# Where to get liverworts



## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

Where can I get tropical liverworts? I'm assuming any I find growing native are most likely temperate and won't do well long-term without a cold period. I know greenhouses often have some growing around on the floor and in corners, but is there anywhere else?


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## Caesin (Aug 10, 2016)

I've bought some from Andy's Orchids at their Open House days. I'm sure if you called them and asked for a bag of mosses and liverworts they'd be happy to set you up. They have, as you say, a lot of liverworts growing in their greenhouses, but it's mostly in the orchid pots. Hope this helps!


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## flyingSquirrel (Aug 22, 2011)

As mentioned, Andy's Orchids has moss. They actually sell it, or at least that's how it was for me. They once had it listed on their site, not sure if they still do. Otherwise if you call or email they can give you the price / info.

When I bought it, there was no way to pick specifically what I wanted. It was just a bag of random moss, and most of it was way to big for what I wanted. Also there were no liverworts that I can recall, maybe a few small bits here and there.

Please update this thread if you find out more from them. It would be cool if you could specify that you wanted liverworts and certain sizes, etc. Maybe I'll check with them too...

Oh, and BTW, I once did visit a large plant nursery, and they let me scoop up a few bits of moss from the ground (for FREE). The best spots were at the base of the growing tables, where the water pools up from the plant waterings, as well as the sides of the greenhouse where the excess water and humidity pooled up. I got some super sweet mosses there, better than anything I could have bought anywhere.


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## kimcmich (Jan 17, 2016)

Greetings,

Some of the "moss" you're likely to get from Andy's will include foliose liverworts that look, without a close inspection, like a flat-growing moss.

There are a few different thallose liverworts species in the aquarium trade. All of them are ever-warm/tropical growing and transition well to moist spots in the viv: Riccardia, Pellia, Monosolenium sp. Like all liverworts, especially the more delicate species, these need high substrate moisture and humidity.


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## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

I sent Andy's Orchids an email asking if they could sell me an assortment of whatever little mosses, liverworts, and other hitchhikers they happen to have growing around. I'll post here with the reply.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

There are some other ways to get interesting mosses and ferns, and so forth. 

The first is that if you mix peat and one of the silica sands (play ground, construction etc as long as it isn't calcareous) in a 50/50 ratio, soak it and then cover it and place it in very bright light (not direct sun) you'll get one or more mosses to grow. This moss is vigorous to the point that it is known to over run small carnivorous plants (I've had to weed it out of cp pots in the past), does not need a rest period and grows well under bright lights. 

The second way to grow these sorts of plants uses whole treefern panels or sticks. If you soak them and keep them humid in bright lights you'll grow various mosses, ferns and liverworts (where do you think the ones in orchid greenhouses come from?). I've even had the actual treeferns grow from spores on it. The treefern bricks were at one time popular in the frog hobby to make terraces until the discussion evolved to point out that people should really be using leaf litter. 

You might be able to germinate spores left behind in ground treefern fiber but I suspect that the whole pieces might retain a better diversity. 

The main reason people have problems with mosses in their terrariums is that they do not have sufficiently bright light for it to grow. Mosses really like bright light... 

some comments 

Ed


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## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

Ah, heck, sorry guys! Forgot to post the reply. 
I asked about the liverworts, and also about the possibility of getting bare-root plants (to make it easier to put them on here) when only mounted plants were listed as being in stock. This is the reply I got.



> Hi Sarah,
> We have lots of mosses and stuff of that nature. We can sell you sandwich bags of various mosses and liverworts for around $6 each type. When you’re ready to order, call us and we can hunt down some loose plants and we always have some bare roots online too that are perfect for terrariums.
> 
> Good luck on your endeavor and Happy 4th.
> Andy


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