Rooting cuttings in moss?

[Crazy Diamond]

Anyone ever tryed rooting cutting in sphagnum or regular moss? I think it would be an interesting media with great humidity retention and oxigenation also. Recently I collected some street regular moss (dryed then crushed and rehidrated) and stick some thuja and leylandi cuttings in it

 

[PA_Penjing]

I have heard that sphagnum moss has natural rooting hormones in it. Don’t know if it’s true but I sprinkle some into my rooting mixes. I’m happy with my results but I have no way to figure out if the moss aids at all.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

I just rooted two chinese elm cuttings in sphagnum moss, took 6 weeks from tree to pot. I put them in in small pots with moist sphagnum and then inside of zip lock plastic bags out of direct sunlight. Peter Chan uses the stuff to revive old trees that need root development by putting them in egg crates filled with it. He is a nut about using it.

 

[hinmo24t]

good idea, its pricey i heard

i plan on stepping up my sphagnum game in future. peter chan uses it for airlayers im pretty sure as well.


anyone see him airlayer like a 20' section of tree for a feature tree in greenhouse? gnarly
also, i saw him pruning and rpotting a nice maple recently in a newer vid and he lifted it
in a new large pot and extended it up onto a turntable. looked to be easily an awkward 50 lbs.
not bad, late 70s or in his 80s?

 

[Crazy Diamond]

Yes I have seen Peter videos and red his books also, the technique of sphagnum and fruit plastic boxes seems to work fine for regain strenght in weak trees. I dont have easy way to get sphagnum so I will try some kinds of regular moss that I can find in my zone

 

[Mycin]

Works great for me. I've been having success with cuttings in moss, in a tupperware, under a grow light. The tupperware keeps humidity high while the root system develops itself. Grow light is key, as sunlight would cook the cuttings. Similar to the Ziploc/garbage bag method.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I have heard that sphagnum moss has natural rooting hormones in it. Don’t know if it’s true but I sprinkle some into my rooting mixes. I’m happy with my results but I have no way to figure out if the moss aids at all.

Sphagnum is naturally acidic, which is great for both disinfection as well as rooting environment. If it's still alive, it takes up plant sap and processes it to something harmless. This phenolic bleeding of cuttings can be detrimental for root development, so a substrate that counters this is pretty awesome.
I'm a big fan of sphagnum, but the rooting hormone part is probably untrue. Rooting hormones are pretty 'expensive' for an organism to produce, and it wouldn't be very clever to let those seep out.. Especially for a moss that tends to live in very wet areas where these hormones wash away. I haven't found any clues about this hormone presence in any literature, but I didn't look very well either. Most of the evidence I found is anecdotal and all of said evidence is from bonsai related sources. It seems to be a myth.

Although sphagnum is cool, it can still house gnat larvae, plant-munching nematodes and woodlice. It can keep out a lot of bacteria and fungi, but not critters. Some of my air layers are heavily affected by wood lice that munch the callus tissue and prevent my plants from rooting.

 

[leatherback]

Some of my air layers are heavily affected by wood lice that munch the callus tissue and prevent my plants from rooting.

same here. Never seen so many of them as when I started bonsai. Cleaned some old bark recently and had 20 fall out from under the bark. One tree. One spot. 20 woodlice. Annying beasts.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I have use sphagnum moss extensively for cold stratification of seeds in the refrigerator.

For pine cuttings, I have used rough cut peat, which has given me good results - though you have to keep it moist because when dry it is hydrophobic.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I have use sphagnum moss extensively for cold stratification of seeds in the refrigerator.

That's the good stuff! Still some things got a bit moldy in my fridge after a couple weeks. So I switched to pure perlite or regular bonsai mix (pumice, lava rock and granite) which seems to work wonders.

Hydrophobic soil can be fixed with a drop of detergent. If you want to get rid of the EDTA and soap stuff, try to find some tween or polysorbate. Should be pretty cheap, and you'd only need a couple drops.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Hydrophobic soil can be fixed with a drop of detergent. If you want to get rid of the EDTA and soap stuff, try to find some tween or polysorbate. Should be pretty cheap, and you'd only need a couple drops.

You can also use horticultural surfactant. I've got this for use with herbicide, but a little bit in a sprinkling can and the water soaks right in. However most of the time I use a hose, so dealing with surfactant is a big of a hassle... though it definitely works!