# Moss wall background



## rudukai13 (Jul 22, 2010)

I'm interested in seeing examples of established moss walls. If you have one, I'd like to see/hear about it. Pictures, descriptions of how you went about constructing it, plants used, etc. would all be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!


----------



## Adamrl018 (Jun 18, 2010)

Id love to see this too!


----------



## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

My method for backgrounds is this:
1. Gorilla glue cork bark pieces to glass. Close together, leaving areas no more than 2 inches wide between pieces.
2. Into these gaps, I stuff NZ spagnum moss and plants, making sure to fill all gaps, so frogs can't get behind the background.
3. I take small pieces of moss and place them on the spag.

The spag almost always comes back to life, and the other moss takes off on the cork and spag. In a month or 2 after setup, there is lush moss growth throughout.

I do this for all my vivs, and since there is spag between every piece of cork, the roots of the epiphytes I use can really grow in and get well established, instead of just growing along the top of a great stuff background.


----------



## JimO (May 14, 2010)

Frogparty's method is a good one. I don't know the species of moss I have, but it came on a small piece of fern panel I bought from Patrick Nabors along with some epiphytic fern. I placed the piece in my viv near the background (fern panel) and waterfall structure (cork bark). The picture below is a wide view of the viv 3 years later. Everything on the right side is moss.

The moss sort of moved where it wanted to and seemed to settle on the cork bark, the wetter surface of a piece of cypress I used for a floor above the water feature, and the sphagnum moss at the base of the waterfall.

I've transferred small pieces to three other vivs and it seems to do very well where it stays wet, but not submerged, and where it gets plenty of light. Also, it seems to grow best on cork bark, as suggested by Frogparty.

My success is purely luck and I can't take any real credit for having a mossy green thumb. I just keep pushing small plugs of moss in places where I think it might grow and smearing pieces across surfaces where I want it to grow, to spread the spores. This works provided you keep the surfaces wet and you are patient. It takes a while for it to get established this way. Of course, these conditions only pertain to the type of moss I have. I'm really sorry that I don't know its name. I can try to get a close-up shot so maybe some of the plant experts could ID it.

It didn't take three years for the moss to look like it is in the photo. The moss grew faster than the oak leafed ficus and the selaginella and was pretty well established as seen on the right within a year. It took another year for the ficus and selaginella to cover the background and now they are fighting it out for space. They're like two ancient armies in an extremely slow motion battle, with each having its own territory and a "no-mans" land where they are intermingled and hacking and slashing each other. 









Oh, and some info on the viv - it's a 36-gal bow front with a false bottom and waterfall. I glued fern panel to the back and used a typical organic soil mix with a covering of spagnum moss. I hand mist about twice a week and have a fogger that I only run occasionally for asthetics. I have a Coralife fixture with a single 65-watt, 6,500k (or maybe 6,700k) CFL bulb. I have small vent holes drilled in the plastic strip that makes up the back 2 inches of the lid. So, I don't have a misting system or do excessive hand misting, I don't change the water and only remove some when the level gets high, and I don't have active air circulation. It houses a breeding pair of azureus that have been in there since the tank was set up.


----------



## jon57 (Sep 26, 2010)

Great looking Viv JimO


----------



## crzsnwbdr (Sep 23, 2010)

I'm curious about this "moss milkshake/slurry" I've been reading in many threads on this forum. I am thinking about adding this slurry to the great foam background in my new vivarium (after planting), but not sure how well it will hold up on a slightly vertical surface. (Would pinning pieces of moss work better?)

Also, in the recipes I've found, buttermilk and beer seem to be the main ingredients -- but don't both have acidic qualities which can be harmful to the frogs? Or will those qualities evaporate long before the frogs are ever introduced?

If I plan to slathering the mixture on top of sphagnum moss for my substrate, at what point in time should I add springtails in the mix? Before the moss on top the sphagnum, or on top the moss after it has started to grow?


----------



## GRIMM (Jan 18, 2010)

I have this posted in my build thread, but I might as well add it here also. 

The background is made from a clay/peat mixture, and has only been up and running since July. It'll only get better over time.


----------



## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Chunks of treefern fiber (boards) are a good source for aquiring a variety of ferns and mosses provided they are kept well moistened and under bright lights. 
I have also had good success with clay backgrounds as a source of mosses. Read through the clay threads as there is some good information in them. 

This is a picture of a section of a clay background under some intense PC lighting (29 gallon and more than 130 watts of PC).


----------



## fleshfrombone (Jun 15, 2008)

You guys should coax frogparty into taking pics of his method. It ends up looking like a natural mosaic of tiny epiphytes living together on the side of some ancient tree.


----------



## rudukai13 (Jul 22, 2010)

Awesome! This is exactly what I was hoping for. Let's keep it going everyone!


----------

