# Help! Moss Milkshake turned into fuzzy white mold!



## tylerh (May 3, 2011)

Hi All!
I made some "Moss milkshake" (Moss, buttermilk and sugar blended) and spread it on parts of my vivarium 2 days ago - 

Now, the areas with it have fuzzy white mold -

Is this bad?? I hear some mold is OK, if not expected in new vivariums - But I just want to be sure

Thanks!


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

You just provided a perfect food source for the mold so it should be expected, whether or not it affects the moss is still to be seen.. 
You could have probably gotten away with just water in a terrarium as usually the limiting factor for mosses is light intensity. Unless it gets covered by leaf litter I see mosses in my enclosures as long as there is enough light.


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## charlesg (Oct 18, 2010)

For me just light and moisture and the moss turns a nice green and grows. Ive never heard of a moss milkshake. Guess Ill have to google it, now im a bit curious


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## pa.walt (Feb 16, 2004)

a cheap light beer would of worked also. moss graffiti that i saw this method. it was used to grow moss quickly on any surface. also it was used outside. 
http://www.storiesfromspace.co.uk/data/html/mossgraffiti.html


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## tylerh (May 3, 2011)

The Moss Milkshake was something I was told about by my local vivarium store - The East Bay Vivarium in Berkeley, Ca.

They didnt say it would mold though - But I saw in another thread that its the same kind of mold others have gotten and its just part of the vivarium cycling...


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## GRIMM (Jan 18, 2010)

If you want to try minimizing the mold, add lots of microfauna and definitely get some air circulation in the viv. I tried a moss/yogurt mix in a glass caserol dish a while ago and I had a pillow of mold for months and never got any moss growth from it.

Im trying a different method now.... 50% dried sphagnum blended with 50% live moss/spores. The sphag keeps everything moist and clumped together, then you just paint it on whatever surface you want. It works amazing from what I have seen, and it is very similar to the moss mix sold by epiweb and other retailers. Just check the link out for the best example of how well it works. I had a conversation with the guy who made these, and that is what he uses to get his unbeatable results. The only other addition to the mix I could suggest is a to add pine needles, and perhaps a few leaves. From what I understand, mosses like slightly acidic soil, so adding the pine needles will help lower ph.

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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

GRIMM said:


> If you want to try minimizing the mold, add lots of microfauna and definitely get some air circulation in the viv. I tried a moss/yogurt mix in a glass caserol dish a while ago and I had a pillow of mold for months and never got any moss growth from it.
> 
> Im trying a different method now.... 50% dried sphagnum blended with 50% live moss/spores. The sphag keeps everything moist and clumped together, then you just paint it on whatever surface you want. It works amazing from what I have seen, and it is very similar to the moss mix sold by epiweb and other retailers. Just check the link out for the best example of how well it works. I had a conversation with the guy who made these, and that is what he uses to get his unbeatable results. The only other addition to the mix I could suggest is a to add pine needles, and perhaps a few leaves. From what I understand, mosses like slightly acidic soil, so adding the pine needles will help lower ph.


so do you just use the beer and sugar recipe with this?
or do you do it a different way?


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

no beer or sugar or milk. Just water, sphagnum and some live moss


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

frogparty said:


> no beer or sugar or milk. Just water, sphagnum and some live moss


ok and what about when you mist will it wash away and do you was it like the consistency of a milkshake or like soup ?
I'm guessing more thick so it doesn't run down the viv


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

frogparty said:


> no beer or sugar or milk. Just water, sphagnum and some live moss


Or just sphagnum or peat, moisture and high light levels. I have to weed sphagnum and several other mosses from some of my carnivorous plants to prevent them from overrunning the plants. 

Ed


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

I add the sphagnum as a filler of sorts to help spread the live moss out to cover more area


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