Sphagnum moss

[Buds!]

I know an Aussie Tasmanian grower who harvests his own live fresh preminum sphag moss from the mountains of Tasmania. He has told me that his sphag lasts around 2 years. He grows mainly Catts.
I don't have access to 'fresh & live' sphag moss.
I am a little scare of sphag moss, when it is packed properly my phals grow like lighting.
When it is not packed properly, it is instant death.
All the best!

[shakkai]

Buds, that's great information. 2 years for Catts probably means even longer for Pleuros and things that don't want as much feeding as Catts. Thanks for that!

It is scary, I know, and I can never seem to keep plants in the sphag they sometimes come in. I guess my growing conditions are just too different. However, when I do the fresh sphag myself, things seem to be fine. I think its still not something for all of my orchids, but it is a good option for quite a few of them.

[Buds!]

When to repot is a difficult question.
It really depends on your growing conditions and the quality of the potting media, in this case sphag moss.
I guess it would be obvious if the sphag starts to smell 'sour'.
Let us know how things work out.

[Undergrounder]

I thnk i might give sphag a go one day for my Phals and Paphs. The one Phal that i have in a mix of 50:50 sphag and large rocks has doubled in size in the last 6 months and is doing great. In comparison, my two large Phals in perlite/bark are struggling.

The trick for me seems to be to keep the sphag minimally watered, so it's never crispy but never wet. Just slightly springy.

[Ray]

Shakkai - I do feed a rather dilute fertili9zer, and it still killed the moss.

Actually, now that I think about it, I did that when I was using Dyna-Gro Grow formula at 50 ppm N. Maybe it takes loner to kill, but the net result is the same.

[shakkai]

Undergrounder, I find that for the ones I have in sphag, a good misting between infrequent dunks keeps it at that optimum level - not crispy, but not soaking wet. I also only use sphag with clay pots so that the whole thing breaths. This seems to help keep things from being too soggy.

Buds, I am keeping an eye on the cochleata, as that's the one that's been in sphag the longest. So far everything still looks very nice and fresh - lots of airiness in the pot.

I wonder if the moss works particularly well for me because of my cooler temps, too? Its an interesting experiment. I'll be sure to report back on how things go.

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[shakkai]

Originally Posted by Ray

Shakkai - I do feed a rather dilute fertili9zer, and it still killed the moss.

Actually, now that I think about it, I did that when I was using Dyna-Gro Grow formula at 50 ppm N. Maybe it takes loner to kill, but the net result is the same.

Good information to keep in mind! Thanks, Ray. I presume that moss doesn't contribute any nutrients to the plants - even minimally like bark chips?