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Post by Curtis on Jun 6, 2015 17:47:57 GMT -5
I'm wondering if any of you on this forum know enough about moss to let me know what would grow well enough in southern ontario without too much upkeep. I don't have any experience with gardening, but I bought a house a few years ago that sits on a couple of acres, and I've been cleaning up the yard a lot, which has ended up being mostly limbing trees and throwing wood chips down, but I've always liked the look of moss, so I'd like to try one spot with moss instead of wood chips. And maybe its asking too much, but now I'm spending a lot of time reading about carnivorous plants after I bought a venus flytrap a few weeks ago (its turned me into a little kid again), and I'm wondering if its possible to build a moss garden now but set it up to possibly support carnivorous plants in the future. I have a couple pics of the spot i'm thinking of, its under a small maple tree, and there's a rotting stump you can't see from the pics. a lot of mushrooms tend to grow around it.
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Post by Curtis on Jun 6, 2015 18:08:21 GMT -5
I guess I should say for people that don't live near me, summers average in the mid 20's and max out near 30 degrees celcius, and winters go as cold as the negative 20s, but bad days can be closer to -30 in february. obviously thats above the snow, so I don't know what the ground temp would be.
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Post by H2O on Jun 6, 2015 18:11:57 GMT -5
If it's just the regular sheet moss you're looking to culture I'm afraid I won't be able to help, you won't be able to grow any CP's in this type of moss.
It's entirely possible to setup a sphagnum moss garden under your tree but you will be hard pressed to find enough of the forest growing sphagnum moss that likes lower light. Additionally the only thing that will grow in shade like that is a couple species of temperate Pinguicula. Unfortunately shade and CP's don't usually mix.
You could set up a bog just like you're going to grow CP's in it (typical pond liner, peat/sand with a little drainage a few inches down) and just top dress with sphagnum moss.
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Post by H2O on Jun 6, 2015 18:13:31 GMT -5
I should add that anything you do will need copious amounts of water during the summer. Sphagnum and CP's like lots of water.
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Post by WillyCKH on Jun 6, 2015 18:37:20 GMT -5
Like Justin said, sheet moss (the ones that form a nice carpet) is great for covering a wet, shaded area instead of grass, but those mosses aren't going to support CP. What you need is sphagnum moss, which mostly thrive under bright light and with plenty of water and humidity. A shaded area won't do much good for CP, or Sphagnum moss. That being said, culturing sheet moss for the evergreen look and the nice carpet feel is surely rewarding
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Post by grackle on Jun 6, 2015 19:49:30 GMT -5
So if you are still thinking that the maple could use company the sheet moss should be started from the north side of it and any hardy CPs to the south. Welcome to OCPS forums.
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Post by Curtis on Jun 6, 2015 20:27:03 GMT -5
thanks everyone for your replies! This is obviously a very active forum. to respond to your replies: yes I was originally thinking just sheet moss, but that was before i started reading about carnivorous plants. I really like the idea of dedicating one small flower bed to carnivores, if I can make it work. This spot is shady when the sun is overhead, but the shade is only from the tree in the pic, so much sun can be had during the morning and also during the later afternoon. If i need more sun, I own a chainsaw that never collects rust. To clarify your suggestions, I should dig down and put in a liner? how deep? the lay of the land in the pic is a bit misleading, all around the house the land goes out level for 10 feet, and then slopes down a foot, for drainage away from the house. The tree is on a corner of this slope. Im not explaining it well. I only mention it because it may be difficult for me to keep wet, but that will be my challenge. the spot im looking at is only a diameter of 10 feet, so I might just dig it out and put in a liner. I again apologize for my lack of knowledge. I will research pond liners. How much sand should I put down on the liner? specific sand? I know very little on the subject, but I read that minerals were an issue for flytraps, so I'm trying to ask the right questions. how much peat?
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Post by hal on Jun 6, 2015 20:45:03 GMT -5
10 feet in diameter is a large bog garden and it will take hundreds of plants to fill it. I'd suggest you don't start a CP garden in partial shade. I did and abandoned it to shade-loving perennials within 3 years. Maple trees drop flowers, seeds and leaves, too.
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Post by Curtis on Jun 6, 2015 21:16:39 GMT -5
I guess I will have to rethink this.
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Post by hal on Jun 6, 2015 21:57:51 GMT -5
Here's a great resource for growing plants outside in Southern Ontario: zone6b.wordpress.com/Carl M. sometimes sells plants here. If you are lucky enough to be able to order some, do so! Well-acclimated and great quality. My bog was 18" deep, lined with a double layer of 6mil clear poly, and filled with 60% peat and 40% clean sand. It was about 5' in diameter and I couldn't believe how much peat and sand it took to fill it! I poked holes in the poly about 2" below the top to allow the upper layer to drain and stop the plants from floating after a hard rain. I mulched it with natural fir chips (no dyes) to keep the weeds down and piled on a 12" layer of leaves in the fall. When it got dry, I lugged over cans of rain water from my rain barrel. It did very well until a nearby Magnolia stillata started to shade it. I moved the plants to pots. With our incredibly cold winters the last 2 years that has had mixed success. I move the pots to my attached garage and put them up against the shared wall with the house, with a foil blanket over them, but they still freeze solid. Last year I put anything from south of Virginia in the fridge! Welcome to the site, by the way. I've been away in BC, so I may have missed a few introductions. I'm sure you will find all of the advice and plants you are looking for here.
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Post by Curtis on Jun 7, 2015 8:22:10 GMT -5
Thanks for the resource. I think i'm going to do a bunch of reading on bog creation before I move on this. I wasn't planning on planting CP's this year anyway, I was thinking about making a moss garden, but now it looks like what I need to build is a bog. If I decide to make a bog I want to do it once. So maybe next spring.
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