Whoaaa sphagnum moss!

[Cajunrider]

So in March I bought 4.4 lbs of dry moss on Amazon. They came in as 4 1.1 lb bricks that were supposed to yield 85 qt.

I doubted the yield so I tossed all four bricks into a cooler and put come water on them.

Holy molly! The moss kept expanding until it over flow the cooler. In the picture below I already used up about 1/4 of the moss. I think if I took it out and fluff it a little I definitely have 80+ quarts.

It is not a high quality moss but for top dressing BC trees to retain the soil under heavy watering, it works just fine.

 

[ShadyStump]

I had a similar experience the first time I tried using coco coir. I didn't realize how much that 10lb brick would actually expand until I'd mixed some into my soil dry and watered the tree. All of a sudden I had a 70 or 80% coir ratio in stead of 50%, and a wet mess all over the porch. I'm STILL working on the same brick 2 years later!

 

[Cajunrider]

I had a similar experience the first time I tried using coco coir. I didn't realize how much that 10lb brick would actually expand until I'd mixed some into my soil dry and watered the tree. All of a sudden I had a 70 or 80% coir ratio in stead of 50%, and a wet mess all over the porch. I'm STILL working on the same brick 2 years later!

10 lb brick like this one?

 

[ShadyStump]

10 lb brick like this one?
View attachment 572589

I'm pretty sure that's the EXACT one actually.
I haven't used it in every tree or plant I've potted, and actually came by a few bags of prepared coir and perlite mix a couple years ago that I often just grab, and that's stretched it out, too.

No days I treat the dry compressed stuff almost like peat, and moisten it as I'm mixing, or prepare it ahead of use.

 

[nuttiest]

What happens when it turns green, does it mean it's growing and you can use as decor?

 

[stubmle]

What happens when it turns green, does it mean it's growing and you can use as decor?

Sphagnum? Usually means it has algae growing on it. Some kinds can revive, New Zealand I think maybe? This is not the norm though, it usually stays dead.

 

[Cajunrider]

Whoaa sphagnum moss!!!!
I now can see why Peter Chan uses sphagnum moss on everything. I top dressed a bunch of trees with the excess moss I had. I am seeing marked improvement in the health of all my Mayhaws. Poking under the moss showed that the surface roots look much better. It appears the moss protect them well from the harsh sun at my place.