Q: About Sphagnum
Live Sphagnum
Live Sphagnum
Live Sphagnum
Sphagnum products
As I just described, Sphagnum is a large wetland moss
with remarkable abilities to absorb and retain water. Horticulturally,
it is similar to its partially decayed form (peat moss) but it is more airy and better draining. It gets these attributes
because it does not have the preponderance of fine particulates that peat has. (Such particles
can interfere with water and air movement.) Sphagnum
is an excellent growing medium for many carnivorous plants.
Sphagnum may be used one of three ways. First, there is live Sphagnum.
If you are desperately trying to get some, have patience-if you are growing your carnivorous plants
well, eventually it will pop up in one of your pots, probably originating from a tiny and
unnoticed vegetative propagule. It will grow slowly but surely and within a year, it is unlikely you
will ever run out of it after that. Live Sphagnum is my preferred medium for starting
sundew cuttings and Venus flytrap leaf pullings.
If your growing conditions are not good enough, you will not be visited by the great god of
spontaneous Sphagnum. In such a case, it is not worth your time to buy
live moss, because it will die rapidly. If you want live Sphagnum, you must
have a good growing environment.
Live Sphagnum is
very difficult to get in large quantities. Occasionally I see it for sale,
but I think these nurseries probably field collect it.
If you intend to buy live Sphagnum, first determine if your suppliers have permission to collect
it. When they tell you that they do, do you trust them? In your heart of hearts, do you really?
If you live near a Sphagnum bog, it is not
appropriate to harvest big hunks of Sphagnum. Hell, it probably isn't
even legal unless you own the land. If you must, and it is legal, take at most a few sprigs because if it will live in your
collection, it will reproduce readily. Get permission from the land-owners to do
even that.
The second form of Sphagnum used in horticulture
is called long-fiber Sphagnum. (Carnivorous plant growing geeks sometimes call
it "LFS." Fer christssakes, is it really that hard to type three words? Such growers should be poked in the eyes. ROTFL!)
Long-fiber Sphagnum is just the moss, dead and dried.
Long-fiber Sphagnum will often start
growing again once moistened. Apparently the sterilized moss product isn't really sterilized. The horticultural properties of long-fiber
Sphagnum are similar to the live stuff. Moisten this as you would
peat.
Finally, there is milled Sphagnum. This is just long-fiber Sphagnum
that has been broken up into the individual awl-like segments that make the
Sphagnum sprigs. A top layer of milled Sphagnum, 1 cm deep, over a
peat/sand mix is excellent for germinating many carnivorous plant seeds. Moisten milled Sphagnum
in the same way you moisten peat.
Finding sources for
long-fiber Sphagnum can be difficult. Nearly all nurseries think they have Sphagnum, but
what they usually have is peat moss or the useless
green moss or sheet moss materials. These products are garbage, and are
certainly not Sphagnum, despite what your well-meaning nursery staff may think.
Large carnivorous plant nurseries
should have it (I know that California Carnivores does), so stick with them.
As I discuss elswhere, Sphagnum is
not being harvested in
North America or Europe in a sustainable way. This is not good.
Over the last decade, I have observed the quality of horticultural
Sphagnum bales decrease. More and more leaf-litter, sticks, and other crud
is stuck in the bales. It seems the harvesters are really scouring their
peat bogs looking for every last scrap they can get. Because the quality of
local sources of Sphagnum is decreasing, people are now buying Chilean, New Zealand or
Tasmanian Sphagnum. I do not know about their harvesting practices. I
suspect the worst. (Although one NZ FAQ-reader says that Sphagnum
is harvested in NZ sustainably.
Sarracenia purpurea
I remember the depressing day when I was cleaning sticks and leaves out of my
new bale of North American Sphagnum, and pulled out a dead and dried
Sarracenia purpurea plant. Ever since then I have been looking for
Sphagnum alternatives. In many situations,
sand/peat mix in a 1:1 ratio works just as well as Sphagnum. I would like to do without
the peat altogether, but have not found a good substitute yet.
If you are really interested in mosses, a good botanical reference on Sphagnum
is "A Focus on Peatlands and Peat Mosses" by Crum &
Planisek
Warning: when manipulating dry Sphagnum, use a face-mask and gloves, as you
run the risk of contracting Sporotrichosis.
Page citations: Crum, H. & Planisek, S. 1992; Rice, B.A. 2006a;
personal observation; reader contributions.
