# Moss Growth Experiment



## Beerbohm (Oct 6, 2019)

So I'm almost finished with my first vivarium and will have a portion of my plant "growout" chamber free for awhile and figured I'd do an experiment with the different mediums for growing mosses. I currently grow an unknown moss i scraped from the base of a brom on a standard microfiber towel in my growout/quarantine chamber. *I will use the microfiber square as my control since I know moss grows adequately on it in my specific conditions. the light and the moisture will be identical for all the squares. I'll compare the moss in 1 week intervals for 3-4 months. (second part of the experiment will be taking the best medium and having it at different PAR levels...and then the best of that at different moisture levels)

I'm starting with a 2" x 2" base of light diffuser crate.

















This then got a coat of (black) Great Stuff.









And was trimmed flush to the sides / the top was equally leveled









the sides then got a coat of 100% silicone to prevent the foam base from interfering with the top material









There are 15 squares in total (labelled A thru O) so far I've come up with the following materials.

*A *- Hygrolon (adhered using 100% silicone)
*B *- Coconut coir (adhered using 100% silicone)
*C *- Drylok (over Great Stuff foam)
*D* - Standard kitchen sponge (adhered using 100% silicone)
*E* - Standard kitchen scrubber (adhered using 100% silicone)
*F *- Epiweb (adhered using 100% silicone)
*G *- Great Stuff Foam (just foam nothing added)
*H *- Wood (driftwood that has been milled into a flat sheet)
*I *- Microfiber (adhered using 100% silicone) *control
*J *- ABG mix (a container of equal height that holds ABG)
*K *- 3d air spacer mesh AKA speaker mesh fabric
*L *- ? Glass (a 2x2 base of glass not foam)
*M *- ? Glass (a 2x2 base of glass not foam)
*N *- ?
*O *- ?

So I have some questions for you guys.

1. What other materials should I try out? (l-o) (cork, rock, marine epoxy etc)
2. What are some variables that you think could cause any issues / make the experiment not valid (equal moisture, lighting, placement of squares, equal amounts of moss, etc.)
3. What moss would you suggest for this. (I will be receiving an order of Dusk moss mix for my viv but I don't think that it would be the best for this since it contains many different mixes of mosses and non mosses) ( Some mosses i've considered are Java, christmas , and a native temperate "pillow" moss{ I want to avoid this because of possible chytrid/pests})
4. I was considering having each square held up at a 45 degree angle to compare the materials ability to retain moisture when not perfectly level. Do you think this would be better then just laying them flat?
5. Should I make more squares?

Thankyou


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## Louis (Apr 23, 2014)

I would be really keen to see a comparison between some different potential growth enhancers like kelp extract containing cytokinins or fertilizer with different nutrient ratios.


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## [email protected] (Jan 20, 2020)

trying growing on different rocks like "feather rock", concrete, limestone, and one of cut expanding foam. 
goodluck keep us updated 

http://www.featherock.com/


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## Kalle (May 14, 2010)

Interesting experiment! The only issue I have is that the results will only be valid for that particular moss species. You could probably generalize somewhat but mosses can be very specialized and thrive in very different environments. For that reason I wouldn't add any mineral bearing materials like rock, concrete, limestone, etc. 

One other thing, the materials you chose have very different water retention properties. Will you water them the same and at the same interval? If you do the results may only show you what moisture levels are preferred not if the material has any other good or bad properties for the moss. Epiweb for instance probably won't do as good without a lot more watering than say hygrolon. 

Again, interesting experiment but I think it can be hard to draw any general conclusions about the materials except which one worked best under exactly your conditions. And conditions can be very different from one setup to the next. Mist interval, ventilation, drip wall, etc, etc.


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## Beerbohm (Oct 6, 2019)

Kalle said:


> Interesting experiment! The only issue I have is that the results will only be valid for that particular moss species. You could probably generalize somewhat but mosses can be very specialized and thrive in very different environments. For that reason I wouldn't add any mineral bearing materials like rock, concrete, limestone, etc.
> 
> One other thing, the materials you chose have very different water retention properties. Will you water them the same and at the same interval? If you do the results may only show you what moisture levels are preferred not if the material has any other good or bad properties for the moss. Epiweb for instance probably won't do as good without a lot more watering than say hygrolon.
> 
> Again, interesting experiment but I think it can be hard to draw any general conclusions about the materials except which one worked best under exactly your conditions. And conditions can be very different from one setup to the next. Mist interval, ventilation, drip wall, etc, etc.


some great points here

I agree that the minerals in stones could skew the results. I think that I'll add a fourth part after material, light, and moisture..."growth enhancers" (minerals , nutrients, fertilizer, etc) 

It would be nice to water the moss the same as the viv so i can just buy another head for the mistking and keep it all automated but without having it setup fully i'm unsure of the misting requirements it would take. (Most likely once a day to once every other day at the most twice.) I feel watering more then this wouldn't be normal for the standard dart frog vivarium.

Part of the materials test would be the rhizoids ability to take hold to the surface and the materials ability to hold adequate moisture under a fairly "normal" vivariums conditions. 

It would be nice to test several mosses but each set of squares would probably need to have it's own chamber to grow in to prevent from cross contamination. Testing 5 different mosses with 15 swatches each would fit in the 18x27 grow chamber but id be worried about equally lighting everything. 
I wouldn't be completely opposed to this but i think it would also be hard to get a hold of the different mosses without breaking the bank. (unless people would be willing to donate some moss etc )


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## gjcarew (Feb 20, 2020)

From a scientific perspective it's fine to just use one type of moss. Additional kinds of moss, nutrients, etc. Should be run as separate experiments. Make sure you weigh the amount of moss you put on initially and at the end of the experiment so you can tell growth for sure, and don't forget to label and record.

I think the hardest part will be ensuring even lighting and even moisture/misting. If you can access a PAR meter that would be very helpful, but even a lumen meter phone app would work to check how even your light leaves are. A fogger rather than a mister would probably be better since fog can cover the entire grow out chamber evenly.

Cool experiment by the way! Do you have a background in science?

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk


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## Beerbohm (Oct 6, 2019)

Unfortunately no science background but I've watched enough Mythbusters to get the gist of it lol. I'm planning on doing a solution of moss blended in water and was thinking of measuring it by volume instead of weight. That's a good idea with the fogger but I'm using my reptifogger as a "safety" (with the hygrotherm) in my vivarium in case the humidity dips too low if i'm away. I was wondering if moving the squares every 2 or 3 days to different spots would help ensure that everything was more equally lit since the light I have in my grow tank is a 40watt led grow bulb. any thoughts? (I'll also be posting some better pics once i get a day off)


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## gjcarew (Feb 20, 2020)

Beerbohm said:


> I was wondering if moving the squares every 2 or 3 days to different spots would help ensure that everything was more equally lit since the light I have in my grow tank is a 40watt led grow bulb. any thoughts? (I'll also be posting some better pics once i get a day off)


That would definitely help prevent the light and heat differences in different parts of the grow chamber from being a confounding variable.



Beerbohm said:


> I'm planning on doing a solution of moss blended in water and was thinking of measuring it by volume instead of weight.[\QUOTE]
> 
> If this was a biology lab I would say no, you can't do that. Moss does not have a definite volume, and blended moss would not make a homogenous mixture-- as in there would be more moss cells in the bottom of the blender than in the top of the blender as it settles out, so there is no way to know how much actual moss goes on each substrate plate. Mass is a MUCH more reliable measure.
> 
> ...


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