some call it Irish Moss. Don't know what it is, but the roots run 3/4" deep, it is coarse, and difficult to get rid of.
"Good moss" stays on top of the soil and has effectively no root system. It's velvety and low-growing.