SPHAGNUM

Sphagnum is a large genus of plants, including over 200 species of mosses, similar in structure and ecology.

Taxonomy and names

Sphagnum belongs to higher, or, as they are also called, leafy plants. This division is rather arbitrary, but characterizes moss as a plant with differentiated organs. Sphagnum belongs to the Bryophytes, or Bryophytes, division, the most primitive division of modern higher plants.

The order Sphagnales differs from green mosses in a number of anatomical, morphological and biological characteristics. It includes only one family - Sphagnaceae (Shagnaceae) and the only genus Shagnum, which unites about 350 species (according to other data 320). The photo shows bog sphagnum (Shagnum palustre).

Synonymous names for sphagnum:

White moss - comes from the white or light green color of some species; because of white sphagnum moss is sometimes confused with certain types of lichens.
peat moss - due to the plant’s ability to form peat bogs;
sphagnum

Area and place in biocenoses

The main distribution of sphagnum mosses is tundra and forest zone Northern Hemisphere: in the northern and middle parts of the forest zone, taiga, tundra, forest-tundra, in Siberia, on Far East and the Caucasus.

In the Southern Hemisphere, sphagnum moss is less common, growing mainly in mountainous areas. Although sphagnum is a typical Holarctic plant, the greatest diversity of species of this genus is found in South America.

Ecosystems where sphagnum mosses grow:
raised bogs (also called sphagnum bogs);
swampy coniferous or mixed forests;
forest-tundra zone with predominance coniferous species trees;
wet meadows with poor drainage and stagnant water;
river valleys with swampy banks, here on bog terraces the habitat of sphagnum can extend far to the south, right up to the steppe zone;
mountainous regions (alpine and subalpine belt).

Morphological features

All types of sphagnum have morphological features, inherent only to mosses - they have no roots. But sphagnum has its own characteristic features, distinguishing it from green mosses.

Contrary to the often used name “white moss,” most types of sphagnum are green, brown or reddish in color.

Sphagnum is clearly differentiated into stem and leaves. Branched stems, caulidia, grow vertically, reaching a height of 20 cm. Densely growing sphagnum stems form pads or tufts. Sphagnum moss grows only in the upper part, and the lower part gradually dies off, forming peat.

Feature sphagnum - the absence in adult plants of rhizoids that replace moss roots. In moss sprouting from a spore, rhizoids are formed, but soon die along with bottom sphagnum

The structure of the sphagnum stem is simple: there is a core in the center, the inner layer consists of elongated cells with thickened walls (prosenchyma), and the outside of the stem is covered with epidermal cells. Sphagnum multilayered epidermis is called hyaloderma. This layer consists of dead, empty, transparent cells that have pores. Cells are always filled with water and dissolved mineral components; they play the role of conductive tissue.

Thanks to hyalodermal cells and water-bearing leaf cells, sphagnum has the property of being hygroscopic. Dry moss can increase its mass thirty times when placed in water.

At the end of each branch, the leaves are collected in a bunch - this is a feature of sphagnum mosses.

Sphagnum leaves, or phyllidia, are of two types - stem and branch. The branch leaves are smaller than the stem leaves and are arranged like tiles: they overlap one another.

The leaves of sphagnum mosses consist of only one layer of cells. Their difference from the leaves of green mosses is that sphagnum does not have a central leaf vein.

Leaf cells are divided into living and dead. This is due to different cellular functions. Living (assimilated) cells contain chlorophyll; they are narrow, worm-shaped, and long. Dead ones are diamond-shaped and absorb and store water.

Photo: white moss - sphagnum / bog sphagnum

Features of reproduction

Mosses are the only representatives of higher plants in which the gametophyte, that is, the haploid generation, dominates in the development cycle. The diploid generation is a sporophyte, highly reduced and is a spore-bearing capsule on a stalk.

Sphagnum, like all representatives of the Bryophyte department, reproduces with the help of spores and with the help of gametes (sexual reproduction).

The gametophytic generation is what people call sphagnum (stem with leaves). Among hundreds of species of sphagnum there are monoecious and dioecious representatives. Gametes in sphagnum are formed in archegonia and antheridia.

Features of the chemical composition

Included sphagnum moss includes:
tannins - thanks to them, moss is stored for hundreds of years without rotting;
sphagnol is a phenolic compound that blocks the development of putrefactive bacteria, playing the role of a natural antiseptic;
polysaccharides (starch, glucose and some cellulose);
terpenes;
proteins and amino acids;
silicon.

Species of the genus Sphagnum (Shagnum)

Usually the word “sphagnum” refers to bog sphagnum (Shagnum palustre).
In swampy pine forests it often grows with. compact (S. compactum) and c. oak forest (S. nemoreum).
In sphagnum bogs, typical species of s. brown (S.fuscun), p. deceptive (S.fallax).
In low-lying swamps, in alder forests and swampy groves - p. central (S.centrale), p. blunted (S. obtusum), p. fringed (S.fimbriatum).

Role in biocenoses and economic use

In nature, white mosses are the founders and main plant components of sphagnum bogs. Thanks to sphagnol, white mosses do not rot, but decompose very slowly, creating an acidic environment.

In raised bogs, sphagnum forms low-mineralized but high-calorie peat. The percentage of ash in such peat does not exceed 6%; it is used as fuel, construction and thermal insulation material, chemical raw materials, and also as a substrate (or additive to the substrate) for growing flowers and agricultural crops.

IN agriculture dry sphagnum is also used as bedding for domestic animals. In medicine, peat serves as an antiseptic and dressing material. Sphagnum extracts help in the treatment of rheumatism, intestinal diseases, and infectious skin diseases caused by staphylococci.

Sphagnum, peat moss (Sphagnum L.) from the Sphagnaceae family. Sphagnum mosses (see photo) are widespread throughout the swamp areas of the entire north of Russia.

They usually form dense or loose tufts of various colors (from greenish-yellow to purple) in hummocky moss bogs and swampy forests. Ledum and blueberries (gonobobel), cranberries and cloudberries, cotton grass and princelings, and stunted birch and pine trees are common plants in such sphagnum bogs. There are several dozen different types of sphagium growing here; in the European part of Russia alone there are more than 40 of them.

These mosses, due to their biological characteristics (unlimited growth due to the lack of a root system, high suction capacity and aseptic properties, often create huge deposits of peat, which has a large economic importance. Well decomposed sphagnum peat, in various types its processing (lumpy peat, milled peat chips, peat briquettes, peat gases) is a high-quality fuel material.

Sphagnum application.

Slightly decomposed sphagnum peat is used in a number of sectors of our economy and industry, for example: in agriculture as bedding for livestock, peat fertilizer, peat-chalk feed for livestock, packaging and preservative material for transportation and storage of food products and fruits (peat powder); in construction as an insulating building material (peat, phagnite, isoplytes, peat plywood) for laying voids in walls or for filling them; in sanitation as a disinfectant and odor-destroying agent for filling in powder form waste water and cesspools; in medicine (in surgery) - when dressing wounds in the form of gauze bags made of compressed or dry sphagnum instead of cotton wool or lignin: in paper production as raw materials for the production of coarse grades of paper (newspaper, wrapping paper, wallpaper, cardboard); finally in chemical industry- for the preparation of paints, tannins, alcohol, etc.

During the Great Patriotic War The use of sphagnum in surgery as a good suction dressing material for purulent wounds has gained great importance. The question of sphagnum as a dressing material is very old, already in the 11th century. The British began to use sphagnum for this purpose, then later it spread widely throughout Western Europe.

In the 19th century this was already a well-known remedy: during the Napoleonic wars, sphagnum served as a dressing material in the navy; in the Franco-German war of 1870-1871. sphagnum was used as a standard dressing material; during Russo-Japanese War The Japanese used sphagnum dressings to provide first aid to the wounded, and many wounds dressed with sphagnum remained in quite satisfactory condition without any dressing for 10 days while the wounded were being transported from Manchuria to Japan. During the imperialist war of 1914-1918. sphagnum became widely used by the British, and then it quickly spread in France, Belgium, Egypt, Canada, the USA and other countries.

After the 80s of the XIX century. Russian surgeons also began to use sphagnum; during the imperialist and civil war some of our doctors also used sphagnum and spoke well of it. IN lately the preparation of sphagnum for surgical purposes and its use in hospitals became very widespread and universally recognized. The practice of using sphagnum for dressings has shown that it is much better than many other dressings, especially in the treatment of purulent wounds.

In its unsterilized form, the suitability of peat moss is 12.5 times higher than cotton gray wool, 4 times higher than absorbent cotton wool and even exceeds the suitability of a Greek sponge; sphagnum sterilized at 115° has 9.5 times greater suitability than cotton gray wool, more than 3 times than absorbent cotton wool, and only slightly less suitability than Greek sponge.

Collection and drying of sphagnum.

It is best to collect sphagnum in dry and summer months. autumn time, from May to September, but if absolutely necessary, it can be collected at any other time of the year, even in winter, by removing moss from under the ice and snow. Essentially all types of sphagnum moss are suitable for collection; you just need to choose long-bearded, long-stemmed moss, at least 7 cm in length, since short-stemmed moss produces the product low quality. Therefore, it is necessary to take the thick carpet of sphagnum cushions as deep as possible, capturing in any case the entire living, green part of the turf before it turns into a reddish-felt layer.

At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the dying lower layers of sphagnum with fallen leaves are of little use for dressing purposes, and therefore the reddish, dying parts of mosses should not end up in the collected material. The actual collection of sphagnum moss involves simply pulling out the moss with your hands or a rake with curved teeth. Immediately after removing the moss, squeeze out the water in it. Then the squeezed moss is placed in baskets, with the heads in one direction, and cleaned of any random impurities (needles, twigs, leaves, stems of marsh plants, etc.).

Collected and cleaned moss is dried in the sun, in the wind or in a Russian oven at a temperature of 50-60°. The degree of drying is determined by eye by the whitening of the green parts of the sphagnum; Harvesting practice has shown that from 9-11 parts of fresh, damp moss, 1 part of dry moss is obtained. The humidity of dried moss should be about 25-30%. Further overdrying entails brittleness of the moss and the formation of dust, which is not allowed, and at a humidity above 40%, the moss becomes moldy during long-term storage and freezes in frost.

After drying, sphagnum is best prepared into bales similar to peat bedding bales, with light pressing to a size of 100 x 60 x 50 cm and a weight of 70-80 kg. The bale is tied along the long sides with slats tied with wire. This type of boiling is very convenient for transport and prevents heavy pollution moss on the road.

It is best to store piles of sphagnum moss in a shed or under a shed to prevent it from becoming saturated with water from rain and snow*, which can cause the moss to rot and mold. Under such conditions, the presence of winter cold ensures the preservation of slightly under-dried moss until spring. Sphagnum that is not used up during the year must be replaced next summer with a new one, which is easily doable due to the completely unlimited reserves of sphagnum in Russia.

Sphagnum photo.

Grows in marshy areas and near water bodies large number very unique representatives of the flora. One of the most common and famous is sphagnum moss (translated from Greek language"Natural sponge"). It has useful and unique characteristics. The fact of its birth is dated a very long time ago - the first pharaoh had not yet been born, and a specific representative of the plant world had been growing on Earth for many hundreds of years.

The culture received its name due to its high hygroscopicity - the ability to absorb moisture.

Swamp sphagnum belongs to the Mossy group. Most representatives of mosses have bright color, therefore, it is quite easy to distinguish a “sponge” against their background - sphagnum moss looks much paler than its relatives. In cutting areas, even practically uncolored representatives of the species are often found; the same color is acquired during the transition to a dried state.

The lower part of the plant, which does not have roots, gradually turns into peat. The process of decay does not occur because the culture contains substances with strong bactericidal properties.

The structure of sphagnum is similar to the main characteristics of other representatives of the Mossy group. An erect, non-branched plant, the height of which is no more than 5 centimeters, has no stem. As a result of growth and development, shoots are formed, collected into pillows. Appearance sphagnum allows you to unambiguously and accurately determine the characteristic species and name of the crop.

Growing zones

To find places where sphagnum grows, it is enough to determine the most humid zones of the area. Most of all he loves marshy, shaded and damp areas. Its reproduction accelerates the process of waterlogging of the area. Therefore, it is better to look for sphagnum in a raised bog.

Please note. Sphagnum moss thrives in poorly ventilated soil. To prevent its large-scale growth on personal plot, you need to organize high-quality soil ventilation.

Hygroscopic sphagnum moss is most common in temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere. On the territory of Russia there are about 42 different species that love wet areas.

Useful qualities

White moss is a unique substrate with amazing properties. The most familiar product to most people is peat.

First of all, peat is used in the form of a well-known fuel. The second way to use the characteristics of peat is to grow all kinds of seedlings. Peat is an excellent additive for improving soil performance in garden plots. Peat is also a source of chemical raw materials used to produce substances with various characteristics; the most famous substance from peat is medical alcohol. But this list does not allow us to fully evaluate all the characteristics that correctly reflect the facts of what the prepared raw materials are used for.

Attention! Cotton wool absorbs 20–25 times less moisture than sphagnum moss, which even when wet allows air to pass through it perfectly.

The unique combination of biological characteristics of sphagnum is used with particular success in various spheres of human activity.

Medicinal use

In medical practice, biological properties are actively used:

• high hygroscopicity due to the special structure of each cell of a biological substance;
• high antibacterial properties: special substances that make up the plant have high properties to counteract fungi, microbes and others harmful substances, important for medicinal products.

Specified high properties allow the substance to be used with particular success as a dressing medicine, which has high-quality antibacterial and disinfecting properties. Sphagnum can be used as a medicine:

• for superficial skin damage (cuts, burns and frostbite);
• for fractures as a high-quality medical spacer between the body and the applied splint.

Historical facts indicate that back in the 11th century, doctors knew how to use “natural sponge” in medicine when treating patients.

Use in construction

Builders also like the antibacterial and hygroscopic properties of the material. It is used as insulation, which is laid between rows of logs during construction. wooden log houses. Despite the large range of quality modern materials used in production construction work, moss occupies one of the leading places among the highest quality and environmentally friendly insulation materials that do not allow rotting.

Its use helps prevent smoldering of wooden logs, and high ability regulating humidity allows it to be successfully used in the construction of baths, the humidity of which is often high. The culture absorbs excess vapors and prevents wood from rotting.

Distribution of moss in agriculture

Bee lovers and livestock breeders are also not unaware of the amazing properties of the plant. Biological insulation for hives is made from the compressed dry product. But of particular interest to professionals is the ability to maintain the required level of humidity.

To do this, biological material dried at room temperature is laid out under the hive. When humidity rises, moss absorbs liquid particles abundantly accumulated in the air. When lowered, it releases accumulated moisture from its composition, increasing humidity and preventing sugaring, which causes significant harm to the quality of healthy honey.

For pets, the product can be used as a natural litter for indoor litter. Large farm animals will be pleased with high-quality and comfortable hygroscopic bedding, which is sphagnum.

Just a note. Sphagnum bedding, containing animal waste, is an excellent natural fertilizer.

Application in floriculture

Sphagnum moss for indoor plants– a real lifesaver. It is successfully used experienced flower growers who want to find the answer to the question of how to grow beautiful and healthy flowers.

Due to its beneficial properties, sphagnum moss is used when growing indoor plants. Sphagnum moss is used in floriculture for various purposes.:

Sphagnum for orchids and violets has earned the special love of flower growers. The use of a substrate makes the soil acidic, which is greatly appreciated indoor violets, delighting gardeners with a bright border of beautiful leaves. Soil acidification is also necessary for...

Often, most gardeners have a question about how to grow a beautiful, but very capricious orchid.? Which product is most suitable for this? To do this, flower growers create wet flowers for the beautiful beauty. tropical conditions, wrapping aerial roots amazing substrate and sprayed with water at room temperature. It is enough to wet the sphagnum substrate on the roots once a day, and not 5-6 times, as with the usual care of orchid roots.

Storing “natural sponge”

Knowing the distribution locations of the desired and useful remedy, collecting it in sufficient quantities will not be difficult. All you need is your hands and a large container for the collected material.

Important! White moss must be collected carefully, without tearing out all the moss in one area. Large-scale collection of raw materials can lead to a gradual decrease in the number, and then the destruction of nondescript, but most useful colonies.

Having collected a sufficient amount of the unique “sponge”, you need to begin the process of drying it. After squeezing the prepared material with your hands, it is laid out in a well-ventilated place under the sun's rays. A unique representative of the Mossy family - one of the few types of plant raw materials that does not lose its unique qualities under the influence of direct sun rays. Due to the characteristics inherent in unique natural raw materials, the drying process takes quite a long time.

The degree of drying depends on the further scope of its application. When used in medicine, it dries completely, to the point of crunchiness and brittleness. If you dry it for floriculture, then the shoots need to be left longer so that the moss itself remains moist.

How to store sphagnum moss? After the drying process is completed, the finished product must be tightly wrapped in paper or placed in freezer. This will be sufficient for further storage.

Having carefully studied the main positive qualities inherent in the “natural sponge”, we can confidently say that the culture is a real storehouse of effective qualities.

Knowing how people used sphagnum moss before, you can successfully apply this information in practice. It has long been known that nature gave us all the best for farming and maintaining health.

Definition

Moss) is a genus of mosses that live in raised and transitional bogs. Upper part The plant grows every year, and the bottom dies off. It almost does not rot and serves to form peat. This is due to the presence of carbolic acid in the body of sphagnum, which is a strong antiseptic.

Sphagnum moss usually appears in places with a humid environment. Due to its ability to absorb and retain moisture, the accumulation of such moss leads to waterlogging. At the same time, the plant has a number of properties that make it invaluable on the farm. Today there is a huge amount of information about how people used sphagnum moss in the past.

Application in construction

Due to its low thermal conductivity, such moss was actively used in construction. So, special powder or plates were made from it, which were used in the construction of walls. But don’t think that this technology is a thing of the past. It is quite possible to use it today, because sphagnum has a number of undeniable advantages over modern building materials:

Sphagnum is an indispensable component in the preparation earth mixtures for indoor plants. The fact is that in a dry state, moss absorbs water 20 times more than its own weight. Thus, the soil remains moist longer and systematically nourishes the roots of plants. If you are going away for a while, but are not sure that your neighbors will conscientiously water your plants, make sure that they are planted in soil mixed with finely chopped sphagnum moss.

Use in livestock

How did people use sphagnum moss before? This plant played an important role in almost all spheres of human life. Thus, sphagnum has always served as a good bedding for domestic animals. And its bactericidal properties prevented the spread of livestock diseases. In addition, in barns where sphagnum is used, there will never be an unpleasant odor.

Rated beneficial properties sphagnum and beekeepers. Moss bedding is placed under the hives for insulation and absorption of excess moisture. In addition, sphagnum will disinfect the air, which will prevent the spread of diseases dangerous to bees.

Use in medicine

The use of sphagnum moss in medicine is due to its following properties:

• good hygroscopicity, which means the ability to quickly absorb moisture (several times better than conventional cotton wool);
• good breathability (even when wet);
• antibacterial properties.

All of the above characteristics make sphagnum an excellent dressing material. This moss has been used to treat wounds since ancient times, and in wartime This material has saved more than one life. Here are some other ways to use sphagnum moss in medicine:

• treatment of frostbite and burns;
• splinting (sphagnum acts as a layer that protects the skin);
• treatment of foot and nail fungus (special insoles made of moss are used for this);
• treatment of psoriasis and other infectious skin diseases (moss is infused in hot water, and then take a bath with the addition of this product);
• fight against staphylococcal lesions (you need to wash the wound with the liquid squeezed out after collecting sphagnum).

Sphagnum moss: use in the garden

Avid gardeners and gardeners have long appreciated the benefits of sphagnum. This moss promotes the normal development of young plants, as well as the restoration of “sick” specimens. And, of course, gardeners could not help but note the hygroscopic properties of sphagnum. Moss helps maintain normal soil moisture even in extreme heat. Accumulating moisture during rain or watering, sphagnum gradually releases it as the soil dries.

Conclusion

An undeservedly forgotten plant is sphagnum moss. Using it in various fields life activities is becoming popular again. Thus, in medical circles there is talk of producing a dressing material based on it. Also, this moss can bring considerable profit to builders. In the meantime, livestock breeders and gardeners actively and successfully use sphagnum in their activities.

Over 10 years of working with violets, we tried to root them in different ways - in the ground, in a soil mixture, in a soilless substrate, in water... But the most better results We succeeded by rooting leafy cuttings of violets in clean living sphagnum with wick watering. Now we only use this type of rooting.

So what is this mysterious sphagnum moss?

Sphagnum (Sphagnum, sphagnum, peat moss, white moss) is a perennial bog moss that forms so-called sphagnum bogs. More than 40 of its species are known in Russia, and more than 300 in the world. It is found mainly in the tundra and forest zones of the Northern Hemisphere; in the Southern Hemisphere it grows high in the mountains; less common on temperate plains. Its peculiarity is that it actually has no roots - its bottom part gradually dies off and turns into peat, while the top one continues to grow. Sphagnum moss is also called “white moss”, and the places where it grows are called “white moss”. On Wikipedia it is described as follows: “Sphagnum (lat. Sphagnum) is a marsh plant, a genus of moss (usually whitish in color).” That is, you should not worry when you receive not green, but yellowish-white moss in the mail. The main thing is that it is alive (and the color does not matter). When watered and warm, it will begin to grow and turn green (for example, when leaf cuttings root in it).

Properties of sphagnum

Perhaps it is worth highlighting 3 main properties of sphagnum:

1. amazing hygroscopicity
2. excellent breathability
3. antibacterial properties

Hygroscopicity- this is the property of sphagnum moss to absorb water in huge quantities: up to 20 parts by weight of water per one part by weight of sphagnum! And this is 6 times higher than the abilities of vata! Moreover, sphagnum evenly it is saturated with water, and only after that it releases excess moisture. That is, when used in the composition soil mixtures, it will always maintain a sufficient level of moisture in the substrate without waterlogging the soil! This property is achieved by the structure of the moss itself - its stem and leaves contain hollow air-bearing reservoir cells, thanks to which sphagnum absorbs water over its entire surface and retains it for a long time!

Breathability caused by the same hollow cells. That is, the soil with the addition of sphagnum turns out to be quite moist, but at the same time light and loose, which contributes to the well-being of the plant root system!

Antibacterial, disinfectant and antifungal properties are provided by substances that make up sphagnum: bactericidal phenol-like substance sphagnol, antibiotics (sphagnum acids), coumarins, triterpene compounds, etc. All these antiseptic properties are used even in medicine, and what can we say about plants! Percentage of cuttings rotting when propagated in sphagnum lowest compared to all other methods!

And according to available data, sphagnum itself not susceptible to any diseases!

In addition to these properties of sphagnum, it is also necessary to note its ability moderately acidify the soil due to the release of hydrogen ions. This again prevents the development of bacteria, and violets in acidified soil often produce a more saturated color and pronounced border, and in general they feel better in acidic soil! :)

And due to the fact that sphagnum retains water in the substrate and prevents oxygen from accessing organic deposits in it, decomposition processes organic compounds(rotting) does not occur. This is also ensured due to the fact that the sphagnum itself contains extremely few nutrients , which slows down decomposition even more!

By the way, all parts of sphagnum(from roots to crown) have these properties.

Application of sphagnum

Sphagnum is used in many sectors of life (laying log houses, transporting root crops, floristry, medicine, detergents and disinfectants, etc.). But of course, it finds its main application in floriculture!

Sphagnum moss is suitable for many plants, such as:

• Saintpaulias (Usambara violets)
• gloxinia
• streptocarpus
• begonias, royal begonias
• orchids
• dracaenas
• Dieffenbachia
• monsters
• peperomia
• sedums
• ehveria
• Crassula
• sansevieria
• Cordyline
• Khirits
• and many others - those that love high humidity.

I’ll tell you how to use moss for violets in a separate article, “Using sphagnum moss in caring for violets.”

Harvesting sphagnum

Typically, sphagnum moss is harvested from late April to October. However, spring harvesting can be complicated high level melt water. And in mid-June and early July, blood-sucking insects are most active, making it very difficult to collect moss in the swamp. We try to harvest moss in August, when it is dry and relatively warm weather. A rainy autumn can disrupt the harvest due to the impossibility of weathering in humid air, and collecting moss in the rain is not the most pleasant experience.

You can collect sphagnum in two ways:

1. completely removing it along with the roots (this makes it larger in volume, but it requires a long, thorough cleaning);
2. cutting off the upper surface part with a knife - it turns out smaller, longer, but better;

For collecting sphagnum You will need:

• A swamp or damp forest with a lot of sphagnum moss, preferably not far from where the car is parked (wet moss is hard to carry).
• Rubber boots
• Plastic bags
• Plaster (the number of cuts can be large - I know from myself! And mostly not from a knife, but from sedge, which often grows through sphagnum).
• Gloves (they are not so convenient to work in, but they still protect your hands)

Moss should be harvested in “clearings” about 30 cm wide and at the same intervals - this will make it easier for it to recover and grow. According to the rules, repeated harvesting in such an area is possible no earlier than in 7-10 years!

Wet sphagnum squeeze out to get rid of excess water.
For the same purpose you can weather moss, but do not dry it (if you need it alive): spread it in an even layer on a north/west window sill or even outside in the shade and wait until the wind dries the main part of the sphagnum. The main thing is not to overdo it! There must be moss moist but not wet.

Processing/sterilization of sphagnum

As for processing moss, you need to decide what kind of sphagnum you want to get - live or dry. We use only. Moreover, we don’t treat it with anything, since it itself has disinfectant properties, which are lost when scalded, completely dried and heated. And in all the years of working with him, we have never had any problems due to his fault.

Preservation of sphagnum

To keep sphagnum alive, it must be stored in closed plastic bags in frost or cold(refrigerator or freezer), we store it outside. When necessary, defrost it and it will come to life! Everything is as in natural conditions! You can still grow moss: cut off the green parts of the moss and place them in a tray with wet peat, remembering to water constantly. They say it looks beautiful! :)

Purchasing/purchasing sphagnum

And of course, the simplest thing is to buy moss, saving yourself from unnecessary worries, troubles and difficulties! When ordering on the website you will receive a parcel with live weathered (but not dry), hand-peeled sphagnum moss,packed in a zip bag. All you have to do is add approximately 200 ml of water (based on 2 liters of moss), and use live sphagnum as needed!