Eric Group
Masterpiece
Looks great John! Adds a level of scale to your garden of miniaturized trees in a way I cannot explain... Cannot wait to see it in person!
Mossing the Garden
- Thread starter johng
- Start date
eferguson1974
Chumono
I have seen people paint walls with moss. You can get better instructions but its moss and buttermilk that goes in the blender. Maybe theres more in, dont recall. But it may work for bonsai. It just paints on and the milk or whatever is the food to start the moss. With a version if this method I imagine your soul doesnt have to be perfectly flat. Ive seen it graffiti style on verticle brick walls and cement. Maybe someone wants to try it. The moss I find always dies. But its jungle moss and doesnt like sun or to be dry at all. Hope this helps..
eferguson1974
Chumono
Is it a good fertalizer for bonsai? I can get bottles sold as organic fertalizer. Or sometimes fish emulsion. I try to only buy organic so which is better? Or both together maybe? They both mix in water.
onlyrey
Mame
I could only stare at the base of those bald cypress?...
Isn't buttermilk the best fertilizer for moss? I saw a video of painting with blended moss on buttermilk... It looked like lots of fun! I think it's called "moss graffitti".
Isn't buttermilk the best fertilizer for moss? I saw a video of painting with blended moss on buttermilk... It looked like lots of fun! I think it's called "moss graffitti".
My experience is Moss does not like fertilizer--but I have noticed sometimes certain fertilizer runoff can over fertilize sod patches and also shift PH that eventually killa back the grass--then the moss takes over. Moss does not thrive on fertilizer
0soyoung
Imperial Masterpiece
Agreed. Put fertilizer on moss and it turns into mush.
It 'likes' water retentive, acidic, and compacted soil/substrate --> clay! (the secret of every slab planting).
Is the fert. run off or the breakdown and compaction of soil organics?
I've always wondered why people think this. The only truth that I see to it is that buttermilk is acidic (4.4 <pH< 4.8).
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
I'm going to argue with this comment, just because it is so broad. "Put fertilizer on moss..." do you mean ALL fertilizer? Have you tested trying all different fertilizers and their interaction with all different mosses? I am simply sharing my personal experience with the use of organic fertilizer (composted chicken manure) and the insane growth of moss... on my slope... on my bonsai trees... on 100% pumice... on pressure treated lumber... it grows ON the fertilizer pellets as they are breaking down into the soil.
Perhaps it is just this type of moss or this type of organic fertilizer? I don't know. But I am not making it up
Maybe it is Southern California?
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Chicago_Willows
Seedling
http://www.mossmilkshake.com/home.php
http://www.mossacres.com/
Ingredients in the "milkshake" include powdered buttermilk.
I haven't tried it but was going to give it a shot this spring.
http://www.mossacres.com/
Ingredients in the "milkshake" include powdered buttermilk.
I haven't tried it but was going to give it a shot this spring.
0soyoung
Imperial Masterpiece
I agree with your point. Having said 'high nitrogen chemical/inorganic fertilizers" instead, might still be too broad. If I apply Osmocote 14-14-14, Osmocote Plus, or a 14-14-14 general purpose fertilizer to moss, it turns to slimy mush.I'm going to argue with this comment, just because it is so broad. "Put fertilizer on moss..." do you mean ALL fertilizer? Have you tested trying all different fertilizers and their interaction with all different mosses? I am simply sharing my personal experience with the use of organic fertilizer (composted chicken manure) and the insane growth of moss... on my slope... on my bonsai trees... on 100% pumice... on pressure treated lumber... it grows ON the fertilizer pellets as they are breaking down into the soil.
Perhaps it is just this type of moss or this type of organic fertilizer? I don't know. But I am not making it up
I've noticed that my Turface MVP turns greenish over my rainy winters. It forms sort of a crust on the top surface (that is easily broken up by my finger tip). I'm convinced it is not a moss. I think it is an algae. Moss simply won't grow on MVP unless I provide a sphagnum underlayment to maintain the surface moisture level for the moss. Are you sure you have moss spontaneously growing on your pumice and not a strain of algae?
BTW moss in SoCal? Never would have thunk it. You must be living in a beach house
.
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
So I was just checking online about "fertilizing moss" and there seems to be two commonly recommended options:
(1) lactic acid (via dried skim milk or buttermilk) (or)
(2) manure tea (via cow manure steeped in water for 3 weeks)
If you ask me, option #2 sounds a lot like composted chicken manure run-off Give it a try! Worst case, it won't work and you will have someone to blame
(1) lactic acid (via dried skim milk or buttermilk) (or)
(2) manure tea (via cow manure steeped in water for 3 weeks)
If you ask me, option #2 sounds a lot like composted chicken manure run-off
Give it a try! Worst case, it won't work and you will have someone to blame
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
BTW moss in SoCal? Never would have thunk it. You must be living in a beach house
I can't grow shade moss here... just the sun moss. It is a very bright lime green. I am about 5 miles from the ocean, and it gets plenty dry here in the summer. The moss dries up in the summer and becomes a very dark, dull green. As soon as it rains it puffs up, becomes almost fluorescent green, and starts to reproduce.
For what it's worth... it does not grow where I use chemical citrus fertilizer or standard 15-15-15 yard fertilizer... just where I use organic.
[EDIT] I should probably have added - I use the chemical citrus fertilizer on my hibiscus, azaleas and camellias... not on my citrus
[/EDIT]
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sorce
Nonsense Rascal
Sorce
Joe Dupre'
Omono
Beautiful garden, John. I hope that works out for you. I'll be keeping that option in mind.
I'm trying something new in my bonsai garden and in a 40'x 100' area down by the bayou behind my house. It's hard to stop nature, so I'm working with it. There are different low-growing "weeds" that people try to kill in their lawns that I am letting grow on purpose. About a quarter of that 40 x 100 area is completely covered by mock strawberry plants. They grow up to about 4" high and stop. They block out most of the other weeds. There are 4 or 5 other weeds in that area that grow in that vining habit and they cover more of the yard. So far, it's been a month and a half, and I have almost nothing growing over ankle high.
Eventually, I'd like the majority of my "lawn" to be native type low growing plants. Warning! This type of lawn in not for the anal types where every blade of grass has to be the same length.
I'm trying something new in my bonsai garden and in a 40'x 100' area down by the bayou behind my house. It's hard to stop nature, so I'm working with it. There are different low-growing "weeds" that people try to kill in their lawns that I am letting grow on purpose. About a quarter of that 40 x 100 area is completely covered by mock strawberry plants. They grow up to about 4" high and stop. They block out most of the other weeds. There are 4 or 5 other weeds in that area that grow in that vining habit and they cover more of the yard. So far, it's been a month and a half, and I have almost nothing growing over ankle high.
Eventually, I'd like the majority of my "lawn" to be native type low growing plants. Warning! This type of lawn in not for the anal types where every blade of grass has to be the same length.
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
I found some "foot friendly" ground cover....
When the situation gets more permy.....
Gotta propagate a
Lot!.
Sorce
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