Indoor living moss wall!
 

Hello everyone!

I am new to growing moss, but hoping to make a living moss wall. (after seeing that the ones you can buy are all dead moss glued to a backing panel :( )

My plan, having read lots of posts on this forum, is to have plywood panels as the structural backing, with capillary matting as a substrate for the moss to grow on (because Hygrolon is expensive!). I've collected moss from a variety of places and assume the species that can live happily indoors will over time dominate the mini ecosystem.

This is not going to be in a terrarium, so I'm planning to mist it every day.

I would love to hear any feedback, comments, or advice people may have! Although this isn't about orchids, lots of people on here have good moss knowledge as well it seems :)

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

If you haven't already, do a lot of reading on green wall construction. There are lots of very expensive and avoidable mistakes people can make.

Moss grows great on rockwool seed mats (available at hydroponic shops online), BUT not even daily misting is going to really cut it without being in a terrarium... moss is slow to fill in at best. I'ld skip the ply and opt for all waterproof components that sit in a basin of water that can recirculate water to the top of the wall continuously. You'll also want to consider the light your giving your wall.
Garden mosses don't always do well when removed from the conditions we find them. Look in to Dusk moss mix online, I've had good luck with it
in all cases you'll like need to be comfortable with staring at a sparse wall for many months on end.
Largely this sis a case of aiming to bend plants to our will rather than truly appreciating the conditions that they normally exist.

I'm going to second the above comment as well!

I agree. Tropical mosses will do a lot better than temperate ones.

Moss grows all over my grow room but my humidity stays above 75% and is usually 85%.

You would be better off soaking the wall twice a day instead of just misting.

Thank you so much for all this wonderful advice!! It seems that the main issue (other than patience needed!) is moisture - in this case do people think that the moss I found living high up on dry walls/roofs outdoors would still not do well? I will look into circulating systems anyhow!

I was also planning to gently/lovingly cultivate it to the point of being quite healthy before attaching it to a wall (and am happy with this taking month/s).

Thank you everyone!

Moisture, yes is a central concern. But there are many variables in place that remain unknown. When we remove plants from nature it is important to recognize that humans tend to be poor evaluators of the host of conditions that exist on site. That is moisture but also light nutrients, air circulation, day/night temperature variation ect. Generally the tropics mosses such as the dusk mix are more adaptable and culture to be prolific in cultivation. Tropicals in general are more accustom to what we can offer in cultivation. Apart from that I do thing the setup you’re proposing will degrade quickly and is liable to release compounds harmful/inhibitory to growth.

I think all of us want you to succeed. I have started cultivating bryophytes exclusive terrariums, they are wonderful, but as non vascular plant, they need constant moisture to be vigorous enough to cover a surface. Depending on how large what your looking to construct is, you may also look into wabisabi culture and kits. Materials of interest include terracotta and rock wool. Also worth looking at is dendroboard… but I must emphasize that all even under glass moss is a difficult proposition for most to get full coverage on. Out side of that bonsai growers spend years getting moss to grow on the surface of their substrates that they tend to water daily.

@Jmbaum this is such useful knowledge, thank you so much!
I am now looking into cheap irrigation systems to see whether there could be a gentle constant drip going, and terracotta is a very good recommendation as it will be beautiful even if the moss takes months and months to grow! Also, Dendroboard is another amazing website, so thank you!

Is it the plywood that will release harmful compounds? I thought of it only as a useful backing material that is cheap and easy to get hold of, and am not dedicated to using it at all. My only thought was that it can be bought already waterproofed, so could protect the actual wall behind it - I did worry about waterproofing agents being unkind to moss though...

Wet plywood molds and rots. You really need to do a lot more reading.

I’m general, I wouldn’t rest anything actually against a wall that involves moisture… even if there were a way of to not have theater pass through, you’ll create an area of condensation. What you may be looking for is something freestanding… think of those desktop water falls that bubble over a wall… basically a trough with a pump. There is a bunch of you tube devoted to these sort of things… even like a contained shadow box or curio cabinet might be a good option. It is easy to underestimate how drying even a gentle breeze will be on any sort of exposed moss wall.