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Where to get moss in winter. Sphagnum moss for orchids, violets, flowers and houseplants, how to apply and use. Sphagnum moss is also used in other ways

Not everyone likes to mess around with indoor plants. Not everyone has a talent for this, and the flowers die before they can settle down. However, without greenery, window sills look lonely, and the interior is boring. And if you share this point of view, you should find out how to grow moss at home. It does not cause allergies, is very unpretentious, resistant to the vast majority of diseases and pests, does not require fertilizers, pruning and hilling. And with it you can create wonderful mini-landscapes and amazing compositions.

How to grow moss at home: fundamental principles

Before you start breeding mosses, you need to understand for yourself their needs and needs. First, mosses that grow on trees will not survive on rock or soil, and vice versa. So you need to settle the brought "shred" on a suitable basis.

Secondly, mosses need diffused and indirect light. If the sun illuminates them only in the mornings or in the evening, the mosses will delight you with bright colors. But the midday rays will make the moss pale, dull, and may completely destroy it.

Thirdly, the source of planting material is important. Before you ask yourself how to grow moss at home, ask the specialty stores if they sell it. So you will definitely deal with healthy specimens and do not infect plants at home. If there is no moss for sale, go to the forest. Just clearly remember what is taken from where, and remove the moss with a layer of turf.

Landing

It must be taken as seriously as possible, since it is unrealistic to grow moss at home, initially incorrectly placed. Any vessel can be taken under the plantation. But it will look most spectacular in a glass bowl, a rounded vase or a spherical aquarium. In addition, in such containers it is easier to create and maintain the desired microclimate.

To make the moss feel comfortable at home, small expanded clay or washed pebbles are poured onto the bottom of the vessel. Granulated coal is placed on top of the drainage, and the substrate is already placed on it. As a soil, take the one that is intended for epiphytes and marsh plants, then the mosses will quickly get used to it. A landscape is formed on the ground and moss is laid out, with a slight pressure from above. After the formation of the landscape, it is abundantly spilled with water to stimulate survival.

Care

The moss composition will not require special attention. But only after the "green" takes root. Therefore, the main subtlety of how to grow sphagnum moss at home is to provide it with abundant moisture at first, and then maintain it at a constant average level. For a week or two, the pads should be sprayed daily, while observing that there is no flooding effect. Condensation should form on the walls of the vessel only in the morning. If the moss cover began to darken, then the intensity of watering needs to be reduced. When the mosses begin to grow, spraying is carried out less often, once every three, or even five days.

Growing moss at home may mean fighting mold at the first stage. Usually it appears if the "rugs" are not brought from the store. In this case, problem areas are treated with phytosporin. Although some moss growers believe that the plantations themselves will cope with this scourge. But it seems to us that it is better to help them anyway: the moss is weakened until the moment of complete adaptation, and it does not need additional stresses and loads.

If you created an installation in an open dish-pot, then you need to spray the moss daily. Otherwise, it will dry out quickly and lose its decorative effect.

moss in the garden

The situation is much simpler with the cultural cultivation of moss cover in the open air. Here you do not have to painstakingly create the necessary conditions and plant pads. You need to get a sufficient piece of moss, healthy, without dried and suspicious areas. The blender is loaded with two glasses of water and milk, plus prey from the forest. Having received a cocktail consistency, with this composition you “paint” the intended area. Thanks to milk, moss takes root over the entire treated surface with a probability of 90-95 percent.

With some diligence and a pronounced artistic talent, your fence, wall of the house or can become a real work of art. Your immediate task will only include regular watering of the “picture” until the moss is definitely fixed in the territory provided to it.

More and more modern flower growers use sphagnum moss for indoor plants, considering it the best helper. Sphagnum is a spore perennial that does not have a root system. Each of its specimens is a thin, continuously branching stem, the lower part of which dies off as it grows.

The stems and twigs of sphagnum moss are covered with small scaly leaves arranged in a spiral. The leaflets are based on two types of cells: small, narrow-tubular, green and hollow, colorless. In the first, photosynthesis occurs, through the second, moss receives moisture and nutrition. Hollow cells are able to absorb moisture, in quantity more than 20 times their own weight. This ability gave the plant its name: sphagnum in Greek means "sponge".

Under natural conditions, sphagnum moss lives in the temperate climate of the northern hemisphere, but it can also be found in the subtropics. The most favorable conditions for the growth of sphagnum are the surface of swamps, but it can develop on tree trunks, stones, metal, and even on glass.

Useful properties of sphagnum for indoor plants

Sphagnum moss has three qualities that are indispensable for flowers , grown at home:

Breathability. When adding sphagnum, the substrate becomes maximally loose.
Hygroscopicity. Moss absorbs a large amount of moisture and gives it to the soil gradually. As a result, the earth ball is always moist, but not wet.
Antibacterial properties. Moss contains the substance sphagnol, which disinfects the soil. If it is present in the soil mixture, the root system is protected from decay and fungus development.

Sphagnum has excellent antibacterial properties

Reference. Moss can be used in green and dried form. After drying, all the beneficial properties of the plant are preserved.

Ways to use sphagnum for indoor plants

Not all flower growers know for sure why sphagnum moss is used when growing indoor plants. The beneficial properties of moss allow it to be used for various purposes in indoor floriculture:

Adding to soil mixtures when growing plants. Moss improves soil structure. Gives it lightness, breathability and moisture capacity. Sphagnum absorbs excess moisture, preventing the roots from being in wet soil. The same property saves the roots from drying out. Moisture is gradually absorbed by the roots, as needed. But it is impossible to add moss to the soil in an amount of more than 10%, as it increases the acidity of the substrate. Although this quality is indispensable for growing azaleas and violets, since these plants require soil with high acidity.
Covering a flower pot to maintain air humidity. When growing plants that require high humidity, moss covers the surface around the pot. When watering the sphagnum, the water begins to evaporate, giving moisture to the crown of the plant.
Mulching the soil surface. It is not worth constantly keeping moss on the surface of the soil in a pot, since in this case, increased humidity is created under it and the roots can rot. But if the owners need to leave for 7-10 days, moss will help retain moisture in the soil. After arrival, it must be removed from the pot.

Sphagnum is laid on the surface of an earthy coma to retain moisture.

Rooting leaves and cuttings. Due to its bactericidal properties, moss prevents rotting of cuttings and leaves of plants during their reproduction. The most effective use of sphagnum when propagating plants by air layering. For rooting, a cutting, leaf or air layer is placed in a mixture of moistened moss and soil in a ratio of 1: 1 and placed on a pallet. When transplanting plants rooted in this way, moss is added to the soil in a ratio of 1:3. This rooting method is recommended for violets when grown from a leaf, as well as for orchids when forcing them. Do not use moss when rooting succulents!
Germination of small seeds. Seeds of some crops need access to light to germinate. Therefore, they are recommended to be distributed over the surface of the soil and not to fall asleep from above. But with such sowing, the seeds often dry out, without giving sprouts. If small seeds are placed on moistened moss and covered with a film. Germination occurs without problems. Sphagnum slightly envelops the seeds, preventing them from drying out and at the same time providing them with access to light.
Lining of trunks of plants with aerial roots. It is effective to use sphagnum to wrap the aerial roots of an orchid. Thus, truly tropical conditions are created for this capricious flower.
Storage of bulbs and tubers. The use of sphagnum for wrapping tubers and bulbs of heat-loving flowers, dug out of open ground, avoids their decay and drying out. Moss will not only retain the necessary moisture in the bulbs and tubers, but will also have an antiseptic effect. Tubers and bulbs stored in sphagnum are not affected by mold and gray rot and live safely until spring planting.

Sphagnum is often used to cover the aerial roots of orchids.

Where does moss grow and how to harvest it

Sphagnum moss grows in swampy lowlands, shady forests, along the banks of streams. In these places you can find red, green and brown varieties of the plant. It can be harvested from spring to late autumn.

It is not difficult to extract moss from its natural habitat: the curtain is lifted and the bottom layer is cut off with scissors. After extraction, the moss is carefully squeezed out to remove water from it.

Important. You should not harvest a large amount of sphagnum at once, since a liter package of the plant is enough to make ten liters of planting substrate.

Immediately after collection, the moss is sorted out, freed from insects and disinfected. To keep the sphagnum in a living, green state, experienced flower growers recommend holding it for 15-20 minutes in water at 45 degrees.

Store the collected moss in plastic bags in the refrigerator. But it is impossible to tightly close the package, because this way the moss will suffocate and die.. In winter, moss can be stored on a loggia or balcony, as it does not lose its properties when frozen.

Sphagnum in its natural environment

In order not to visit the forest often to harvest this valuable product, you can grow sphagnum moss on your own from a small piece. Any vessel can be used for growing, but moss looks most impressive in a round aquarium or a glass vase with a rounded bottom. Expanded clay or pebbles are poured at the bottom of the vessel, and on this layer - granulated coal and a layer of soil for epiphytes. Moss is laid out on the prepared pillow, pressing it lightly.

Planted moss is generously watered. Abundant moistening is carried out daily until the moss takes root. As soon as the planting begins to grow, watering is reduced to every five to six days, the amount of moisture is reduced.

Important . During cultivation, it is necessary to ensure that mold does not form on the surface of the mat. If this happens, the moss is sprayed.

Collected in nature or grown independently, sphagnum moss is an indispensable assistant for an amateur grower, facilitating the care of home plants.

You can get acquainted with the features of using sphagnum from the proposed video material. Enjoy watching!

Sphagnum is a species of marsh moss (peat moss), belongs to the Sphagnum family - Sphagnaceae. It has unusual properties. This amazing sphagnum moss perfectly tolerates the adverse conditions of swamps. Where it grows, every gardener knows. And it can also grow on tree trunks, stones, metal and even glass.

Sphagnum is a perennial plant with no roots. It is a branched stem, with a gradually dying lower part. Moss branches are covered with small leaves growing in a spiral.

The development cycle of sphagnum is the same as that of other mosses. Sex cells are produced on the gametophyte plant. In place of the egg after their fusion, a sporogon is formed. Spores ripen in his box. And the germinated spores give rise to a new gametophyte.

It grows only at the top. Its lower part is constantly dying. Sphagnum is always in motion towards the light, up. And the lower dying part of it turns into peat. The top of the shoot is always green, and the part that is immersed in water looks slightly whitish. And even lower, the plant acquires a light brown color. Sphagnum moss (photo) looks great.

During the wet period of the year, it is able to absorb water up to 20 times its own weight. In Greek, sphagnos means sponge. Hence the name of the plant. It grows more often in the temperate zone and in the Northern Hemisphere, but it can also be found in the subtropics. You can find it in abundance in the raised swamp. The bright green fluffy carpet in the photo is sphagnum moss.

Sphagnum properties

The plant has three important properties that make it indispensable in floriculture:

Breathability. Allows the earthen substrate to be kept moist without increasing its weight.
Hygroscopicity. Humidification always occurs evenly and the return of moisture to the substrate occurs in the same dosed and uniform way. The earth mixture will always be sufficiently moist, but not waterlogged.
Antibacterial and disinfectant properties moss is even used in medicine. The substances contained in sphagnum prevent rotting of the roots of houseplants from rotting and other problems.

Application

Sphagnum is used as an earth component for indoor plants. It can be added to the soil to improve quality, make it loose, moist and nutritious.

Sphagnum moss is also used in another capacity:

to cover the soil;
as drainage for indoor plants;
as a bedding mat;
for air humidification;
for storage in the winter of onions and root crops;
to protect plants from fungal diseases;
for the manufacture of hanging baskets and supports for plants with aerial roots.

He is adored by indoor begonia, saintpaulia, dracaena, dieffenbachia, monstera, azalea, sansiveria, crassula. Use it for home germination of seeds and further rooting of shoots. Violet leaves are well rooted in it.

How to harvest moss?

Harvesting is best done in the fall, but it can be harvested at other times of the year. The sphagnum comes out very easily. But it is recommended to take only the upper parts, cutting them off with a knife or scissors.

It is not collected in swampy places, where it is very saturated with moisture. It is best to do this near trees.

You can collect sphagnum in the following ways:

Extracting the plant with roots.
Cutting off the surface of its upper part.

The cut moss must be carefully wrung out to reduce weight. Brought home the plant needs to be poured for 40 minutes with warm water. This will rid it of insects and saturate it with moisture.

Moss is stored in unsealed plastic bags. This will allow him to breathe. In winter, moss can be stored simply in the cold.

Moss sphagnum: features and harvesting

How to dry moss?

They dry it on hangers. This is the best way to dry. Sphagnum hung on hangers it is perfectly blown and keeps the elasticity. Hangers are made from small tree trunks. They are placed under a canopy to protect the moss from the weather.

Moss sphagnum in medicine

The chemical composition of sphagnum represents a number of substances useful for the human body. The plant is a natural antibiotic from the group of phenols.

Its ability to absorb liquid in a large volume is used as natural cotton wool. Sphagnum moss is still capable of disinfecting wounds. It is used in the treatment of purulent wounds, burns and frostbite.

Based on this plant, highly efficient filters for water purification are made.

Water from the sphagnum bog can be safely drunk. It has a slightly darkish color, because it is infused with peat. But there are no pathogens in it.

Moss sphagnum - an assistant to flower growers

Houseplant lovers know how useful it is for flowers. It can be put on the ground of plants in the form saturated with water. The soil in the pot will remain moist for a long period of time.

Use it and for germinating indoor plant seeds. And for dense rooting of the cuttings, chopped plant stems are poured into the soil.

Gardeners use this plant to store tubers of various horticultural crops. To do this, they are freed from the ground and wrapped in wet pieces of sphagnum. Lumps are placed in a cardboard box and left in a cool and dark place. The tubers will remain fresh and whole until the next planting.

Important! It is not recommended to use peat in a garden plot from sphagnum bogs. It will strongly acidify the soil, and this is contraindicated for many garden crops.

Moss is the most interesting plant. This species does not have roots, leaves or flowers. So how does it reproduce and survive? It's all about controversy. Like fungi, mosses reproduce by spores. Since ancient times, people have used mosses to determine the cardinal points. This plant is the best helper for a lost tourist who wants to go in the right direction. Yes, now there are a lot of technologies that allow you to get out of the wilderness. But imagine the moment: your smartphone just ran out of charge. What to do?

Moss will help out

On which side does the moss grow? Even a first grader who carefully listens to lessons on the world around him will answer this question. Yes, and adults remember which side the moss grows on. On trees, mainly in dense thickets, it grows on the north side. So, being in the forest without your favorite smartphone, not knowing where to go, focus on it. On which side does moss grow - from the south or north? It grows and points exactly to the north!

Why does moss grow on trees on the north side?

Many will ask why? There is only one answer - so he needs, so conceived by nature. Which side moss grows on trees is determined by the sun. The moon and the sun have a great impact on the Earth and on all organisms living on it. Leeches and crocodiles, algae and monkeys, even people are subject to the forces that come from the sun and moon, affect life. This plant is no exception. It loves moisture. Without it, in dry areas, moss will not grow. And the sun loves moisture too. Under the influence of its rays, the water evaporates, forming clouds, but, taking this water from the plant, it threatens that the moss will simply die. Sadly. Therefore, the moss has learned to hide from the sun, not to give it its moisture. The earth, rotating under the rays of the sun, always protects its closed northern side from its rays. Therefore, those trees that grow separately from the forest are never illuminated by the sun's rays from the north side. So put away your empty smartphone and focus on which side the moss grows on the trees.

Moss in the forest

Where does moss grow in the forest? It is found mainly on dry trees. The thing is that he needs moisture, and the tree also needs it. Moss also grows on living trees, but it prefers those that do not take water from it.

All forests have this plant. It spreads along the ground, wraps around the branches of trees and their trunks.

Here you are in a situation: you need to determine the north, and moss is everywhere - on the trunks, the ground and the branches. Where to go? Do not focus on the ground, only on the tree trunk. On which side there is more moss, that is the cold part. In the forest, it is more difficult to navigate on the moss, because the sun penetrates there worse. But still, moss is endowed with a "flair". Most of it grows only on the north side.

Mosses growing on rocks

So, Scout High School. On which side does moss grow on stones? From all. Mostly wet. And that means there is a reservoir. Once, for example, in the tundra, where will you go? Naturally, in the direction where there will be more plants on the stones. And why? Because everyone was taught at school: to get out to people, you need to find a reservoir. And this very reservoir will be indicated by the amount of moss on the stones. The smaller it is, the further the water. Accordingly, the more moss, the closer the water, and hence the people! Moss is a guide. If he does not point to the cardinal points, then he will certainly point to the place where there is a reservoir.

Mosses as decoration

On many personal plots there are places where moss grows. It is not removed, because this lower plant gives the area a mysterious and beautiful look. Ancient castles immediately come to mind, which eventually become covered with a layer of moss, indicating their age. These places become mysterious and a little sad, you want to look behind the curtain of the past to see what events took place here, what kind of people lived here. But this is all about the old sites. What can the owners of a new building in a simple place do to give their building and its surroundings a look of austere and ancient? After all, moss grows on its own, but you want to make it start growing in the places you need.

Grow and tame moss

This type of plant grows only in shady places and due to spores. In order to bring your site into a state of "antiquity", you will need to choose exactly those places that are not illuminated by the sun. On which side the moss grows on your site, you can determine by the shadow of the house. From the side where the sun looks least of all - the north. There will be an ideal place to plant a kind of mossy garden.

You now need to get spores. Come to the forest, there is stronger moss, as there is practically no sunlight in more often. Look at which side the moss grows the most - there is the north, which means that it is he who has the strongest spores. Pick a piece of moss from a tree and bring it home. Put in the sun, wait until it is completely dry. This will be the starting material for your personal moss. This moss contains the necessary amount of spores so that you can breed your own, homemade.

After the plant is completely dry, chop it and chop it. Mix the resulting powder with a glass of flour and a glass of skimmed milk (fat should be no more than half a percent). To this mixture, add a couple of packets of dry (quick acting) yeast and syrup. The syrup is prepared from a quarter cup of sugar, the rest in the glass is water. Moss for this consistency should be no more than one and a half glasses.

Put the mixture in the sun. You can cover with a lid so that the moisture does not evaporate. After three days, a vile aroma will leave the jar. This will mean that the mixture is ready, it's time to apply it.

Take a brush, dip in the mass. Rub this mass on the surface on which moss should grow. Cover this surface with a clear plastic bag to retain moisture for growth. Literally in a couple of weeks, your statue or stump will become an “antique”, first covered with mold, and then with fluffy green moss.

To create a real picture of moss on your stump, draw a pattern with a mixture using a brush. Waves, circles, abstraction, but at least the Gioconda itself! The moss will only cover the areas that have been filled with the mixture.

Of course, in the future, a "haircut" will be required, since the moss will begin to grow in the direction it needs only.

Remember one thing: moss needs shade to grow well!