Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

How To Grow Moss For Bonsai Trees

Besides a pot, there are plenty of attributes that are important to enhance the visual show of a Bonsai tree. Covering the surface of the soil with moss is one of those, a apply very commonly when displaying Bonsai trees at exhibitions.

Apart from the aesthetic side, a sensible facet is that it protects the soil from dehydration and from birds making an attempt to dig through the soil looking for insects. The Japanese have used moss in their famous Japanese gardens for centuries and have even specialized in “moss gardens”. Thus the question that arises is; how do I get my soil surface covered with stunning moss, ferns, and lichen? There are two techniques, which will be discussed.

moss for bonsai


Collecting Bonsai moss and ferns


The 1st technique is to gather moss and ferns and transplant these to your Bonsai tree. Moss for bonsai can be found in many places. After all, you are doing not need your Bonsai tree to compete with speedy growing mosses.

Thus, where to seek out the right moss for your Bonsai tree? Attempt to gather moss from an area that is almost like where you'll transplant it to, often this means a sunny place. Try rooftops, cracks between the sidewalk, moss growing on the bark of trees, etc. You can even try to find different types of moss to make an appealing show.

Collect the moss by employing a putty-knife and strive to collect large patches. Keep the moss for bonsai moist and strive to transplant it while not an excessive amount of delay on your bonsai's soil surface. The soil surface should carry with it a thin layer of nutrient-made and water-retaining soil (potting soil).

Cultivating moss for Bonsai functions


Instead of collecting moss and transplanting it to your Bonsai tree, we tend to will additionally cultivate it ourselves. The main advantage is that this way we have a tendency to mix completely different types of moss, to form a various and more appealing result.

Like what's explained above, we collect the moss from sunny places. Strive to collect different species. Next, let the moss dry out within the sun so we have a tendency to crumble/mince it to very fine 'dusty' parts. These parts are now ready to be sprinkled over the nutrient-rich top-soil-layer of your Bonsai tree. Keep it moist by misting daily and inside some weeks you will notice the moss starts growing.

Similarly, you'll grow the moss for bonsai separately in flat containers, so you have a provide prepared when you wish it.