Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am about to build another terrarium and instead of buying moss I was hoping someone could tell me how to grow it. I could spare some from a tank that has plenty in it, but not sure how to get it to really grow. Ive also like to get it to grow onto a branch or piece of wood. Any recomendations for which type of wood/branch i could use and how to get it to spread. Thought I read some where that you can take moss, water, little milk, and top soil or something and blend it up and spread it on things and it would grow. Any truth to this? Thanks.
kris

Usually, you can buy moss spores (hopefully the kind that do not need a dormat period)and sprinkle them over some starter soil. Then cover it with plastic and keep it in a area thatgets morning sun and afternoon shade. If you want it to grow on a branch, try to soak it first and then put it in the same set up. This is how many Bonsai enthusiasts start the kiyoto moss that is frequently used in bonsai pots. One source is Jsua roth, I buy from them. There is something called java moss that i see used often in vivs but I have no experience with that.
Hopefully someone has more experience than I do and will help you out more.
Nick

thank you for the advice. ill look into buying some spores. hopefully home depot or lowes sell them.

The starter method is to whirl some moss in a blender with buttermilk, but I've never tried it.

I haven't had much success with the tropical pillow or sheet mosses myself, probably because my vivariums are all pretty wet and lack both the high light and ventilation many mosses require. Neither does it seem to hold up with the frogs trampling it. The Java moss works well for me. This grows both in and out of water, but is rather long and needs trimming relatively often. Sometimes the long brown New Zealand type sphagnum will "come alive" and grow, but it too, is rather loose. Often the wood and cork bark will sprout mosses if you don't sterilize it. I'll see if I can get a photo of some cork bark that has grown various mosses (and ferns) that weren't planted.

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, galactonotus orange, galactonotus yellow, fantasticus, reticulatus, imitator, castaneoticus, azureus, pumilio Bastimentos. P. lugubris, vittatus, terribilis mint green, terribilis orange.

Here's another photo of the "spontaneous" growth that can occur. These ferns in the photo often occur on cork that hasn't been sterilized. I've never identified them. There are two kinds that may show up, and both stay fairly small. The tufted moss here is probably sphagnum, and there is a little Java here and there in long strands. The short moss just cropped up on the cork.

This log is quite wet because the water falls splash on it.

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, galactonotus orange, galactonotus yellow, fantasticus, reticulatus, imitator, castaneoticus, azureus, pumilio Bastimentos. P. lugubris, vittatus, terribilis mint green, terribilis orange.

thank you for all your help. the java moss, what is the best substrate to grow it on? i want to get the moss growing before i start building the terrarium

Java will grow on just about any substrate as long as it's fairly wet and humid. To propagate it, you can put it in a tropical fish tank or in a container of water in good light, but not full sun. I always put a hunk of it in my tadpole containers as well, where it seems to grow splendidly, giving the tads a place to hide as well as utilizing some of the wastes. It's a really good filter for growing on water falls and in water features. It does need "weeding out" or trimming back once in awhile, as it can fill a shallow pond, or build up rather high on the edges of a vivarium, especially next to the glass.

I believe there is more than one species of Java moss, but I don't know what the difference among them is.

To me, it seems a shame that so many of the beautiful carpet mosses, mostly found in temperate zones or sub-tropics, and those used with Bonsai don't seem to do well for very long in our enclosed rain-forest habitats, but whenever one finds them, it always seems worth a try. I doubt very much that Lowes or Home Depot has moss spores, but I'll look through my moss books (all both of them) and see if these list any sources and let you know.

A lot of people seem to be using Ricca now, as well, but a start is rather expensive. I paid about $9.00 for a tiny lava rock of it for my new paludarium and am trying it out in a shallow part of the aquarium section. I haven't had it very long, so it's too early to tell how it's going to do and I don't have enough to try it on wet land yet.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, galactonotus orange, galactonotus yellow, fantasticus, reticulatus, imitator, castaneoticus, azureus, pumilio Bastimentos. P. lugubris, vittatus, terribilis mint green, terribilis orange.

I didn't find any sources for moss spores in my books, but a Google search for Moss spores did turn up a few sources, mostly for Bonsai, as well as the buttermilk formula and more advice on growing them-- all apparently outdoors.

It also dawned on me that the Club mosses, Selaginella sp. (not a true moss, but something in between a fern and a moss in appearance, do well in tropical vivariums. The S. krausianna brownii pictured stays pretty low, but I doubt that's what you are looking for.

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, galactonotus orange, galactonotus yellow, fantasticus, reticulatus, imitator, castaneoticus, azureus, pumilio Bastimentos. P. lugubris, vittatus, terribilis mint green, terribilis orange.

thanks for all the help.

I have to second the suggestion for Selaginella kraussiana. The 'Aurea' (Gold Tipped) cultivar of kraussiana has a really nice light green color and this stuff does better in vivs than most of the mosses that I’ve attempted to use. It may not do well if the viv is too wet though.

I’ve noted the following problems with using mosses in vivs:
1.) Stringy growth form- Most or our temperate sheet mosses need a lot of light (remember that a single fluorescent bulb doesn’t even produce the amount of light that you will find under a shade tree). When you try to grow these mosses under fluorescent light they produce stringy runners, which I assume, are looking for adequate light.
2.) Failure to thrive due to improper pH- from what I understand, the LECA balls that many of use for a drainage layer, make the water in our vivs slightly basic. Most of our temperate mosses require an acidic pH to thrive.

One other thought is that it is a good idea to be careful about your source of moss. These plants cannot tolerate a bleach bath, so if you transfer mosses from one amphibian tank to another you can also transfer parasites.

As Patty mentioned Java moss grows really well in aquariums. I’ve grown it in terrariums and aquariums and I think I’ve seen more growth under water. If you want to use this moss I would obtaining some from a source that doesn’t have amphibians and wash it well in chlorinated tap water. (This will not guarantee parasite free moss, but it is a gesture) You can then grow it in an animal free fish bowl and fertilize it with DynaGrow “Grow” or some other dilute fertilizer that isn’t too high in phosphate. In my experience high levels of phosphate will give you a euglena bloom (green water). Java moss will grow in a basic environment so if you use LECA in your viv, it will not be hindered by the pH.