Sphagnum propagation/regeneration experiment

[Koen C.]

Edit: pictures restored

4 weeks ago I tried a little experiment on the regeneration of Sphagnum moss after reading an article (Sobotka, 1976, Regeneration and vegetative propagation of Sphagnum palustre as factor of population stability) I'm not sure if I can post links here but you can google the article. Usually to propagate Sphagnum, people use the heads (capitula) or stem cuttings, and they start growing reasonably fast, making it easy to expand a Sphagnum culture. But this article states that branches also easily regenerate in vitro (those smaller parts emerging from the main stem, with determinate growth, they have a specific length, the tip of the branches stops growing after a while contrary to the main stem). I decided to give it a try and pulled some young 'branches' out of the capitulum of a species of red sphagnum, hoping to find an easy way to multiply this nice plant. I planted them on top of dried (dead) sphagnum and kept it soaking wet and covered for high humidity on a sunny windowsill. Many of them are growing now, I didn't count them so I don't know what percentage, I count around 15 growing branches, they were taken from only two capitula I think. 

The first picture shows a branch after I pulled it from the Sphagnum plant, the second picture shows a branch 4 weeks after taking the cutting. You can clearly see where it started to grow. The thin part had grown before I took that cutting, and the thicker part is new growth. Notice that these pictures are magnified, the little plants are smaller then an adult Sphagnum plant. I should have taken the pictures with a reference for the size. I will update the thread once the little cuttings start looking like an adult Sphagnum plant.

I love Sphagnum in general and I really hope more people share how the care for it, what species their general knowledge about the plant. 

 

Edited September 6, 2017 by Koen C.

[Tropicat]

so you took part of a sphagnum head and planted it on dead sphagnum?

[Koen C.]

Yes, more specifically a branch, not a full head cutting or stem cutting. It's really tiny (you have to pull it with a forceps) and  I didn't think it would grow but it did. Thought it might interest other people too :)

[Koen C.]

Update to show final result. I'm rather pleased with the result but I won't be using it considering Sphagnum multiplies fast enough for me. Experiment started at begin of April 2017, pictures above are taken at the end of april. Now in september, 5 months later, the plants are adult and look like this. (They are adult after a month or two but I've not been treating them well, they stood in partial shade. That is also the reason why their red color hasn't returned)

This method may be worth trying if you want to multiply a small amount of Sphagnum, let's say only 2 little plants. 

[Stefan]

Definitly the fastest method to multiply Sphagnum in a very easy way.

Didnt believed it until I tried it this year too ;)

Keep in mind different sphagnum species thrive in different sun level

[Harro]

The best is you start with heads of shagnum. For a tray of 60x40 cm you need about 4 litre of them. Drill 2 holes about 3 cm from the bottom. My tray is outside. The holes prevet that the rain covers all the shagnum. The first time it takes about 2 - 3 month till the moss reaches the top of the tray. Then you can cut it with a scissors. The rest which stays in the tray recovers and it starts all over again. Don`t use any soil only the pure shagnum with rainwater.

 

[Koen C.]

Nice pictures. Indeed if you have 4 liter of it, you should plant the heads for muc hfaster growth. If you only have small samples of one species, it might be worth planting single branches and have some more patience. 

I prefer a layer of peat because it's easier to keep wet all the time, and I personally don't make drainage holes, but just empty the trays after heavy rains. Luckily the moss isn't that picky so the method doesn't matter that much