I'm a student at Emily Carr and I'd like to get some information about mosses for a sculpture project. I'm doing a project where I'd like to have different types of moss growing in sections of a panel that i'm building into some kind 3D box-type outdoor installation. Questions: 1. what material should the panel be made of? i was thinking of wood or dirt or rock... and how thick should it be? 2. what types of moss can i use? is this moisture, light, site specific or direction (N,S,E,W) related? 3. i hear you can use yogurt and a blender to mix up moss and grow it. does this actually work? what types of yogurt? what species of moss? how thick should the moss/yogurt mix be? 4. is it possible to colour mosses? eg. watering it with food-grade or natural dyes? or are there species of moss that aren't green or greeny-yellow in the lower mainland? what colours are available? 5. can the mosses be grown horizontal and then switched to vertical? are there vertical growing mosses? or just the horizontal kind? do the different mosses require different nutrients to grow? 6. what is the lifespan on mosses? how much water do they need? 7. are there any environmental benefits that i should be aware of, or any stats that i can reference in my presentation/crit, such as cleaning the air, etc. 8. are there any kind of watering devices that i could use to water the thing with? can i use tap water or does the water have to be rainwater? does the water have to be moving/circulating? I'd really appreciate any and all comments. Thank you for your time. Jon Marshall
That's an exhaustive list of questions. I recommend booking an appointment with Shona Ellis at the UBC Dep't of Botany (be sure to explain that you're a student). She teaches the bryology course, and should particularly be able to help with moss culture (growing mosses) - they keep some mosses on hand throughout the year for the lab work - though I do imagine she'd be able to answer all of your questions. I'm sure the people on the forums here would be interested in seeing photographs of your completed project.
You know I've gotten at least three request from students like this. To date not one has ever thanked me or let me see their results. This should be interesting to watch. Regards Chris
Well..... I'll give it a shot. Please be sure to confirm anything I tell you as I'm a not an expert and don't want to be blamed if things go south :) Questions: 1. what material should the panel be made of? i was thinking of wood or dirt or rock... and how thick should it be? -----Almost anything with a rough texture that will hold your yogurt spread. Wood will rot, but as moss grows it gets thicker and thicker, so eventually your shape will look more and more "blobbish" 2. what types of moss can i use? is this moisture, light, site specific or direction (N,S,E,W) related? -----I can't suggest a species, but look to harvest a moss that is growing on a vertical surface. It will have a finer texture and be more resistant to sun, heat, and dryness. Moss do need light, but you will likely want to rotate your sculpture so that it grows well on all sides. 3. i hear you can use yogurt and a blender to mix up moss and grow it. does this actually work? what types of yogurt? what species of moss? how thick should the moss/yogurt mix be? ---Yes this works. You will need to thin it with water. You can also use skim milk if you prefer. It should be quite thin, so that you can brush it on very thinly. 4. is it possible to colour mosses? eg. watering it with food-grade or natural dyes? or are there species of moss that aren't green or greeny-yellow in the lower mainland? what colours are available? ----Couldn't tell you about artificial colouring. I suggest you experiment yourself. There are some mosses that take on a red colour under the right conditions, but it is still very green when wet and growing well. You will just have to look around. 5. can the mosses be grown horizontal and then switched to vertical? are there vertical growing mosses? or just the horizontal kind? -----I'm not quite sure what you mean. Moss just sort of spreads and gets thicker. It can grow on a vertical surface or a horizontal surface. do the different mosses require different nutrients to grow? ----Their nutritional requirements are very low (hence the ability to grow on rocks). If you feel the need to feed it, then a weak mix of any balanced houseplant food should work fine. 6. what is the lifespan on mosses? how much water do they need? ----indefinite, lots. 7. are there any environmental benefits that i should be aware of, or any stats that i can reference in my presentation/crit, such as cleaning the air, etc. ---well, you can look into the environmental benefits of sphagnum peat bogs for starters. 8. are there any kind of watering devices that i could use to water the thing with? can i use tap water or does the water have to be rainwater? does the water have to be moving/circulating? ---tap water is fine, but you need to water it with a fine mist so as not to dislodge it from the surface it is growing on. Check this out too.
Excellent! Thanks Globalist! You just made my day. Pretty much all I need. I've got to present the plan for this thing on Tuesday, so this is perfectly timed. I have also emailed Shona Ellis, but have yet to hear back from her (Thanks DM). I'm sorry to hear that saltcedar. perhaps you just need more positive people around you. They're handing out free hugs on granville island today. The cabbies were lining up.
"They're handing out free hugs on granville island today." Must be something in the water up there like they say :-) Regards chris
hmmm, does anyone know what happens if you water moss with a mix of water and high concentrations of food colouring (with a little plant food too) in it? can i get moss in an orange, or pastel blue, for that matter? just wondering how many colours i could use in my pallette...
