Les Mosserables

JLK

Why do I seem to be the only putz out there who can't grow moss on my bonsai?
I have to periodically refresh it with stuff from the forest (so much for "take only pictures, leave only footprints&quot. Despite covering the soil with a nice bed of moss it looks brown & ugly in two weeks. I suppose this is because I have to let the soil dry out a bit for the tree? If that's true of most bonsai then how can they have such cool moss beds? Should I give up on moss and concentrate on stuff like artillery fern & miniature cranesbill?
What's the word oh guru's?

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The ugly truth about moss is...

Most of it is applied a few weeks before the show. Sometimes the night before. Most growers have a love/hate relationship with moss. It looks cool, but it blocks the soil and can interfere with drainage and induce root rot or insect invasion.

Be sure and get the right kind of moss. You want the stuff that grows in sunlight, typically on brick or street gutters and sidewalks, not the thick, ropy moss that grows in the shade. One of the favored mosses around here is called "silvertip moss"

You can collect moss with a putty knife or a similar thin flat trowel used for spackling. Store it on nursery flats covered with a layer of damp newspaper.

For seeding, there are a couple options -

1) You can let the moss dry a bit, grind it up and sprinkle it on the surface of your tree

2) You can lay it like sod around the base of the tree. Sprinkle a little bonsai soil over the surface, press it down with a trowel.

3) You can order moss spores See www.treebay.com -> Supplies and grow the stuff on your own and then transfer it to the tree or sprinkle the stuff on the surface. We did a thriving business in moss spores pre- 9/11, but recently the demand for spores-by-mail has declined somewhat.

Try not to cover more than half the soil's surface with moss for the reasons discussed above. You can mix a couple different kinds of moss for interesting effect and texture. Avoid hornwort and so called "Irish Moss" or "Scotch Moss" which can be invasive weeds. Lichen is okay. Keep the moss off your tree trunks. The moss will soften and consume the bark.

Regards,

Matt

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