Thursday, March 22, 2012

Nothing fancy, Just a little moss growing experiment

 I watched a show once and their feature was on how to make moss grow in selected locations. While at my family's cabin i decided to try it out. I walked the old familiar trails of my childhood, in search of some already grown and thriving moss patches to take home with me.
This isn't the prettiest chunk i could have dug up, but for an experiment it would work perfectly. 
I then assembled my necessary tools;
  • A blender
  • Some bricks
  • Plain yogurt, a beer, or buttermilk
  • A glass of water
  • A dish pan
There are several different ways to cultivate moss. I chose to pull the moss from the dirt, throw it in the blender, and puree it with a few scoops of watered down yogurt (moss thrives on highly acidic areas, and the yogurt provides that acidity).
I read that some people paint on their mixture, and some pour it. I chose to pour. Mine may have been too thick, it was almost a chocolate milkshake consistency. 
It has been raining for the past two days, so my moss is incubating in my spare bedroom with the door shut. This is not strongly recommended. Within the first two days it started to grow white mold, which is to be expected, and when the rain stops I'll move it to the back of my house where it will thrive under the boat, or I'll put it under my front steps. Avoid direct light, as moss is used to shade and will dry up quickly in the sun. Within 4-6 weeks i should have a thriving set of brick moss!!


So, just to update: 
My moss experiment was a total FLOP. I did however manage to cultivate some fuzzy white mold. I think the cold blast we had a few days after the trial killed the possible moss growth. we will have to try again using a different recipe.

*EDIT*
Well i gave it its go. If i had had time to spray it every day it probably would have been successful, but doing it indoors can leave a funky smell in the room. I suggest doing it outside.

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