I have sphagnum moss growing on a tray with small holes about an inch raised off of a grow tray. This grow tray gets flooded once a week with RO water. Water reaches above sphagnum moss height. This tray also has a drain valve directly below the tray with holes the moss sits on. The water slowly drains to a tank which I use to water my carnivorous plants. The drain tank gets refilled with fresh RO water. The pump on a timer in the drain tank pumps the water back to the grow tray once a week. No humid acid buildup. My sphagnum grows fast in temps under 75 f and high humidity. Grow lights help too.
People like yourself are the reason I do this! If you have any questions watching any of my videos, feel free to comment. I try to make a video out of every one!
Live Sphagnum releases humic acid as a waste product using osmosis in water around it. Lacking a vascular system means moss has to rely on outside factors to remove its waste!
I'm currently growing some live sphagnum on top of about an inch and a half of the dead commercial brown sphagnum type stuff in a clear plastic box filled with about half an inch of water and the box has no drainage holes, is the build-up of humic acid still an issue if I'm only growing sphagnum and no other plants in there with it? would you recommend draining the bit of water at the base every now and then to prevent the build up
Definitely a good idea to replace the water every so often and flush out the strands. Sphagnum produces the humic acid as a waste product, so if it isn't being removed it will build and you'll notice the moss producing burnt tips.
I grow most of my carnivorous plants in sphagnum moss. Those I don't keep in a water tray. I only top water and I haven't had any issues with algae growing on the moss, but some of the moss actually started growing (I strictly use NZ long fiber sphagnum and I'm hyped some of it started to regrow!) I assume the way I'm doing it, I don't need to worry about the humic acid as it's being washed away with every watering?
If you're top watering every so often, it'll wash the humid acid out. Sphagnum produces humic acid as a form of waste and naturally relies on water in the environment to flush it out since it isn't a vascular plant. That's why if it's sitting in the water tray and you don't notice the water starting to get a darker brown tint over time, it can lead to build up rather quickly in the peat most people use as a medium. The humic acid gets sucked up through the bottom of the pots via evaporation from the top of the medium. The pot acts like a straw pulling the water/acid into it.
I have sphagnum moss growing on a tray with small holes about an inch raised off of a grow tray. This grow tray gets flooded once a week with RO water. Water reaches above sphagnum moss height. This tray also has a drain valve directly below the tray with holes the moss sits on. The water slowly drains to a tank which I use to water my carnivorous plants. The drain tank gets refilled with fresh RO water. The pump on a timer in the drain tank pumps the water back to the grow tray once a week. No humid acid buildup. My sphagnum grows fast in temps under 75 f and high humidity. Grow lights help too.
Great video will help a lot of people, thanks John for your work
Thank you for posting all these videos💯 as a new collector I greatly appreciate all the information
People like yourself are the reason I do this! If you have any questions watching any of my videos, feel free to comment. I try to make a video out of every one!
I assumed that peat breakdown abuses humid acid buildup, never heard of live sphagnum moss doing that at all.
Live Sphagnum releases humic acid as a waste product using osmosis in water around it. Lacking a vascular system means moss has to rely on outside factors to remove its waste!
@@JohnsCarnivorousPlants Oh, that makes sense. Thanks :)
I'm currently growing some live sphagnum on top of about an inch and a half of the dead commercial brown sphagnum type stuff in a clear plastic box filled with about half an inch of water and the box has no drainage holes, is the build-up of humic acid still an issue if I'm only growing sphagnum and no other plants in there with it? would you recommend draining the bit of water at the base every now and then to prevent the build up
Definitely a good idea to replace the water every so often and flush out the strands. Sphagnum produces the humic acid as a waste product, so if it isn't being removed it will build and you'll notice the moss producing burnt tips.
@@JohnsCarnivorousPlants thank you how often would you say if you had to put a number on it, like once a month ?
@@thirdworldmage4424 once a month is definitely a good starting point. Flush more regularly if you start to see burnt tips.
I grow most of my carnivorous plants in sphagnum moss. Those I don't keep in a water tray. I only top water and I haven't had any issues with algae growing on the moss, but some of the moss actually started growing (I strictly use NZ long fiber sphagnum and I'm hyped some of it started to regrow!)
I assume the way I'm doing it, I don't need to worry about the humic acid as it's being washed away with every watering?
If you're top watering every so often, it'll wash the humid acid out. Sphagnum produces humic acid as a form of waste and naturally relies on water in the environment to flush it out since it isn't a vascular plant. That's why if it's sitting in the water tray and you don't notice the water starting to get a darker brown tint over time, it can lead to build up rather quickly in the peat most people use as a medium. The humic acid gets sucked up through the bottom of the pots via evaporation from the top of the medium. The pot acts like a straw pulling the water/acid into it.
But the sphagnum cuspidatum can grow underwater