# General Topics > Plants, Plant Care & Plant Identification >  im a killer.. of moss lol

## xboxQueen

Ok the plants, the things I was worried about the most seem to be doing great. Phew, what a relief lol

But seriously.. how horrible can one be if I can't even grow moss? Roflmfao.. really tho, moss? That's the stuff I couldn't kill and prevent from growing in my yard at my old house. I even dumped bleach on it. But I can't grow it in a tank. Wow, I feel humiliated. 

Ok ok, now I can stop.picking on myself and ask everyone here with a green thumb.. what am I doing wrong? It's turning brown. I planted some ontop of sphagnam moss, some on a hard wood stick thingie and some on a fake resin log. I used thread to hold it in place until it took. Well it instantly turned green when placed in there and then a day or so later started growing cob webs, I'm sure that's a fungusy thing. I have a 6500k T8 and its humid, the back and sides of the tank have moisture on it but then when I saw it was turning brown, I was like well maybe I need to mist it anyway. That didn't help. 

Am I doing something wrong? Is it possible some of the moss ya get just doesn't replant well? There's only one piece of the sheet moss that's doing good, still very green and no webby stuff on it either. Could the fungus be killing the moss?

Hide me.. I'm sure im wanted in 50 states for killing plants lol 

Hangs her head in shame...i can't even grow moss

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## KFlanders

Some types of moss won't do well in vivs. IME, Sheet moss and pillow moss need very bright light and good ventilation. T8's may not be bright enough unless you mount it very high in the viv. Your microfauna might be able to take care of fungus, if it doesn't get too dense.

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## xboxQueen

So my t8 even with a 6500k might not be bright enough? I have a lot to learn I guess.. here I was thinking it mighta been too bright. 

I might just toss the mosses with the fungus and try another piece.. could I have over watered? 

But like I said, so far my plants are doing good.. (knocks on wood)  :-)

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## bill

How long has it been in the tank? Misting helps. It may die off a bit before it grows. Are you getting spore stalks coming out if it? Fresh ones i mean. If you do, then your moss is fine. It just needs more time to acclimate. Remember that moss is a relatively slow grower. Be patient and give it time and keep it moist.  :Smile:

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## DartEd

Bill knows all.  I read in another thread that moss tends to brown sometimes before if begins to take off. Give it time and keep doing your thing.

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## Pac man

I agree with the others I've never had my moss die on me but that may happen to start to grow just give it some time and see what happens :Wink:

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## xboxQueen

Well I just replied but I don't see the post, hmm? So here I go again I guess..

I ended up tossing the moss I put on the hard wood stick. It was encased like a cocoon! The stick has green mold growing on it, is that normal? 

As for the rest of the moss, it seems fine, hasn't gotten any browner. I see a few spots where it might be fresh moss growing? So hopefully I'll be ok  :Smile: 

Also what causes leaves to turn a blackish brown? Too much light? Not enough light or could it be because the humidity builds up on the leaves? The plant in question is my streptocarpella. 

On a good not, my bromeliad is doing good.. along with my wandering Jew  :Smile:

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## xboxQueen

And thank you all for your replies  :Smile: 

Bill, my fingers are crossed in hopes of what I'm seeing is new growth  :Smile:

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## xboxQueen

Oh.. Bill, the moss and plants have been in the viv since the 9th.

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## Lynn

Hi,
Moss take months.
But not _dry sphagnum moss_ ------which will unlikely grow at all ?
As mentioned - the lights are important as it needs bright light.
Keep your sphagnum moss though. It works great UNDER tropical sheet moss on any spot you want moss to grow ( holds the moisture in )   ie such as wood or a porous background. 
It's VERY important to keep it wet at all times.
Yes, areas often turn brown before you begin to see little bright green spikes popping up. 

A recent tread about moss and 2 great suppliers- worth the investment  :Smile: 

http://www.frogforum.net/plants-plan...tml#post167416

fyi- in the photos --in the above thread ------the 'established moss' areas have been growing for 4-6 months

Lynn

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## xboxQueen

Hi Lynn, wow this stuff does take a while huh? I thought once you place the sheet moss down, water it and it instantly starts to continue to grow like how it did before it was harvested. Especially since once I watered it, it instantly was bright green.

I have sphagnam under the moss except for the piece I draped over a plastic fake log thingy. If it doesn't grow then ill just toss it. But I figured since I had this fake log forever use it for now until I get more real wood. (Washed it GOOD and rinsed it even better then again with distilled waterand let air dry)

Thanks for your reply and the link! FYI I got this moss from joshs. Have you ever tried his?

Thanks  :Smile:

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## Lynn

> Hi Lynn, wow this stuff does take a while huh? I thought once you place the sheet moss down, water it and it instantly starts to continue to grow like how it did before it was harvested. Especially since once I watered it, it instantly was bright green.
> 
> I have sphagnam under the moss except for the piece I draped over a plastic fake log thingy. If it doesn't grow then ill just toss it. But I figured since I had this fake log forever use it for now until I get more real wood. (Washed it GOOD and rinsed it even better then again with distilled waterand let air dry)
> 
> Thanks for your reply and the link! FYI I got this moss from joshs. Have you ever tried his?
> 
> Thanks


You're welcome.
I'm sure that Josh Frog's live tropical moss is just fine  :Smile: 
Just at to clarify - I'm talking about live tropical moss- not the stuff in bags that 'claims' to magicaly 'grow again'.  :Big Grin:

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## xboxQueen

Wait.. the moss I bought wasn't alive? I didn't know that!!! I thought it was alive and will start growing as soon as I sprayed it. Why do they sell dead clumps like that?

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## bill

I think Lynn is talking about that zoomed frog moss. Not the sheet moss.

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## Lynn

> Wait.. the moss I bought wasn't alive? I didn't know that!!! I thought it was alive and will start growing as soon as I sprayed it. Why do they sell dead clumps like that?



I knew it !
I had a feeling about that. 
That's why I made a point about it being "live".
Buy some * live tropical moss*  from one of the 2 suppliers I post earlier -- and you are good to go!  :Smile:  

You didn't kill anything.....it was already dead  :Big Grin: 

Lynn

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## bill

ok....hold here. everybody just step away from their keyboards and take a deep breath. ok? ok. let's discuss moss for a second. it is extremely, and i mean EXTREMELY difficult to kill moss. i have reanimated moss that was dried for 6 months. it just takes time. Queen, it's been less than 2 weeks, the moss will take a few months to start taking off. but it does need bright light and a lot of moisture. it needs to stay moist. not soaking wet, but moist.

as far as mosses in the hobby, there are numerous labels, but they mostly come from the same source area. companies like to label moss as "tropical", but most of it is cultivated in the southeastern U.S. SUB-tropical. some of the moss comes from the pac-northwest, this is temperate, and then there is true tropical moss. it is actually rare in the hobby because there are so few differences in the moss from South America, and the moss from Southeast United States. trust me, if you were getting moss directly from South America, it would be twice the cost. now, these are the "green terrestrial mosses". there are also plenty of aquatic mosses that grow marginally just as well as terrestrial moss does. then there is sphagnum moss. this comes in two varieties: dead and completely dried out (what we commonly call Long Fiber Sphagnum) and live. live is rare, but can be obtained. LFS is one of the few mosses that will not regenerate because it went through a lengthy process to dehydrate it for it's use. 

the main thing you want to see from your moss is spore pods (i'm sure they have a real name, that's what i call them). they will be small shoots with a pod at the top. if you are getting new ones growing and kicking off, then your moss is indeed alive and happy. if not, you need to up the moisture and or lighting and you should get some results.

all that being said, i looked at Josh's, B.J., and NE Herp's mosses, and they are pretty comparable. they are the same mosses that Lisa collected in the field in the Carolinas a few months back. hmm....starting to get a little more interesting. basically, none of the suppliers have a superior product. it all depends on the viv. the ones to stay away from are the prepackaged big box pet store stuff, like zoomed's frog moss. that stuff is dehydrated pillow moss that will green up if it is kept extremely moist, but otherwise, it's a waste of a couple bucks. honestly? the best bang for the buck is Josh's sheet moss. it's the same moss i get from my local plant shop (same packaging, i have had both), at around the same price.

so, Queen, you have live moss, you just need to keep it moist, give it plenty of light and most importantly, be patient. moss is an extremely slow growing plant that sometimes takes up to 3-6 months to acclimate. hope that clears up some of the confusion.  :Smile:

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## bill

oh, and never, ever, by any means, add preserved moss to your viv. the chemicals and dyes used in it will kill anything living in the tank.

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## Pac man

> I knew it !
> I had a feeling about that. 
> That's why I made a point about it being "live".
> Buy some * live tropical moss*  from one of the 2 suppliers I post earlier -- and you are good to go!  
> 
> You didn't kill anything.....it was already dead 
> 
> Lynn


she's right

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## xboxQueen

Lol @already dead.. 

Bill, thank you very much for that explanation!! I do have one shoot thingie that popped up, I was about to pluck it thinking it shouldn't be there lol. Good to know I'm on the right path. I'm planning on ordering a better light fixture. I'm going to get the exo terra compact 36" hood. So I'll have plenty of lumens n kelvins  :Smile:  

And I did know the mosses at the pet stores were to be avoided. But Ty tho for the warning  :Smile:  

Thank you to everyone for your info. Everyone's so helpful and friendly here. I'm glad I found this site  :Smile:

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## Pac man

> Lol @already dead.. 
> 
> Bill, thank you very much for that explanation!! I do have one shoot thingie that popped up, I was about to pluck it thinking it shouldn't be there lol. Good to know I'm on the right path. I'm planning on ordering a better light fixture. I'm going to get the exo terra compact 36" hood. So I'll have plenty of lumens n kelvins  
> 
> And I did know the mosses at the pet stores were to be avoided. But Ty tho for the warning  
> 
> Thank you to everyone for your info. Everyone's so helpful and friendly here. I'm glad I found this site


your welcome

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## fish4all

At one time I had a reference site that showed the light needs of different plants and how to obtain it with different types of lighting. It had heights of the light, lumens, K ranges and the works but it has been a few years since I looked it up. Now this was for aquariums so it may not be the best reference but aquariums need higher light than anything else so if it works through water it should work for terrestrial needs. 

As for slow growing, moss is one plant that I have never liked because I have not been able to see growth fast enough. I know I am going to be getting some and I will hate it but I really want to give the frogs a place to get on the ground and not get coconut coir on themselves all the time. That and having a place for them to crawl out of the water and not be directly on the substrate seems like a plan for my next terrarium. 

I once had a moss that I was sure I killed, forgot about it because I figured it would just decompose and go away. A lot of it did and after nine and a half months it came to life and thrived for the 4 years I had it in my plant area I had some years ago. My conditions here are quite the opposite of most places so it takes a long time for anything to acclimate that isn't considered temperate.

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