Do live spaghnum moss can be used as media for germinate nepenthes seeds

[Agus]

Hello everyone im new in this forum and beginner at this hobby 

so i wanna germinate nepenthes truncata and wanna use media that allowed nepy seeds to grow but not algae, and come to my mind to using live spaghnum moss as media for nepy seeds cus it could prevent algae and mold to grow

So, can live spaghnum moss be used for germinate nepenthes seeds? If yes what advantages and disadvantages using live spaghnum moss for seeds instead only dry spaghnum moss

sorry i Just want to make sure, i have lost nepy seeds before cus algae, maxima and ampullaria, feels sad  

 

[Koen C.]

Hi! I know the feeling, I've lost some Nepenthes seedlings, sown on dead Sphagnum or peat and they died from a fungus ('damping off disease' I believe). I have limited but positive experience with sowing Nepenthes on living Sphagnum. Molds make no chance, and if the Sphagnum is healthy there shouldn't be algae. The seedlings love it, but the moss grows too fast for them. Either you need a slow growing Sphagnum species (some species in bogs, in the mountains or pioneer species are slow growers). Or you need to trim the growing Sphagnum so it doesn't overgrow the seedlings. In my opinion living Sphagnum is the best medium to germinate a huge variety of plants. Even plants that don't like low pH will germinate easily, but they will stop growing after germination if it's too acidic, so they need to be transplanted (which can be tricky to do without harming the roots).

Good luck!

[Agus]

Hello @Koen C. thanks for sharing this information, it’s precious

im curious, you say they will not grow if it’s to acidic, i’ve heard dead part of spaghnum or dry spaghnum could acidify media especially peatmoss, but idk if live spaghnum could 

do you have any tips to keep ph neutral or slighty acid so seedlings still could growing on live spaghnum until their big enough to transplanted(around 4-5cm i guess) i won’t  move them to other soil cus i didn’t know how to move them when they were to small . Ohh thanks btw 

[Koen C.]

Not only dead Sphagnum and peat acidify, living Sphagnum even more. They have a mechanism to capture kations from their environment and in return they release a H+, which acidifies the water around it. Not only do they capture all nutrients for themselves with this mechanism, but they also create the acidic environment in which they thrive and many fungi, plants and bacteria can't grow or compete in those conditions.

If you're still talking about Nepenthes seedlings, I'd allow the Sphagnum to acidify. Sphagnum and a lot of other carnivorous plants are used to relatively low pH values and they like growing in Sphagnum. If you want to try other seeds in Sphagnum I wouldn't recommend treating it to raise the pH or to raise the amount of nutrients. Before the seedling benefits from it, the Sphagnum will probably die, algae will bloom or fungus might develop. The low pH is one of the reasons that seedlings don't die from damping off. 

Good luck!