Has anyone found out what organic substances leach out of live moss after watering.

I wonder if any chemicals analogous to Superthrive leach out.

Rick,
I haven't a clue in the world.

However, I guess what I wondered when I read your post was, why would chemicals akin to Superthrive leach out? Do you mean, if you use ST will it leach out, like other fertilizer salts do with other media? :confused:

I know, I'm an idiot. I don't understand though. Can you help me understand? I still have some ST concerns, and with so many plants in sheath now I have nixed it from my regimen.
Thanks!

(and hopefully someone who is not quite such an idiot will respond for you.) :)

As they say, no foolish questions Heather.


All organisms pick up and excrete chemicals. Some excretions are simple waste products, and some are meant for alteration of the local environment.

Some of these chemicals may be growth stimulants and hormones. There may also be various toxins or antibiotic like substances, and vitamins. If nothing else I would expect a host of "humic" acids from the breakdown of dead moss cells.

The primary active ingrediant of ST is Napthyl acetic acid. Acetic acid is just vinegar, a simple organic acid, and derived through biological actions.

I have noticed allot of orchids seem to grow naturally in proximaty to mosses, and in general I have allot of success from many of my orchids (slippers included) when growing with live moss.

So I'm just curious about what kinds of chemicals are excreted by mosses.

Thanks Dr. Rick, that was most helpful.

I didn't know that about ST. Hence why it lowers pH so much, eh?
Sorry I can't help with the moss question, but I'd love to learn from others!

(P.S. Bon Voyage!)

that is way Rick is an OG or an ORS, he know's what the initials stands for :twisted:

The effect of live sphagnum, I think, partially has to do with its super low pH of 3.5-4.5, thus making more nutrients available that would not have been so with your typical watering and media combination, in addition to maintaining high humidity, and naturally i think they produce endogenous cytokinins, which may or may not be released. However, my theory about superthrive is that it has highly concentrated seaweed extract in it, in addition to added Napthaletic Acid and B-1.

The effect of live sphagnum, I think, partially has to do with its super low pH of 3.5-4.5, thus making more nutrients available that would not have been so with your typical watering and media combination

I think the solution is more with the high humidity, constant moisture. pH that low actually limits more nutrients then it makes nutrients more availble. It closes more doors then it opens. Heres a nice picture that illustrates the relationship that pH has with nutrient availability:

http://www.avocadosource.com/tools/FertCalc_files/pH_file/pH.jpg

So you can see that most of the macronutrients are not very bioavailable at those low pH.

That said, I am switching some of my plants to newzealand spag and perlite after seeing huge plants at the Montreal Botanical Gardens in it. I'll let you know how my experiment goes.

Kyle

If you can find some live moss see if you can get some of that started on top of the media.

Its weird, but some of my best plant growth kicks in when the live moss kicks in.

It must be the endogenous cytokinnens :evil: :evil: :evil:

Rick,
I've only seen live moss growing on peat. Will it take to a CHC mix?
Or are we talking about a totally different kind of moss here?
Thanks

It grows just fine on CHC under my growing conditions. I can tell that there are a couple of different species growing. Some looks like sphagnum, and some looks more like the dense types you'd expect to see in the woods.

Ooh la! I've got live moss growing in my sundew! Too cool!! 8)

I've got some on my flytraps... Would it work to just pick some off and stick it on the CHC? :unsure:

It could. I transfer it from pot to pot like that too.

How do you know if Sphagnum turns "live"?
I just saw some photos of what someone called "live" and it just looked wet, w/ a touch of green, like algae was growing.
So now I am perplexed....can someone help me understand what this looks like?

Thanks!

I know I just posted this photo in another thread, but does it look like this?
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/couscous74/Orchid0240.jpg

the antiseptic properties of (dead) moss have been attributed to phenols. don't know if those compounds are present in live moss.

Yeah, I guess! I just thought that was algae turning it greenish. No?? Cool then! I've got live moss!

I thought it was algae too. I just posted that as a reference.

I was thinking about topping some s/h pots with live sphag , give the emerging roots something to burrow into.
Going to try mixing 25%(roughly) of smallish limestone in with the LECA for the calciferous plants.
I,ll have to pick some victims ...... i mean test subjects.

Live sphagnum is pretty obvious because it looks kinda prickly (as well as green). If the only change on your dead moss is the color it probably is algae.