FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Does anyone here know how to grow live sphagnum moss because I don’t really know how to grow them

Essentially, they need good light, cool temperatures, lots of low TDS water. You can feed them with maxsea if you want faster growth, but keep in mind that too much of that may not be good if you want to use the Sphag as a growing media or top dressing.

Strong but no heat from the light as it can dry out the heads, warmer temps though.

Indoors or outside? I’ve been growing some in clear plastic bins under lights indoors and it’s doing ok but not great. I want to try some outside but need to figure out how to keep it from drying out without having to water it constantly. I only have a small bog pot outside and the sphagnum just dries up. I would love to see pics of other peoples moss setups both indoors and outside.

Right now I am trying to grow them inside and I planted some moss in a little container since I don’t have any tray or bin of sort

I think it is a bit of trial and error of finding what species grows best in your conditions.

After reading the linked post, I think I'll try my hand at growing a 1020 tray. I've got a few pots that could use some trimming...

Try a couple different species in a couple different environments. Once you get it down you can't stop the stuff from growing.

I grow sphagnum moss outside with my carnivorous plants. Here's my current setup: I use cheap food-storage containers, not expecting them to last more than a year or two under the sun's UV rays. I put an inch (2.5 centimeters) of wet peat moss on the bottom of each one and spread the sphagnum over it (you can also use LFS for the substrate). I keep the moss damp/wet and give it 2-4 hours of sun every day, preferably in the morning. I also spray the moss about once a month with MaxSea fertilizer diluted to 1/4 strength.

You'll notice that some of the trays have lots of moss while others look a bit shabby. The shabby ones are lower-stalk propagations: I chopped the sphagnum into short pieces, and they're just starting to sprout new moss.

MikeB wrote:I grow sphagnum moss outside with my carnivorous plants.

Do you cover the containers or are they open? If they are open how often do you have to water and how do you keep birds and squirrels out?

Bug_cemetery wrote: ↑Sun May 01, 2022 11:41 am

MikeB wrote:I grow sphagnum moss outside with my carnivorous plants.

Do you cover the containers or are they open? If they are open how often do you have to water and how do you keep birds and squirrels out?

The containers are open. I live in eastern North Carolina, and the air is humid enough (most of the time) to make the moss happy. If I covered the containers, they would overheat in the sun.

I water them every other day.

I don't have any problem with birds getting into my moss.
There are no large trees in the area, so no tree rats squirrels.

Thanks MikeB I’m going to give it a try… unfortunately we have a ton of tree rats, birds, and rabbits. I’ve got tons of plants for them to choose from so hopefully they’ll leave the moss alone. We’re right in town so not enough predators I guess.

Where do ya'll get your "seed" moss from?

Peat moss I buy a 3 cubic fooot bale at Lowes. I get BetterGro Orchid Moss at Lowes for my sphagnum. For seeds, I chop up the sphagnum. I used to use scissors but now I have a mini food processor that I mill it with.

I think intheswamp is asking about where people get their live sphagnum moss from. You can buy it on etsy and other online stores. It's expensive stuff.