Spaghnum starting on peat

[manders]

This is typical of how some of my spaghnum got started, this was a small tub of peat that had pings in for about a year, its been kept very wet, a few bits of spaghnum just starting to get going.

[Mark Anderson]

What brand of peat do you use?

Mark

[Koen C.]

Really cool to see!

[manders]

37 minutes ago, Mark Anderson said:

What brand of peat do you use?

Mark
 

This was probably shamrock, but small chance it was clover, we use both.  (I think its the same company anyway, but ive allways preffered shamrock).

[Mark Anderson]

Cheers, I use shamrock as well, the last two bags I bought contained really dark peat and a lot finer than the bags I bought a few years ago, the other stuff was a light brown with a lot of chunks in it

Mark

[billynomates666]

15 hours ago, Mark Anderson said:

Cheers, I use shamrock as well, the last two bags I bought contained really dark peat and a lot finer than the bags I bought a few years ago, the other stuff was a light brown with a lot of chunks in it

Mark
 

Bottom and tops of the bogs.

Cheers

Steve

[manders]

I was just looking around my new bog trough i made a few weeks ago, filled with Shamrock, there's already signs of sphagnum growing on it.

[Koen C.]

That's interesting... Could it really go that fast from spores? Is it possible that vegetative parts of the Sphagnum are in the peat, or got blow into it? Can you find the protonemata under the plant, like the tissue that grows after spore germination?

[manders]

20 minutes ago, Koen C. said:

That's interesting... Could it really go that fast from spores? Is it possible that vegetative parts of the Sphagnum are in the peat, or got blow into it? Can you find the protonemata under the plant, like the tissue that grows after spore germination?

Ive been wondering that myself, it looks like its growing from dormant bits of plant but all the peat was brown and dry coming out of the bag.  Theres several places its starting from, at first i thought it might be ordinary moss but now i think its definately spagh.  It does seem awfully fast, ill have to have a closer look.

[Robby]

I've got what look like similar sphagnum sprouts in my pots popping up, hopefully I can start a tray up ^^

[Koen C.]

If the peat isn't dried out, it's only normal that the sphagnum can survive for months, but if the peat is dry if you buy it, i would be really surprised. Not sure how long Sphagnum can live fully dried out, but probably not that long.

 

[manders]

I've seen dried out sphagnum on mountain tops in Asia, during the dry season which last around 6 months.  Although there might be heavy dews in the morning.

[manders]

This is the my new big trough, fresh peat, dead centre in the second photo is some green moss sprouting, its happening in several places over the trough.

 

 

[Koen C.]

Cool. Whether it's from spores or from a sleeping moss plant in the peat, the result is the same :) I wonder how many species could come out of the peat.