Where to get live mosses?

[MateoinLosAngeles]

I know many use live moss to top their Paphiopedilum pots. I've been trying to find dwarf or red live sphagnum moss, which needs less trimming and usually doesn't grow too tall, to use with some orchids and carnivorous plants.

Does anyone have any recommendations or sources of live dwarf sphagnum? Or would you recommend a different type of live moss?

[Leafmite]

What are you growing?

I am not sure where to find healthy live sphagnum moss but I am interested in the results of how your plants do growing in it. Good luck!

I have been using a peat/sand/perlite mix for my Nepenthes, Pinguicula, sundews and Venus fly trap. I just make certain that no fertilizer has been added. They do quite well in the mix.

[MateoinLosAngeles]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

What are you growing?

I am not sure where to find healthy live sphagnum moss but I am interested in the results of how your plants do growing in it. Good luck!

I have been using a peat/sand/perlite mix for my Nepenthes, Pinguicula, sundews and Venus fly trap. I just make certain that no fertilizer has been added. They do quite well in the mix.

Nice. My Sarracenias are in 100% Sphagnum (I don't remember but I don't believe I used any perlite) and have been for a long time, I love it and I think they do too. All my sundews came in potted so I reused the potting media and mixed in some stuff like perlite, I got my Venus Fly Trap this year and it's in kanuma mixed with grodan grow cubes. All have deep dishes with water at all times.

Sarracenias are doing best, but they are so vigorous to begin with. I thought I was doing poorly with the VFT (I'm not very familiar with how they grow) but I started to see what seems like many small leaves (traps) starting to grow out in the middle of the plant. Too soon to know if this is stunted growth or if it will be quite the trap show later in the season. Time will tell. The sundews are doing fine but I will probably move it to Sphagnum Moss eventually.

I have a D. capensis which is very floriferous. It already bloomed this year and all the flowers self-pollinated, it's now spiking again. If all these seed pods are successful I may sow the seed and try to grow the plants, I'm considering using sphagnum moss for the plug vs peat. The reason why I seem to avoid peat like the plague is because I don't use it for anything else (my house plants are planted in coco coir) and because plants with organic media like peat, worm castings, manure... seem to me like they attract more fungus gnats. I try to replicate the richness of the soil with slow release fertilizers (Spring Forward from Miracle Gro is pretty neat) and quantum total and kelpak for all my plants except the carnivorous. These do get kelpak tho.

I initially potted the VFT in Kanuma due to an understanding that they needed less water and more air around the roots, I also wanted to explore growing a carnivorous plant in fully inorganic media.

The studies I've read suggest all of the above can live in anoxic soils. Sarracenias have roots with parts similar to aquatic plants. Sundew and VFT apparently have very similar root development and they only use their roots for part of the year, then only for anchoring for part of the year.

Orchid-wise, after reading a lengthy Paph care post on Here But Not's blog, I'm curious to try live moss on Paphs and perhaps build a little bog section in my growing area, as I've accumulated several bog plants by now, with moss on top of all the plants which could look really cool and wild.

The sphagnum moss (the spagmoss from besgrow we orchid growers are so familiar with) on one of my sarracenias has actually started to come back to life, but this type can get tall which for sarracenias (or Paphs) is fine but I think it would outcompete the VFT and Sundews.

Only dwarf live moss I've found is here but a bit expensive: Sphagnum Moss - Dwarf

[Subrosa]

I have a variety that stays very compact. I just started ramping up production on it, so it will be a couple months before I have enough to let usable quantities go. If you're interested in starting small, I can let you have enough to start your own culture.

[estación seca]

Search eBay for live sphagnum. I haven't grown CP for years, but complaining about frequently mowing the sphagnum was part of the hobby back then.

[Lil Duck]

Originally Posted by MateoinLosAngeles

I know many use live moss to top their Paphiopedilum pots. I've been trying to find dwarf or red live sphagnum moss, which needs less trimming and usually doesn't grow too tall, to use with some orchids and carnivorous plants.

The dwarf and red forms of Sphagnum moss need extremely high light to survive as well as cold temperatures, Paaphs in those conditions will not survive. However, those mosses will work perfectly with things like Darlingtonia which need a constant supply of cold water and bright light. I have seen these mosses sold at Hunter Flytraps.

[Ray]

When I have wanted to use live mosses, I've often resorted to the tropical mosses sold by dart frog sites. Their temperature and light neds are far more similar to those of orchids.

And then there's the occasion when I have ignored algae, and it seems to eventually morph into a moss layer.