After collecting moss for Ryan’s top dressing do you wash it first (in water) to remove the fine soil it was growing on? Then dry it before shredding? Is it sifted after shredding to remove the fines?
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I personally have not washed any of the moss I’ve used. If it’s very wet when harvested I have let it dry partially so it not dripping water if squeezed and to make it easier to break up over 1/4” screen.
That said I also no longer use NZ Sphagnum Moss that Ryan dies w/ ink and recommends. I did for one season and personally (New England based) did not observe any performance increase vs just applying more collected moss which I run over a 1/4” screen to break up into smaller chunks.
Unsurprisingly, using more moss to surface area has resulted in faster colonization of moss over the top oil when compared to Sphagnum + Moss combo for me and my area/collection.
My tips/process for moss:
Only take moss that is growing on hard surfaces ideally rock. This increases the chances your moss specimen is able to adhere and thrive on inorganic surfaces and hopefully won’t see out your tree’s trunk too quickly.
Let it dry out partially (not completely dead but not as dark green as when you found it).
Gently shake the moss you’ve collected and allow any dirt/debris to fall off naturally. If you are seeing mold or something similar just discard the moss.
Run the dried moss over a 1/4” or similar size screen breaking it up into smaller chunks. Spread that even over the soil surface and keep moist (you can spray the top soil w/ a spray bottle if the tree doesn’t need a good soaking on that particular day but honestly I have hardly had to do this).
If you keep the tree/moss in too sunny of an area w/o a dense canopy; you will struggle w/ faster colonization. I usually do this right after a repot and keep the tree in shade until fully recovered which has helped a ton.
Good luck!
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I had thought about washing the collected moss a few days before you posted. I am going to try it, but I suggest not being too aggressive since that may also wash off some of the spores and other good stuff.
I don’t like grating the moss over a screen since I also tear up either my hands or gloves in the process. Instead, I use a chef’s knife to dice it into small prices when moist and then screen it through either a 2 or 3 mesh per inch screen (bigger chunks seem to do better in my relatively dry climate). I do the same for the long fiber sphagnum moss after soaking and squeezing out like a sponge. In addition to the tearing up my hands or gloves, it eliminates all of the dust and the need to wear a dust mask to avoid inhaling spores. I store and apply it moist - most likely thicker than than Ryan does based upon the videos.
Thanks much. I sprinkled the mixture on top and will water it in the next time I water. (It cold and moist here now so it might be awhile.)
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Thanks, after drying it there wasn’t much dirt underneath so I just went with it.Was able to grate it through the 1/4” screen using sturdy gloves. Was wearing a mask but it did get pretty dusty. Hoping it grows as advertised!
Take the smaller fines after sifting and “plant” them. In my neighborhood I tuck these into sidewalk cracks. Easy sustainable moss gardening.
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I like this, take only what we need and return the rest. Thanks for sharing.
All,
I decided to try washing my green moss that was primarily collected from sidewalk cracks. And of course I took pictures to document the results. The pictures posted out of order due to the names, but here is the order and comments.
- Before wash
- Wand wash (2000 hole) - very little dirt washed off
- Water post wand - dirty water with a little green floating on top
- Nozzle wash - used a fairly hard spray nozzle and that washed off a bunch of dirt and flattened the moss bits
- 16 mesh nozzle wash - there were two or three islands of material that washed through the 8-mesh screen and caught on the 16 mesh
- Water nozzle wash - water was darker with more green floating on top
I’ll see how it looks after it dries a bit and I chop it up. But so far it looks promising to use a fairly hard spray to reduce the amount of dirt.
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Thanks for that testing. The previous batch of moss I collected and washed by soaking it in a bucket of water overnight. The dirt loosened up and the moss was very soggy. I rinsed it out and there was very little dirt left.
On my latest batch I just dried it and shredded it without washing, in the hopes that the dirt helps it stick and root.
Would probably take some experiments with control batches to see if washing it or not washing it actually makes any difference…