• 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

star moss (Tortula Ruralis)

a1Matt

Member
Joined
10 Mar 2008
Messages
2,489
Location
Bromley
I couldn't resist this on ebay...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=007

I knew buying it from Thailand was a calculated risk, but figured it was worth a go... Unfortunately it took 3 weeks to turn up and was almost completely rotten. It hasn't changed after a couple of weeks in the tank, so although I doubt it, it might *just* pull through.

I wondered if anyone else has had any luck with this plant. A quick google search showed up that some don't consider it an aquatic plant at all! What do you guys reckon....
 
I saw that on fleabay too, but recall that when I researched it on t'inernet I got the impression that it was a non-aquatic moss so would be interested to hear otherwise too.
 
It is indeed non-aquatic, a lot of the planted tank users don't like aquatic magic because of their selling of terrestrial mosses.
 
According to a few of the guys on Killies.com who really know their mosses it can be grown submersed. It is apparently also called cement moss and that is the key - it needs very hard water to survive and grow under water. Maybe you could try half of it emersed somewhere very humid and see if it recovers and then try it again when it's in better health?
 
Cheers guys.

I like your idea Ed of growing it emersed... I will leave half of it in the tank, but take the other half of it out and see how I get on with it...
 
a1Matt said:
I like your idea Ed of growing it emersed... I will leave half of it in the tank, but take the other half of it out and see how I get on with it...

Make sure it's very humid. I've got some Java fern growing emersed in a sealed sweet tub and it does ok - needs more light than where I've got it though!
 
i have been collecting terrisatrial mosses for the last 12 mths , after i found some in the work pond that had blown off the roof, i intially thought it was aquatic ...

the start shaped one i have very little luck with , it does look good when healthy though mine generally browns and falls to pieces

one is know growing very well submersed and is an erect form with a nice pale green colour

another is the very tight (miniature brain coral type) of green moss seen on rock work it appears to be coping in a shallow plastic jug on a window sill at present

use your own aquatic skills , instead of trying to purchase stuff cultivate what is available

andrew
 
fishgeek said:
i have been collecting terrisatrial mosses for the last 12 mths , after i found some in the work pond that had blown off the roof, i intially thought it was aquatic ...

the start shaped one i have very little luck with , it does look good when healthy though mine generally browns and falls to pieces

one is know growing very well submersed and is an erect form with a nice pale green colour

another is the very tight (miniature brain coral type) of green moss seen on rock work it appears to be coping in a shallow plastic jug on a window sill at present

use your own aquatic skills , instead of trying to purchase stuff cultivate what is available

andrew

That sounds really rewarding.

I am not really much of an outdoor gardener, I just stick to the tank, and to be honest I feel that I am only just gaining proficiency in that! We all start at the beginning though, gaining a little more knowledge all the time and before you know it you are getting pretty good at something!

Both yours and Ed's post have got me inspired though 8) , so as a starting point I am going to try growing some moss and also some pennywort (as that grew out the top of my tank successfully once) emersed.

A question has just sprung to mind while I am typing this... I presume if I want to grow say an amazon sword (common variety) emersed and it is already submersed, the way to do this would be to slowly lower the water level over a period of days\weeks so that it can acclimatise?
 
a1Matt said:
A question has just sprung to mind while I am typing this... I presume if I want to grow say an amazon sword (common variety) emersed and it is already submersed, the way to do this would be to slowly lower the water level over a period of days\weeks so that it can acclimatise?

That's exactly what I've done with a young E.osiris 'rubra'. It's taken about 8 weeks to get it growing emersed well though! It's in a square glass IKEA jar.
 
i just took my extra swords, hygro crypts out of the tank, and put them into compost that was water logged in a cheap plastic storgae container with a lid to keep humidty high

cut back most leaves as the older sword leaves will droop and die, newer shorter rounder ones will come through, just need the lid to stop dessication

andrew
 
Back
Top