# moss paste?



## matt12 (Nov 21, 2010)

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but is it possible to make a moss ''paste''. I have a large hunk of driftwood that sticks out the top of a 40g breeder. it has a water fall flowing down it. I was wonderign if i could put singapore moss in a blender w/ water to create a paste and spread it on the emersed wood. would this work, or would it just destroy the moss?


----------



## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

you know i have heard of ppl dicing moss and then putting it on in fine bits but never a paste. you should try it and report your findings.
Thanks
Elliot


----------



## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

IMHO: this is chopped paste is very bad idea for several reasons.

moss is a colony plant so every frond can spawn a new strands.
if you lay a single strand of moss flat perpendicular to a light source,
not only will moss continue to grow from both ends of the strand,
but also sprout branches from various middle areas of the strand.
so the plants morphology is already "chopped up" for new growth.

you are trying to put moss inside an area of water flow and oxygenation,
so the last thing you want to do is chop it up, as you need established
strands to tie the bulk of the moss down to withstand all that flow _which
may include some airborne Co2, but on balance it will not help moss grow
as fast as if it were in a less turbulent part of your tank._

chopping up the plant will destroy many of the frond plants in the colony
and release some of the gas and phosphates held inside any living plant,
so this will not be a good idea for the tank's short term water chemistry.
no matter how meticulous you are with your chopped up moss, tiny strands
will break loose and colonize new moss all over your tank, and you may not
even be aware of it till months later when moss puffs are stuck inside other
plants, your gravel, plastic parts; rogue moss is an aquascaper's nightmare.

the bottom line is your best solution is to evenly distribute the moss over
the wood surface, cut the water flow, and tie it down with cotton string.
then in 2 months when the moss is acclimated, growing and the fronds
are digging into the wood, you can resume water flowing over the moss.
I would not use super glue in a water flow area since once the fronds die
that are inside the glue, the moss will simply float away if it did not have
enough time to dig in elsewhere on the wood.


----------



## anubias6439 (Sep 7, 2010)

come to think of it, i saw this idea on tlc or the home improvent channel for gardens. I vaguely remember the guy saying to chop all this moss up, mix it with some stuff, milk and alcohol are ringing a bell, spread on patio stones and viola! a few months later, you have a nice covering of moss.
- i think the idea behind was something with the spores. idk, def not possible for the aquarium.


----------



## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

I would not want to mess with this in an aquarium environment (due to messiness), but it would work (just not practicle for the reasons mentioned by SpyPet). 

I have also heard of this for terrestrial mosses on moss rock. A guy filled a blender full of milk and moss (don't remember anything about alcohol...but my memory is not that sharp). The product was spread all over his stones and that was his starter culture for moss covered rocks.


----------



## Dielectric (Oct 7, 2008)

my brother in law fills the gaps between his paver stones with moss paste, and it fills in nicely after awhile. it works better than topping them off with sand..


----------



## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

what is the milk for?


----------



## anubias6439 (Sep 7, 2010)

http://www.pressherald.com/life/homeandgarden/moss-appeal_2010-03-28.html#
all about it


> 1/2 cup of beer (Cullina says he is not sure the beer does anything, but it means you can drink the rest so it doesn't go to waste. In theory, the sugars in buttermilk or beer help the moss adhere at first.)


 very interesting, ill try this in my garden!


----------



## Chuukus (Sep 24, 2009)

Moss paste might be a nice idea when your dealing with terrestrial moss outside in your garden.

I have not used a blender but I have tried something similar with christmas moss. I used sissors and chopped the moss into tiny peices, averageing about 1/16" and put the moss clippings on top of my emersed cryptocoryne pots. After a week most of the moss turned brown and melted into mush. Maybe it was just my luck but it turned into a huge mess.

I think your better off doing what spypet suggested.


----------



## anubias6439 (Sep 7, 2010)

I was in a bookstore over the weekend and found an interesting ad in a pennsylvania horticulture magazine. It was for a place called moss acres.

http://www.mossacres.com/

Definitely a place i plan to order from when i get my own house! 

Heres a link to their own specially made moss milkshake! yum, sounds like an interesting thing to try out in the garden since spring is coming

http://www.mossacres.com/retailers.asp

very interesting website, check out their gallery


----------

