Which/how to grow live moss in T enclosures

[schmiggle]

@schmiggle, you would probably be from somewhere in the more cosmopolitan parts of New England, am I right? Eastern MA, RI, or CT?

I was, yeah, Boston area. I've heard it's like that up farther north. Many of the forests in the Mountain West are too dry for the trees to have moss, but I don't remember what it was like in the wetter parts of Colorado.

I want to rise to the challenge. Some online guides make it look doable, if perhaps not well-suited for a tarantula enclosure.

Good on you. I used to work with a woman who grew lichens in terrarium, so if you're trying to grow them independently I'd be happy to ask for pointers.

 

[Edan bandoot]

Good of you to look out for people. Yes, just an emergency survival hack that works in some places. It's a Boy Scouts and military trick.
@schmiggle, you would probably be from somewhere in the more cosmopolitan parts of New England, am I right? Eastern MA, RI, or CT?



I want to rise to the challenge. Some online guides make it look doable, if perhaps not well-suited for a tarantula enclosure.

Lichen Gardens

Lichen Gardens: Lichens are incredible organisms. They're not plants and not animals. What are they then? A lichen is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria (or both) living among filaments of a fungus in a symbiotic relationship (I got that …

www.instructables.com

https://www.hunker.com/12604513/how-to-grow-reindeer-lichen-indoors

Really, it's this @Edan bandoot fellow that I admire so much. I can't move to Manitoba, but growing lichens would be one small step in that direction.
My moss has been trouble-free, really facile, but I haven't faced the challenges of Manitoba moss yet.
Without difficulties to face, there are no heroes. Too much ease and comfort could drive one to attack windmills.

I'll link some pics of our moss and lichens here tomorrow if you're not being facetious

 

[DaveM]

I'll link some pics of our moss and lichens here tomorrow if you're not being facetious

Please do. Not facetious. It would be thrilling to see what can grow in Dfc and Dfb Köppen climate types. I know the northern parts of your province have polar bears! And, perhaps atypical for a person in my demographic category, I'm a fan of Margaret Laurence, especially The Stone Angel. SO, it seems to me that you have some of the best stuff and the best people, and that your mosses and lichens are likely to follow that trend as well.

 

[Dorifto]

I tried growing moss last year in about the same conditions you'd keep a south American spider.

Damp substrate that dries out on top, high ventilation, in a room with a window, but no direct light.

Resulted in brown dead moss.

If you're going to try to keep it looking lush you're going to need to care for the moss more than the spider.

You need to use an acid substrate, like sphagnum moss peat, or substrate for orchids. Also intead of watering it, mist it. The misting process will aerate the water. A little trick is to use a bit, A BIT of milk in the water, as it provides calcium and other nutrients.

The easiest one to keep is the vesicularia dubyana, but it also needs the biggest amount of moisture of all of them. Hypnum moss needs way less water, but it's harder to grow

This is two month and a half of growth of the dubyana:



And a chunk of hypnum that I took, but it died and revived again thanks to the misting system that activated during holidays.

 

[Edan bandoot]

Oh, moss pics are delayed til Thursday, since I'm getting a real camera then

 

[Dorifto]

Get a pixel 6 phone

 

[Dorifto]

Ive always heard you need bright light, though indirect I think, to keep moss nice and green?

Yep, if it's direct and powerfull enough they bleach, literally you will get a very very light green/yellowish moss, at least with the Vesicularia dubyana.

 

[viper69]

Yep, if it's direct and powerfull enough they bleach, literally you will get a very very light green/yellowish moss, at least with the Vesicularia dubyana.

Thanks I thought so, those were my results when I was a kid.

 

[DaveM]

You need to use an acid substrate, like sphagnum moss peat,

That's useful to know. I've been having an easy time with my moss for some years now, and I do use sphagnum moss peat. It looks like you have substantial lighting @Dorifto.

Now I want to see what grows where @Edan bandoot lives. Happy he's getting a new camera

 

[Dorifto]

Strange, maybe you could add some substrate for orchids, or any acidic one.

Yes I have a good lightning, but the moss part is dimmed down a lot, as it bleaches them too fast, so I keep the back at level 2 of 5 and the front at 3-4. Also the moss doesn't like blue light, so I only use full spectum ones.

 

[CedarArachne]

The moss died, but not before growing hirsute extensions in the desperate search for more light.

Those are sporophytes. Plants have an alternation of generations. What people think of as moss is the haploid gameophyte generation. The sporophyte is the long thin stalk. It is elevated for better spore dispersal. Often when the moss is struggling it will put put out a ton of sporophytes hoping the spores end up in a more suitable environment to keep the parent's genetics going.