Sphag - how wet is too wet?

[ldaniels]

Leafmite - thank you for sharing your experience with moss - I'm considering keeping that top layer going at least until I see some good growth on them!

james - thank you also for your information!! I hadn't thought of mixing the "layers" of medium before. I did order some seedling mix from repotme.com that has broken pieces of sphag in it. Once I get it, I think I'll transition some of the stronger seedlings over.


Wow....being new to this board I truly appreciate how helpful everyone is....I appreciate it!

[Ray]

Sphagnum is a spectacular medium!

Unfortunately, it can become saturated and suffocate roots to death. The key is moistening, not flooding it.

If you water it lightly, it will moisten the fibers without filling the voids between them, which is ideal. As stupid as it is from a temperature perspective, the "ice cube" method of watering does just that.

Repeatedly having the moss dry after saturating it is akin to strangling yourself until you almost pass out, letting your self revive, and then repeating....

[Optimist]

I have no experience in this, of course, but Ithink you should watch the plants and take your cues from them.

As far as spag moss, as wet as a wrung out sponge. That is what I would call damp but not wet. If you pour water on Spag, no squeezing, how many days can you go between watering using the pots you are using in your present (they will change) conditions. Will that time be the same on June 23 in Utah? No. Your conditions will be different. A lot of factors: pot size, area of moss, brand or type of moss, holes in pot, drainage opportunity, temp out side of pot, airflow over pot, etc., etc., etc.

I do not envy you in the least. You have taken on a massive undertaking. Good luck, and contact me when they are ready to sell, if that is what your aim is. I will probably want a dend.

[james mickelso]

Whether the moss stays wet with the voids unable to open up when the water withdraws or not depends on how densely packed you egt the moss. All of my phals and some cattleyas which are planted in moss, are doing just fine. "LOOSELY". That is the key to using moss. If you pack it into the pot then yes you will eventually strangle the roots. But that would have to be very tight indeed. If you hold the plant by it's leaf base, letting the roots dangle in the pot, you can add small wads of moss around the roots in the pot which will keep it somewhat loose. If you need a plant stake to hold the plant in the pot, make or buy one and use it. Once the roots start really growing it will support itself.

[ldaniels]

Originally Posted by Ray

Repeatedly having the moss dry after saturating it is akin to strangling yourself until you almost pass out, letting your self revive, and then repeating....

This was a perfect description for me!! Thank you, Ray

Originally Posted by Optimist

I do not envy you in the least. You have taken on a massive undertaking. Good luck, and contact me when they are ready to sell, if that is what your aim is. I will probably want a dend.

This is a massive undertaking, but I'm excited to work through it... it's worth it for the results I think! I wasn't planning on selling, but I'm more than happy to contact you when they're grown and in "shipping" condition!

Originally Posted by james mickelso

Whether the moss stays wet with the voids unable to open up when the water withdraws or not depends on how densely packed you egt the moss. All of my phals and some cattleyas which are planted in moss, are doing just fine. "LOOSELY". That is the key to using moss.

Thank you, james I think I'm going to stick to loosely covering the top layer of each seedling with the moss until there is some growth, then consider chopping some up and mixing it in like you suggested earlier.


I'm feeling 100% better about using moss now!!! Thank you again to all of you!

[NYCorchidman]

I also love sphag.

Once bone dry, it is hard to rewet unless you make it sopping wet all over again.
With plants with many thick roots, that seems to work good, but with smaller plants or plants with not too many roots, that can cuase issues.

What I do with plants in sphag, you start out with moist moss. You get it sopping wet, then squeeze out as water. Then the goal is to keep it moist.
When bone dry, it will be much lighter in color, and you can see how dry it gets by closely observing the color change of the moss.
Before it gets bone dry, you want to mist all over until moist again. This works great for me, but I have to be very diligent otherwise the thing gets bone dry and I have to rewet (like sopping wet) the whole thing again as spraying a little bit at this point will only wet the moss partially.

Also, tight packing might be the main reason why many some people have trouble with root rots.
You don't want to jam pack in the moss, but rather loose, but tight enough for the plants to stand up on its own. or use stake to stabilize the plants.

With moss mixed with other ingredients, you want to be very careful because it creates hidden "wet pockets" inside the pot which can also lead to problems if the watering is not done correctly.

[RosieC]

I've been using Sphag on Dendrobium keikis recently. Note quite the same as seedlings, but still small young plants.

I have them in small pots and let them dry between watering, but only just. I check them daily and you can tell when it's mostly dry, but I just let them go one more day until fully dry, then water again.

I have been really pleased with it as a method of growing these Den keikis.