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By Barlapipas 6
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#420488
Some type of moss is growing together with my sundews. Is this sphagnum moss that regrew from the dried, or is it some other type of moss?
By Barlapipas 6
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#420489
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The moss
The moss
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By Intheswamp
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#420491
It "looks" like live sphagnum moss to me, but I'm no expert. Growing out of dried sphagnum moss is a good indication that it's sphagnum.

You may end up with a nice chunk of sphagnum growing there that you can propagate into a nice stock of moss!!! ;)
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By ChefDean
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#420495
Dry sphagnum moss isn't necessarily dead, it can simply be dormant. I have a few pots that have live sphagnum that resurrected, and a ton of others that have star moss or forest moss that grew from spores in the sphagnum.
I think you may have star moss there, which is fine, but it can choke out plants if allowed to, especially seedlings. Just keep an eye on it.
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By Intheswamp
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#420496
IMHO (and my very inexperienced moss identification history 8-) )... Looking at the leaves they seem broader at the base and more whorled than star or haircap moss does...the latter two seem to have more narrower leaves than sphagnum does. Sphagnum also seems to me to be more "juicy" than haircap or star mosses...giving the sphagnum an almost translucent look about it. That's my story and I'm sticking with it! (Until proven otherwise, of course, then I'll switch boats in a heartbeat!!! :lol: )

It will be interesting to see what it turns out being. Dean, wanna bet a 15-cent small cola slushie down at the Jr. Food Store on its ID? Of course, locally, we'd have to flash back 45-50 years to do that, but I digress. The Jr. Food Store was demolished even before they took down one of our three traffic lights...it was just the one at the local school...those kids can figure out how to safely cross the street on their own!!! :mrgreen: .
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By Barlapipas 6
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#420497
So, should I take it and try to grow it separately, or should I just leave it there to grow more?
By Barlapipas 6
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#420499
Also, I saw a picture on google where someone says that he/she revived sphagnum moss and the moss in the picture looks a lot like mine.
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This is the picture
This is the picture
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By Barlapipas 6
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#420500
He/she also was sure that it was sphagnum. It was a forum for orchids. I found it by googling “sphagnum moss sprouts”.
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By Intheswamp
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#420501
You seem to manage your plants really nicely. I think I have ten thumbs when comes to growing plants so for *me* I would let it grow a while where it's at so that it can get more size on it.

How do you intend to propagate it? I tried growing some sphagnum a while back by putting a layer of rinsed peat moss in the bottom of a tray, layering the live sphagnum on top, and keeping the small tray constantly wet. I missed something and the live sphagnum deteriorated and died on me. I later got another hunk of sphagnum and this time I did not use any peat moss. I simply set the sphagnum down in a tray, (mostly) brown/bottom at the bottom and the green growing tips at the top (yeah, I know...how else would you do it, eh? :lol: ). But, there was no substrate...no sand, no peat moss, nothing. This tray of moss is growing nicely. I make sure to keep anywhere from 1/2" to an inch or so (depends on rain) in the bottom and I mist it every few days. Sometimes the rain will put several inches in the tray, basically flooding the sphagnum moss. I'll let it sit like that a day or so and pour most of the rainwater out...the moss seems to *love* it's short swimming session!

With the first batch (that died) of sphagnum moss the peat moss seemed to impart a *lot* of tannin to the live sphagnum causing black tips to form on the leaves. I undoubtedly did something wrong with that batch as I've seen where many people do use a layer of peat moss as a substrate. The peat moss that I used, though, was a *really* trashy brand (Greensmix that I bought at Tractor Supply...FWIW) and I'm very suspicious of it causing the first batch of sphagnum to die...and of some problems with other plants. I may try growing some sphagnum on top of some new, Majestic Earth brand, peat moss and see how it does.

But, as to your question...I would let it get bigger before I try to propagate it. It seems to be happy growing there. Try to replicate that growing condition when you move it. Best wishes!
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By NightRaider
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#420507
I second star moss, as I have a currently have pot full of it roughly 1 foot away from my face. The stuff is a plague to me, no matter how hard you try you'll always eventually get it riding in on something and once it gets in a pot and around a plants roots it's nearly impossible to fully eradicate even with a complete bare-root repotting. On peat soils it'll often eventually turn the whole surface into a solid ~1/2" thick brick - which isn't good for new growth for obvious reasons. It isn't nearly as much of a nuisance on lfs, especially live sphagnum, though - just don't let it anywhere near any pots topped with a peaty soil and preferably pluck out any spore pods it tries to send up.
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By steve booth
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Joined:  Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:15 am
#420525
It's a star moss I'm afraid, they are vascular so they arent wet externally like Sphagnum and useless to CPs. They are invasive, grow large and should be eradicated as soon as they come up, if they set spores, your collection will be infected forever.
Cheers
Steve
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By Intheswamp
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#420527
@Barlapipas 6, it certainly seems that the experienced folks are not in agreement with me. Maybe go ahead and pull it out of there and grow it out in a small pot...away from your carnivorous plants so as not to have it propagate more. Sure looks sphagnummy, but I'm a rank newbie to all this...go with the words of experience. ;)
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By Bluefire
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#420528
Doesn't look like Sphagnum to me. The leafy bits are too thin. It does seem that some of the larger old Sphagnum in the soil is turning green though, so you may be able to grow some. Just get rid of the moss in the picture and see what happens with the soil.
By Barlapipas 6
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#420557
The moss was definitely not sphagnum that regrew from the dried one because it has some strange black “roots”. I have heard that star moss has those roots.
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By Barlapipas 6
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Joined:  Tue Aug 30, 2022 11:26 pm
#420558
Should I still grow them? Or not? If not, can I feed it to my S.purpurea?
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