keeping moss alive

Attila

I suspect that you don't see too many pines in the Philippines.

Will's suggestion is one possibility.

But there is another one.

Junipers require fast draining soil, especially in your country where air humidity is high and rains quite a lot in certain times of the year. Moss, on the other hand likes more compact soil. So, moss doesn't like the soil preferred by juniper.

What you can do to solve this conflict is to create pockets of soil on the surface of your bonsai soil. These pockets contain soil preferred by moss. They may be half an inch deep with the surface of a few square inches. So the moss doesn't cover the entire bonsai soil, but maybe 30 - 40%.

I am using coarse peat moss for these pockets and moss loves to grow on that. Beside, coarse peat moss has a very good drainage, but retains moisture longer than the bonsai soil (fine peat moss is very bad for this purpose, it clogs up the space between the particles of the bonsai soil).

So, you have to find something that the moss likes to grow on and create these little pockets. The important thing is not to cover too much of your bonsai soil with it.

Regards,
Attila