For the mossickers & lichenists

[Amanda]

A quick way to get moss growing is to use a blender or bamix .. chuck the collected moss (and dirt matter) into a tallish container, add unflavoured yoghurt and blend it up. Paint it on pavers and leave it in the shade just keep the moisture up. It's easy to scrape off.

[MattA]

Spent the day mossicking on a private bush property. Collected several types which I plan on drying / packing and or mixing with beer/milk and spreading out onto grow trays. Shall be lots of fun.

Hey Mitchell,

I am also curious about your idea of using beer/milk for these.

Mosses can be dried out & just rewetted with water, they will come back to life right before your eyes. Some advocate the grinding up of clumps into powder & spreading it on your pots/trays. For myself I just collect my moss & keep it as clumps, planting into the surface of whatever pot I want. I also just lay it straight into suibans with no medium underneath. I comes back with no drama's & on the suibans it knits together so quickly.

I have used the sour milk method (milk mixed with an acid & allowed to sit a few hours) to encourage mosses to grow on raw cut/carved stone and old concrete to great effect so guess it wouldnt do any harm if you were combining it with collected moss.

Matt

[Mitchell]

Check google out guys.

Mosses are encouraged as you know by acidic solutions, milk sours quick enough and beer is another alternative. You make a moss/dirt, beer, sugar milkshake and your right to go!!

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&s ... =&gs_rfai=

In fact I may do a lil' progression series as I go.

[MattA]

Thanks for the link Mitchell. I have never had much trouble with getting moss to grow, I usually have to thin it out regularly to stop it getting too thick, but another bit of arsenal in the bag of tricks is always handy.

Matt

[Mitchell]

It's all about the numbers mate. For anyones general bonsai needs, I would just use chunks and re-plant. I'm thinking of possibly selling to local nursery's and a few square feet of moss can be turned into 200 sqft via the milkshake method. Also stores well in milkshake form.

[Kunzea]

Hi Jake
I think what is going on is that milk, beer etc provide a bit of an organic base for the spores to stick to and maybe get a bit of a start when very young. I haven't looked into the subject for some decades, but that is what I recall from a very successful landscape botanist. Good luck.

By the way, I seem to recall that the milk etc is usually poured over the rock and allowed to dry out a bit and the 'innoculum' spread on top of that. I don't recall the bitss being all mixed together first, but then it might also work. Perhaps the alcohol content of the beer might be less good for the spores!

K

[Pup]

For reproduction of the moss, and to make it finer. Get the finest of the 3 size's of the Bonsai soil sifter, or some stanless= brass fly srceen and gently rub the moss and soil though.
You will then end up with a nice fine tilth of Moss and soil. Just spread what you need on top of your pot, gently spray or soak from the bottom up. In a day or so you will have a nice covering of moss. Put the rest when dried into a paper (not plastic) bag and store it in a cupboard, for when you need it.

Cheers Pup

[Gary Bee]

Just as a thought, I understand it is the yeast in the Beer and/or Full Cream Milk which boosts the Moss to grow healthily.

I like Pup's recipe, a "natural" approach and will give definitely give it a go.

Another tip I have found which works for me is to cover established moss with sharp zeolite gravel to depth of 1 or two layers.
The damper environment under the zeolite accellerates the moss growth.
A few minutes brushing away the zeolite a week or so before displaying your bonsai results in a great bed of Moss.

Rgds
Gary

[Pat093]

i was given some coral muss and heaps of others the other day from a friend of mine here some pics, i just keep them moist and they do alright.