• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Does christmas moss attach itself to hardscape?

Nick_593

Member
Joined
29 Oct 2012
Messages
97
Location
Pembrokeshire/ Devon
Hi does Christmas moss attach itself to the hardscape, or rely on being constantly tied down?

The posts I've read have been inconclusive.

Thanks
 
Yes it does attach :) and very quickly too, on wood somewhat easier then stone depending on the stone texture/composition of course.. It also is a rather fast growing moss and branches out and away from the hardware. So if you like it to spread more quickly just brake off or clip off the pieces branching out.

Here you see what i mean with branching away from the hardware
v45Rul2.jpg

If i dont trim that regularly it just grows away and grow side shoots on that again. To keep it creeping it needs regular trimming. :) Depending on what you want maybe an other spieces would be more suitable.
 
Last edited:
I've used it for years and never managed to get it to attach to wood.

In my tank its on the wood on the stone it's every where, im happy it doesn't grow on the glass. I bought it and after 2 months i threw it out again, i thought, but there were little attached pieces and grew back.. I never buy that nasty stuff again. :) i hate christmas!! :mad:
 
Sounds like? :) you can look above.. :) i bought it and received it as Vesicularia montagnei from
http://www.aquamoos.de/product_info.php?products_id=799
And you are telling me they sold me Taxiphyllum alternans? Hmmm could be, i know how tricky it can be to identify mosses. But if everybody is telling christmas doesnt attach, what can i say!? They fooled me or made a stupid mistake.. :) Mine is attaching like crazy..
 
Hi all,
I've got a Vesicularia sp. moss that looks like "zozo's" and attaches to everything. You can tell Vesicularia spp. mosses from Taxiphyllum spp. by touch, Vesicularia spp. are much rougher and more rigid to the touch. I thought mine was "Christmas moss", but it maybe another similar looking species.

There are some pictures of the moss ("moss1") in this (very old) thread <"Mosses....">.

cheers Darrel
 
I just wonder why wouldn't christmas moss attach.. What does it do in nature float around? Im tempted to ask pleace could someone send a small piece of this non attaching moss? Im rather curious, i believe when i see... :)
 
Mine likes to be attached to the substrate, it almost seems that it grows roots. Never managed to attach it to anything else though.
 
I guess next to the difficulty of identification, experiences are also very different. This might be in water parameters, flow, substrate, hardware, fertilization contents and what ever mysteries there are more about mosses. F.e in the link Darrel points us to someone states Fissendens doesnt attach easy and grows slowly. In my tank Fissidens grows like crazy i find pieces all over the tank and attaches readily to anything i put it on as long as the texture is ok. F.e. in my case i have no problems with growing it to Mopani, to slate and clay based substrate in my case colombo and akadama. Not yet found it attached to river pebble. My alledged christmas moss, which probalby isn't even attaches to riverpebble but is not realy fond of growing emersed in it's aquatic form.

If i read about mosses and where the bryophite researchers report finding certain kinds, it is assumed some are prefering base and others acid invironments. So this most commonly means also even if it's rare to find in some environments, but still it can grow at other places as well, maybe less abundant but still does.

I come to guess that it's very important where the moss you get originates from, in what inveronment is it propagated. F.e. if you buy a moss which is propagated in a rather base environment or propagated on a base underground. Than you want to attach this moss to an acidic piece of redmoor wood it certainly will have trouble to do that. Maybe the ones who are having mopani instead which is found in the dry african plains and contains far less humic acids the moss would more readily attatch.

This is not just a theory :) i'm already experimenting a while with all kinds of mosses.. and i've managed to grow mosses i've found under a tree growing on sand also grow submersed. But before it did i saw it go into a transition, first shrink away looking faul and dead for some weeks and slowly come back in a different form where it is hard to see its resemblance with the form it first had. i see the same happen to moss in aquatic form like stringy moss, growing up against hard ware from submersed to emersed and the emersed piece goes brown after 2 weeks looking dead, but i believe it isn't. its just drying out and going into a transition from sub to emersed.

With all this and reading others thoughts and findings and sharing mine in topics like this i come to find out that i (we) have to be very carefull with making statements about moss and how it grows. Maybe even about how some mosses should look or feel.

Moss is a rather mysterious and versatile, lovely and wonderfull little life form.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top