# Liquid Moss Mixture



## d-prime (Sep 29, 2008)

I am testing epiweb as a background material in a new tank. I spoke to the company, who mentioned that the lush moss growth is achieved by mixing 40 % tropical moss (live) with 60 % sphagnum into a paste, and then to spray it on the panels. I have many different temperate mosses growing around me, can i use those? Or does anyone have any good mixtures?


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## JoshK (Jan 5, 2009)

I've heard of the moss and buttermilk/yogurt mix before but never this one, I would be really interested to know if anyone on the forum has used this method and how it worked for them. Everything is prettier when covered with moss


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

ived used equal parts cheap beer, water and live moss before, never inside a viv, with good results. Turn the above into a slurry in the blender, spray it where you want it, keep it moist, and bam, moss (used temperate moss)


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## d-prime (Sep 29, 2008)

So in your case temperate moss was used..
How long has it been without a period of dormancy?


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Ive got moss thats been alive for well over 3 years that came from my house here in washington. Some I tried and failed with, meaning it died, but this stuff did great. I recently sold the log with it to another hobbyist, but I ve got more moss now that seems to be doing great. It goes dormant when dry, not cold. When you collect it at 30 degrees outside and its looking good, you know it doesnt need a "cold dormant" period


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## stitchb (Jan 26, 2009)

frogparty said:


> Ive got moss thats been alive for well over 3 years that came from my house here in washington. Some I tried and failed with, meaning it died, but this stuff did great. I recently sold the log with it to another hobbyist, but I ve got more moss now that seems to be doing great. It goes dormant when dry, not cold. When you collect it at 30 degrees outside and its looking good, you know it doesnt need a "cold dormant" period


Yea I agree with frogparty, I think the whole temperate moss dormancy thing is somewhat inaccurate. To help speed the process though, I think that if you try to get mosses that have sporophytes the process will be quicker. I gathered some moss from my yard and put them in a small terarium with a cfl over and literally within hours the moss began to sprout sporophytes. Just use the samples with the most sporophytes and that should help speed up your results


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## d-prime (Sep 29, 2008)

I hope your right 
Now is the season here in Montreal where the snow melted, its around 10 Celsius and all the moss has sporphytes sprouting. Im going to collect a few different moss types, clean them and test them out as a slurry, and just seeing if they survive. Is there a specific type of temperate moss that will do better than others?


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## stitchb (Jan 26, 2009)

d-prime said:


> I hope your right
> Now is the season here in Montreal where the snow melted, its around 10 Celsius and all the moss has sporphytes sprouting. Im going to collect a few different moss types, clean them and test them out as a slurry, and just seeing if they survive. Is there a specific type of temperate moss that will do better than others?


As far as types go, unless you have a microscope and a dichotmous key you probably won't be able to distinguish any-I learned this the hard way lol I think that the best thing to do is get as many types as you can and just see how they do-let em duke it out haha Now would probably be the best time to do it too I'd say. 

This probably isn't the best pic but you can see (kinda lol) some moss with sporophytes. The sporophytes grow at the end of a slim stalk. In this pic they are the little green balls. Depending on your moss though, they may be another color-I have moss with redish-brown sporophytes also









Hope this helps


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