AusBonsai

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.

Mitchell wrote: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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.