propagating moss (safely)

[Lennoncham]

Wow! that's a beautiful vivarium! The one I'm planning to put the moss in will use temperate plants native to my state. Do you have any tips?

Thanks. The nicest Viv I’ve made. I started out making a red eyed tree frog viv but it turned into a dart frog viv. Now I still need to do one for the red eyes lol.

As for the temperate plants I’m not sure. I would think you set it up the same but you may have some die off at some point.

 

[Calypratus]

Alright! Finished collecting moss and some other native plants for the terrarium. I’m going to wait till the moss settles in before blending it up. How does it look? It’s my first attempt at making a “naturalistic” enclosure

 

[Calypratus]

I added some gravel, and lump charcoal at the bottom and separated the substrate with some of the window screen stuff, though it’s not holding up great at the edges. For the substrate I used organic potting mixed with a little bit of sand to mimic my area’s slightly sandy soil.

 

[Lennoncham]

I added some gravel, and lump charcoal at the bottom and separated the substrate with some of the window screen stuff, though it’s not holding up great at the edges. For the substrate I used organic potting mixed with a little bit of sand to mimic my area’s slightly sandy soil.

looking good. For the drainage area it’s best to just put the gravel down. Then the screen. Then charcoal then the substrate. Or just mix the charcoal in the substrate. It shouldn’t make a difference though how you did it. For the screen it’s best to cut it slightly bigger then the tank so you can kinda curl it up the sides a bit to hold the substrate in.

 

[Calypratus]

A bit of an update:
Basically all the plants have died (except for the moss, which is barely holding on).
I did blend up a little bit of moss and buttermilk, and spread the mixture on a rock. It did work to an extent, but the little moss that grew died and and got sorta crusty. A little while after I got finished setting it up, I scrounged around my room to try to find a tropical uvb bulb (I found one fresh in the box, though I don’t think the light made much of a difference in the end).

I think what killed the plants was the excessive humidity. The plants are native to where I live (slightly humid, but temperate NC). I was trying to keep the moss from drying out, but in the process of doing so I over-watered the rest of the plants. I left the enclosure mostly untouched, except from misting it every day, which I think had a role in the mold growth and all the little bugs that came along. I’m pretty sure the mold/unidentifed fungus wasn’t really harmful, neither were the bugs but it was still kind of gross.

It was actually kind of like a small little ecosystem in a sense. Not long after these little flies started to breed, 2-3 spiders showed up, spun webs in the tank, and started eating the little flies.
Overall I’d say that this was mostly a failure but still pretty fun to make, and neat to look at (well atleast before the mold started to grow). I’m cleaning it out today.

if anybody has any idea of what I did wrong, please tell me.

You can’t really see the webs in this pic, but they are there.

 

[cyberlocc]

A bit of an update:
Basically all the plants have died (except for the moss, which is barely holding on).
I did blend up a little bit of moss and buttermilk, and spread the mixture on a rock. It did work to an extent, but the little moss that grew died and and got sorta crusty. A little while after I got finished setting it up, I scrounged around my room to try to find a tropical uvb bulb (I found one fresh in the box, though I don’t think the light made much of a difference in the end).

I think what killed the plants was the excessive humidity. The plants are native to where I live (slightly humid, but temperate NC). I was trying to keep the moss from drying out, but in the process of doing so I over-watered the rest of the plants. I left the enclosure mostly untouched, except from misting it every day, which I think had a role in the mold growth and all the little bugs that came along. I’m pretty sure the mold/unidentifed fungus wasn’t really harmful, neither were the bugs but it was still kind of gross.

It was actually kind of like a small little ecosystem in a sense. Not long after these little flies started to breed, 2-3 spiders showed up, spun webs in the tank, and started eating the little flies.
Overall I’d say that this was mostly a failure but still pretty fun to make, and neat to look at (well atleast before the mold started to grow). I’m cleaning it out today.

if anybody has any idea of what I did wrong, please tell me.
View attachment 262860
You can’t really see the webs in this pic, but they are there.

Did the plants die back or die totally? Most plants can acclimate to high humidity, but die back and regrowth is common during acclimation.

Thats if the problem was only humidity. If you don't have a drainage layer, then excess water could have killed them, but that's not the same thing as high humidity.

 

[Calypratus]

They all died totally, and I’m not really sure why. I did have a drainage layer, so I’m pretty unsure on whether or not they were overwatered.